Setup Provident Fund (PF)

• How to Calculate PF: Know how PF is calculated.
• Setup PF: Check how to set up Provident Fund for your organisation in Payroll.

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EPF Eligibility

Employers and organisations qualify to contribute to EPF when any of the following conditions is true:

• The employee earns less than ₹15,000 per month.
  • EPF is also available for employees earning more than ₹15,000.
• The employee has contributed to PF before through any past employer.
• The company has more than 20 employees.

Organisations under 20 employees are not mandated to contribute to the EPF. However, such an organisation can still enable it voluntarily.

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How PF is Calculated

PF Wages refer to the employer’s contribution to EPF and basic salary. It is calculated basis the employee’s basic salary and allowances (excluding HRA).

• If employee’s basic salary is less than ₹15,000, PF Wages = Gross Pay (Basic + (Dearness Allowance) DA + Special allowances) - HRA
• If employee’s basic salary is more than ₹15,000, PF Wages = Dearness Allowance
• If employee’s basic salary is more than ₹15,000, and you enforce PF upper limit of ₹15,000, PF Wages = ₹15,000.

This means that employers contribute a percentage of ₹15,000 towards EPF.

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PF Contribution

The total 12% contribution from employer is divided into multiple categories. They include:

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Category | Percentage of contribution from PF Wages (%)

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Employee Provident Fund | 3.67%

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Employee Pension Scheme (EPS) | 8.33%

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Employee’s Deposit Link Insurance Scheme (EDLIS) | 0.5% (Upper limit: ₹75)

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EPF Admin Charges | 0.5% (No upper limit)

EDLIS Admin Charges | 0.01% Employer’s contribution to PF is only 3.67%. The remaining amount is added to Employee Pension Scheme (EPS). The employee’s contribution of 12% is added entirely to the Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF).

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Setup PF

You must set up PF organisation on the Payroll Dashboard to collect employee information and process PF.

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Register Employees

You must register your employees for PF individually. You can register employees for Provident whose UAN is already available, and generate UAN for new employees as well. There are two steps to individually register employees for Provident Fund:

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1. Configure PF for Employees

To configure employee-level PF settings:

1. Log in to the Payroll Dashboard.
2. Navigate to People from the left menu.
3. Open the employee’s profile and navigate to Provident Fund, Professional Tax & ESI. Click EDIT.
4. In PF Status, select Opt In. Enter the UAN in the Provident Fund UAN text box. If the employee does not have a UAN, follow the steps to register employees for PF on the EPFO portal.
5. Click CONTINUE.

This saves the employee’s UAN on the Payroll Dashboard.

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2. EPFO Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) Registration

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has mandated Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) registration for all establishments. In the absence of a registered DSC, RazorpayX Payroll will be unable to process your PF filings, and contribution processing for your employees will be blocked. We request you to kindly complete the DSC registration at the earliest to ensure uninterrupted PF compliance.

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Registration Process

The DSC registration process for EPFO includes logging into the Employer Portal, updating and filing Form 5A, preparing and submitting the necessary signed documents, and completing DSC registration upon approval of Form 5A. Take a look at the detailed steps below to complete your DSC registration smoothly:

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Login to EPFO Employer Portal

1. Visit EPFO Unified Portal
2. Select “Employer Sign In”
3. Enter your Establishment ID and Password to login

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Form 5A Filing and Document Preparation

Start Filing Form 5A

1. Navigate to Establishment → Form 5A
2. Verify and update the following:
   • Establishment details
   • Owner/Director details (must match MCA records)
   • Bank details (upload cancelled cheque with company name printed)
3. Authorized signatory details:
   • Name (must match exactly with the DSC)
   • Designation
   • PAN
   • Mobile Number
   • Email ID
4. Click Save and download Form 5A preview in PDF format

Preparation of Physical Documentation

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3. Employee Registration on EPFO

When a new employee joins your organisation, you must either generate a UAN for that employee or map their existing UAN to your organisation. Video Tutorials Read the documentation below or watch the video tutorials on how to: To register employees for PF on the EPFO portal:

1. Log in to the EPFO portal using your credentials. You can also retrieve your credentials from Company Details → External Credentials on the Payroll Dashboard.
2. Enter the OTP sent to your registered mobile number to authenticate your log in.
3. On the EPFO website, navigate to Member in the top menu. Click REGISTER INDIVIDUAL in the drop-down menu.
4. On the Member Registration page and section:
   • Select the Yes option for Previous Employment/UAN if the UAN if is already available for the employee.
   • Select the No option to register the employee for PF.
     1. Provide the employee’s identity details such as Name and Date of Birth as on Aadhaar, Gender, Father/Husband’s Name, Nationality, Religion, Marital Status and more.
     2. Enter the Date of Joining and Monthly EPF Wages as on Joining. The monthly wages are as decided during PF setup.
5. In the KYC Details section, select the Document Type to verify employee details. Employee’s Aadhaar is mandatory.
   1. Select the check boxes for the documents you choose to upload.
   2. Enter the DOCUMENT NUMBER. For Aadhaar, you must enter the employee’s Aadhaar number.
   3. Enter the Name as per Document.
6. Select the check box to affirm that you have the employee’s consent to upload the above information. Click Save.

This completes the registration process. Employee’s details are now moved to the Member details pending for approval section. You can also edit or delete the registration as necessary. You must now approve the changes.

1. Navigate to Member in the top menu. Click APPROVALS.
2. On the Pending page, review the details and click Approve.

You have successfully registered your employees for PF via your organisation. Add the UAN on the employee’s profile on the Payroll Dashboard.

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Manage PF Payments

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Calculate PF

PF contributions on Payroll are calculated as 12% of all fixed wages (except HRA). You can set a PF capping to see how the 12% calculation reflects as part of the basic salary. When enabled, Payroll will cap the fixed wages at ₹15,000. The maximum contribution calculated by Payroll will be 12% of ₹15,000, which is ₹1,800. This ₹1,800 will be deducted from the employee’s salary and credited to their PF account. If you have not set a cap, the Payroll will calculate PF at 12% of basic salary, assuming it is above ₹15,000.

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Additional Charges

Employers’ contribution towards PF can be greater than 1%, depending on whether you choose to include and allocate EDLI and admin charges in the employee’s CTC. The EPFO imposes a minimum of ₹500 as administration charges. If you have fewer than 7 employees, Payroll charges you this amount separately.

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Delayed Payments

Your organisation must make Provident Fund contribution payments on or before the 15th of the following month. For example, your January contribution to EPF must happen before February 15. If the PF payment is pending, EPFO sends notices with delayed amount payable under Damages (Section 14B) and Interest (Section 7Q). These delays occur due to the following reasons: Non-registration/Delayed registration of employees In some cases, new/existing employees’ PF registration may be pending. Even though the salary is processed, the PF payment remains on hold due to incomplete PF/UAN information. Know more about enabling compliances. To resolve this:

1. Log in to the Payroll Dashboard.
2. Go to People from the left menu → employee/s profiles → Provident Fund, Professional Tax, ESI & LWF.

Check the status of your employee/s PF registration and ensure you complete it before the payroll execution date of the respective month.

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Delayed Salary Execution

Delayed salary processing can create delayed PF payments as the PF payment is made after the PF contribution due date (15th of the following month). For example, PF payment due for January 15 and is paid on January 20 creates delays in the PF payments. To resolve this:

1. Log in to the EPFO portal.
2. Navigate to to the PAYMENTS page from the drop-down menu on the portal.
3. Click Prepare 7Q-14B Challan against Damages and Interest in the ECR Quick Links table and pay the delayed PF payments amount.

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PF Mismatch Error

Due to recent changes in the EPFO portal, payroll finalisation will now be automatically skipped for employees where Employee and Employer PF contributions do not match exactly. The Employee PF contribution and Employer PF contribution must match exactly to the rupee. Even a ₹1 difference will cause the employee’s payroll finalisation to be skipped. For example:

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| Scenario | Employee PF | Employer PF | Match Status | Result |

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| ✅ Correct | ₹1,800 | ₹1,800 | Matching | Payroll proceeds |

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| ❌ Incorrect | ₹1,800 | ₹1,795 | ₹5 mismatch | Payroll skipped |

| ❌ Incorrect | ₹1,800 | ₹1,950 | ₹150 mismatch | Payroll skipped |

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Make PF Payments on EPFO

In August, due to 2FA implementation on Payroll, automated PF payments were paused. To make PF payments, you had to manually make payments on via EPFO. However, as of February 2025, Payroll has resumed making PF payments for employees automatically.

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2. Upload, Validate & Verify ECR File on EPFO

1. Log in to the EPFO portal using your credentials. You can also retrieve your credentials from Company Details → External Credentials on the Payroll Dashboard.
2. Enter the OTP sent to your registered mobile number and authenticate your login.
3. On the EPFO portal, navigate to Payments tab in the top menu → ECR/RETURN FILING in the drop-down menu.
4. Go to ECR Quick Links and click ECR Upload.
5. On the ECR Upload page, enter the following:
   1. Wage Month. Select the payroll month, For example, August 2024.
   2. Salary Disbursal Date.
   3. Select File. Upload the .txt ECR downloaded from the Payroll Dashboard.
   4. File Type. Select ECR.
   5. Contribution Rate %. Select the number from the drop-down menu to indicate the percentage of employer’s contribution. For example, 12%.
   6. Remarks. Specify the payroll month, or any other remarks.
6. Click Upload.

This successfully submits your organisation’s ECR file for validation. The processed ECR file now moves to Draft ECR’s.

1. In the Draft ECR’s: section, click the download icon in the ECR Statement column.
2. Verify the ECR Statement. Click Verify in the Action column to proceed.

This successfully validates the ECR file. You can now prepare the PF challan to make the payment.

1. In the In-Process ECR’s section, click Prepare Challan in the Action column.
2. The Summary of Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) page opens. Here:
   1. Review the ECR details.
   2. Go to the Employer details section at the bottom of the challan.
   3. Enter the Total number of Employees in the month. These are the number of employees for whom ECR is generated.
   4. Provide the Number of excluded employees who are part of your organisation but are not present in the ECR file.
   5. Enter the Gross wages of the Excluded employees. If two employees were excluded, provide the sum of their wages.
3. Click Generate Challan at the bottom of the page.

This successfully finalises the challan. Click Pay in the Payment column to make the PF payment. On the Challan Payment page:

1. Select the bank from the drop-down menu to make the PF payment from.
2. Click Continue.
3. Log in to your banking account and complete the payment.

You have successfully made the PF payments for your employees.

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Related Information

Statutory Compliance