EPFO E-Sewa – Employees Provident Fund Organisation

Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is a retirement benefits scheme that’s available to all the salaried employee’s. The contribution is usually 12% of an employee’s basic salary and is transferred into the employee’s EPF account periodically. The interest rate applicable to the EPF contributions is 8.5% for FY 2020-21.

Obviously, this entire process has to be managed at the back-end. All this is done by an organization called Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) and they manage the same through a platform called the E-sewa portal.

Introduction

The E-Sewa portal is like a wide-ranging store for accessing the EPF requests and one can use the services online without physically visiting the EPFO office in person. One can also find the details of the contributions being made along with many other features.

• Any organization with above 20 employees are required to register with EPFO as per law.
• The organization registers by setting up a unique user ID as well as a protected password in the portal, to use this facility.

After the completion of the registration process:

• The uploading of electronic returns are permitted by the employers.
• The uploaded return information is displayed as a digitally signed copy and the same can be saved in PDF format and it also can be printed for record keeping purposes.
• After the employer validates it online, a challan would pop up on the screen which is based on the uploaded return.
• The employer can opt to pay via the internet banking facility.
• A hard copy of the challan needs to be printed from the employer’s end and they need to pay at any listed branch banks if online payment is not done.  It is good if the employer retains both a soft and hard copy for reference and documentation purposes.

Steps for registration

• Login to EPFO 
• The employer will have to register his organization on this website. For the temporary purpose, a system generated username and password will be sent to the employer’s registered mobile number. This has to be used for first time login after which user ID and password can be created for permanent login.
• After creating a permanent account, the user needs to enter the required fields and attach the documents related to the organization’s identity, proof of address along with employee details.
• Once the application is submitted, it generally takes a week to process the application by the department. However, it may take a longer period of time depending on the verification process.
• Once the above process is done, users can download the software and file their returns by entering the details of their employees.

Benefits Of Registration

• Less paperwork is involved. Generally, documents are uploaded online. This helps saving time from physical submission of documents.
• Instant online payment and confirmation of the same via SMS facility.
• Data is available online for verification and annual accounts data can also be obtained.

UAN Member E-Sewa for Android Apps

The EPF UAN Member E-sewa Helpdesk is accessible for download on phones with Android version 2.3 and above. The application solves many problems associated with the Universal Account Number (UAN). The key characteristics of this product are:

• The application enables us to get the EPF UAN Registration (number) online within a few minutes.
• It also empowers you to activate your UAN.
• The status of the UAN can be checked online as well.
• The EPF e-Passbook can also be downloaded from the application.
• The balance in the Provident Fund account can be checked easily.
• The app also arranges the KYC facility.
• The product is simple to operate and use.
• The claim status, email address, and mobile number can also be checked.
• It is feasible to link all your provident fund accounts through this application.
• This application also has an Online Claim Transfer Portal (OCTP).

Registering on E-sewa portal provides a range of benefits ranging from deduction summary, total payments made etc. It helps the employer to have a check on the various payments being made from the employee’s salary. Nowadays, employee also keeps a check on whether the deductions made from their salary are being deposited or not. In this way, they get to keep a check on the employer and their savings too!