PF Contribution Guidelines
PF contribution should be 12% of the gross salary. The salary shall be restricted to Rs 15,000. If you pay HRA besides salary, that shall be excluded from the PF contribution. The PF contribution need not necessarily be Rs 1,800, but it can be less than that when you take it at 12% of the salary. However, the salary should mean the total remuneration that an employee gets, and there should not be any compromise for that.
Many employers pay PF based on the basic salary that they fix. They may have other allowances that are paid universally to all the employees. While deciding the PF qualifying salary, you should take those 'other allowances' as well as part of the salary. It can be less than Rs 15,000 or more than Rs 15,000. If it is more than Rs 15,000, the employer can restrict the contribution to 12% of Rs 15,000. In such a case, the amount will be equal to Rs 1,800.