If you routinely have Employee Provident Fund (EPF) payments deducted from your pay as an EPF subscriber, your employer is required to deposit the equivalent amount into your account along with his portion of the payment.
The contribution that is withdrawn from the salary, however, can occasionally fail to be put into the employee's EPF account owing to human error. According to recent reports, SpiceJet has stopped depositing the deducted contributions made by its pilots to their EPF accounts as of 2020. Because two years' worth of EPF payments might add up to a sizable sum, this caused a stir.
In Budget 2021, the government changed the income tax law to make sure that employers timely deposit EPF contributions on behalf of their employees. The new I-T laws state that businesses that don't deposit their employees' EPF contributions on time will not be eligible to deduct taxes as an expense instead of such contributions.
The EPF contributions must be submitted by the employer within 15 days of the month's end for which the payment was received.
How can workers make sure that their employer has made PF contributions?
The Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) offers an online tool that enables account holders to view both their own and their employer's contributions. Employees with trust accounts, however, should ask their employer about the passbook to verify monthly deposits.
How to Check Your EPFO Balance:
The EPFO portal and the UMANG app both allow EPF subscribers to view and download their passbooks.
Create an account on the Member e-Sewa site to view your EPF passbook. Details like the Universal Account Number (UAN), PAN, and Aadhaar numbers are required to register on the portal. Visit https://passbook.epfindia.gov.in/MemberPassBook/Login to access Passbook.
You must download the UMANG app and register with a mobile number to access it. The member can access the passbook after completing registration by logging in with their UAN and one-time password (OTP).
How to Check EPFO Balance Through SMS and Missed Call:
A missed call or SMS can also be used by an employee to check their EPF balance. The format for an SMS from the registered mobile number is "EPFOHO UAN" to 7738299899. The missed call number is 011-22901406.
