EPFO extends deadline for higher pension application

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has extended the date for filing applications by members to opt for a higher pension till June 26, 2023. “The EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) has made arrangements for obtaining applications for validation of option/joint option from pensioners/members as per the Supreme Court order on November 4, 2022,” labour ministry said in a statement.

To facilitate this process, online facility has been made available. Over 12 lakh applications have been received till date, seeking enhanced pension. The online facility was to remain available only till May 3, 2023.
Several representations were received by the ministry seeking an extension of the deadline.

The issue has been considered and it has been decided that in order to provide a larger window of opportunity and in order to enable all eligible persons to file their applications, the timeline for filing applications would now be till 26th June, 2023, the statement stated.

12 percent of the basic salary of the employee is deposited in the PF account. Also, it is mandatory for the employer to contribute 12 percent of the basic salary. Of the employer’s contribution, 3.67% is deposited in epf and 8.33% goes to pension scheme. Both the amounts are given to the employee on retirement.

According to the rules, all companies and institutions with 20 or more employees come under the purview of EPFO. It is mandatory for every company to include those employees in the PF scheme who have a basic salary of up to Rs 15,000. The company can also include those who have a higher salary.

The timeline is being extended to facilitate and provide ample opportunity to the pensioners/members so as to to ease out any difficulty being faced by them. This has been decided after sympathetically considering the various demands received from employees, employers and their associations, it stated.

(With inputs from PTI)