Compliance Calendar for Dec, 2017
Professional Tax – States – Remittances
EPF cover wage limit to be raised
The government is set to raise the monthly wage ceiling for mandatory Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) cover to Rs 21,000 from Rs 15,000 at present, a move that could inflate the government’s annual Employees Pension Scheme (EPS) outflow by 50% to Rs 3,000 crore. Once implemented, the change could also raise the number of active EPF subscribers by around 50 lakh to 4.25 crore The labour ministry’s proposal to raise the ceiling has been pending for quite sometime now. The finance ministry, which had asked the labour ministry to assess the financial implication of the proposal, has received the inputs recently and given the go-ahead.
Direct UAN allotment to any citizen at Unified Portal
UAN is mandatory for filing the member contribution. Currently UAN can be generated by Employer only and the same to be generated before ECR filing of that member. Establishments with large number of new joiners every month, are facing problem in generation of UAN due to mismatch of input data with Aadhaar.
Keeping in view the difficulties faced by employers an open functionality is being provided at Unified Portal through which any citizen (prospective employee) can generate his/her UAN on the basis of Aadhaar. Employee will get OTP on Aadhaar linked mobile and after verification of input data, system will fetch the basic details like Name, DOB, Gender and Father’s/Husband’s Name etc from UIDAI and the same shall be shown on screen. On the basis of input/fetched details UAN will be generated.
Online request functionality to EPF Subscribers for correction In Name, DOB and Gender
If employee wants to correct his/her basic details against UAN, employee and employer are required to submit a joint request to the concerned EPFO field office for correction of above mentioned basic details of employee.
In order to reduce the paper work and time delay, a functionality has been developed where member can give online request to his/ her employer at Member Interface in the Unified Portal for correction in basic details. While accepting request from member, system will compare the requested changes with similar fields received from UIDAI (AADHAAR). After successful verification, this request will be automatically transferred to employer’s login for online transmission to EPFO field office.
In turn, after getting online request from member and employer, EPFO field office will process the requested corrections.
SHe-Box Online Complaint Management Portal for Working Women
SHe-Box is an online portal run by the Ministry of Women & Child Development where any woman facing sexual harassment at the workplace can register a complaint. Sexual harassment at the workplace is often brushed under the carpet, despite many efforts by organizations and the government to address it and create a safe working environment for all.
In another step in that direction, the Ministry of Women & Child Development, early in November, opened its online complaint portal – Sexual Harassment electronic-Box or SHe-Box – to accept complaints regarding sexual harassment at the workplace. The platform, which was launched in July, earlier only took complaints from women working in or visiting, central government departments.
Revised Procedure for Auto- Transfer of PF Accounts
- Members satisfying the following preconditions and whose UAN and Aadhaar number are entered and matched by the present employer against the existing details as available against the UAN would be marked for auto transfer.
- The Aadhaar number of the member must have been seeded and verified against the UAN at the previous establishment level.
- Member’s details like Date of Joining, Date of Exit and Reason of Exit should be available in respect of previous employment002E
- UAN is activated and mobile number is available.
- An auto-transfer would be initiated once first payment in respect of the new employee is received from the present employer against the UAN flagged for auto- transfer.
SMS and email if registered will be sent to the member once the transfer is auto-initiated.
- The member can request to stop the auto-initiated transfer either online using the “Stop Auto Initiated Claim cases” functionality provided in the “Track Claim Status” link under “Online Services” tab in the Member Portal or through present employer or by approaching the nearest EPFO office within an outer limit of 10 days of receipt of SMS informing the member of auto-initiation of transfer request at Unified Portal.
- In case the request to stop the auto-initiated transfer against a given UAN is not received within the stipulated 10 days from either of the member, field office or employer interfaces under Unified Portal and the member contribution is deposited by the present employer and the same is reconciled, the actual transfer claim will be generated and made available in concerned field office for the further processing like any other transfer claim using EPFO application software.
NRIs, PIOs Need Not Link Aadhaar With Bank Account, PAN and Other Services
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) – the body that issues Aadhaar has clarified that Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Person of Indian Origin (PIOs) are not required to link bank accounts, PAN and other services with the 12 digit UID Number. The UIDAI instructed various implementation agencies to work out a mechanism to verify the status of such individuals.
The decision came after it was found that NRIs, PIOs, OCIs are facing difficulties as they were being asked by authorities to produce Aadhaar even when many of them are not eligible for availing certain services or benefits such as linking PAN with Aadhaar, Aadhaar-based KYC, applying for LPG connections, issuance of fresh driving license or their renewal and for appearing students in different examinations in India.
Online submission of Annual Return for the state of Punjab
According to Labour Department, Government of Punjab, Office of Labour Commissioner, Punjab, e-Labour portal (pblabour.gov.in) of Labour department has been started. The annual returns of business establishments must be filed online under the acts mentioned below.
- Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958
- The Factories Act, 1948
- Minimum Wages Act, 1948
- Payment of Wages Act, 1936
- Employees Compensation Act, 1923
- Payment of Bonus Act, 1965
- Principal Employer under the Contract Act, 1972
- Principal Employer under the Interstate Migrant Workmen Act, 1972
- The Motor Transport Act, 1961
- The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961
Minimum Wages for Chandigarh
The following are the minimum rates of wages payable for monthly and daily rated employees for the period starting from 01.10.2017 to 31.03.2018 (both days inclusive).