EPF Form 5 – What It Is, Eligibility, and How To Apply?

The Government of India will pay the employer and employee contribution to EPF account of employees for another three months from June to August 2020. The benefit is for establishments with up to 100 employees and where 90% of those employees draw a salary of less than Rs 15,000 per month. The contribution to EPF is reduced to 10% from 12% for non-government organisations. The interest rate applicable to the EPF contributions is 8.5% for FY 2020-21.

There are designated forms for every transaction you, as an employee, need to make with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) or with your EPF account. Similarly, there are set procedures for employers to transact with the EPF offices. They include the use of certain forms too. Check out what Form 5 is used for and when it must be used.

What is Form 5 and who can use it?

Form 5 is to be submitted by employers to the EPF Commissioner’s office on a monthly basis. Employers must mention the details of the newly joined employees eligible for EPF benefits during the previous month. The employer files returns of employees who qualify for EPF, Employees’ Pension Scheme and Employees’ Deposit Link Insurance Fund for the first time during a month. Upon submission, a Universal Account Number will be allotted to each employee. Further, the contributions of employee and employer will get deposited to the respective EPF accounts.

What does it look like?

How to download Form 5?

Employers can download Form 5 here or from the official website of EPFO.

Declarations in Form 5

The employer must provide the following details while filling up Form 5:

• Name and address of the establishment/factory
• Code number of the factory/establishment
• Employee details table
  • Account number
  • Name of the employee
  • Father/husband’s name
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Date of joining the fund
  • Total period of the previous service as on the date of joining the fund (Enclose Scheme Certificate as applicable)
  • Remarks
• Employer’s signature or any other authorised officer of the factory/establishment
• Stamp of the factory/establishment
• Date of the form submission
• Date of filing the form

What are the criteria to submit Form 5?

• The employer must refer to the details mentioned in Form 2 and Form 11 for nomination and basic EPF details while filling up Form 5.
• The details of new employees who joined in the previous month must be submitted to the EPF Commissioner’s office before 25th of the month.

Frequently Asked Questions

I newly joined a company last week. Should I fill and submit Form 5?

Form 5 is to be filled and submitted by the employer. As an employee, you can rest assured that the responsibility is on the employer’s end and not yours.

My firm is a startup with very few employees. Is it mandatory to submit Form 5?

If your company has more than 20 employees, as an employer, you will be covered under EPFO. In this case, you have to fill the details of all your employees in Form 5 and submit it to the respective EPF Commissioner’s office.

What should I do if there is no new employee in the company during the previous month?

If there is no new employee who has joined your company in the previous month, you still have to fill Form 5. However, you must mention ‘Nil’ in the employee details field and submit it to the EPF Commissioner’s office.

If an employee joined the company on the 28th of January, when should I include her details and submit Form 5?

If an employee joined your company on 28 January 2020, you must make sure to submit the details of that employee on or before 25 February 2020.