To insulate business establishments amid scare of COVID-19 pandemic, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation has given relief to employers. Now they can file the Electronic-Challan cum Return (ECR) without depositing their contribution to the Organisation.
In the current scenario of a government-declared lockdown, businesses and enterprises are not able to function normally and hence lack of money/funds to pay their statutory dues.
In order to simplify the compliance process under the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, the reporting of the contribution made by the employer in the filing of electronic-challan-cum-return (ECR) has been excluded.
Avinash Jaiswal, PRO of EPFO’s Regional Office Indore, informed that from now on, employers can file ECR without depositing the scheduled contributions to EPFO and the said contribution can be paid by the employer after filing ECR. The above changes will facilitate employers as well as employees covered under the Act and schemes.
The timely filing of ECR by the employer reflects their intention to comply and will therefore avoid penal consequences if they pay the dues within the extended timeframe by the government. The current ECR data will help in policy making and decision making to provide further relief to the businesses and members of the Employees Provident Fund which are badly affected due to the pandemic.
