EPFO Extends Higher Pension Deadline For Employers To May 31, Know The Details
The EPFO has extended the deadline for employers to upload the wages of employees who have applied for higher pensions
The EPFO has extended the deadline for employers to upload the wages of employees who have applied for higher pensions
EPFO Deadline
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The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation also commonly called as EPFO Extends Higher Pension Deadline for employers to upload details of employees who have opted for a higher pension. The date has now been extended from December 31, 2023, to May 31, 2024.
EPFO received around 1.74 million applications from the members opting for higher pensions till July 11, 2023, the last date for employees to apply for the same. As of September 29, 2023, more than 550,000 applications were pending for validation of option/joint options with employers.
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On January 3, 2024, the Ministry of Labour & Employment, which administers EPFO, stated that more than 360,000 applications were still pending with employers for processing. Therefore, the date for higher pension application processing has been extended further by another five months to May 31, 2024, it said.
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The deadline for employers was set on September 30, 2023, giving them more time to complete the application process and validation.
But considering the number of applications that remained to be completed and uploaded, the EPFO Extends Higher Pension Deadline for employeers by three months to December 31, 2023, and has now again extended the last date for uploading the wage details of the employees and completing the validation process to May 31, 2024, thus providing an extension of five months.
In compliance with the Supreme Court order dated November 4, 2022, EPFO provided an online facility to submit applications for higher pension and validating options/joint options. This online application facility became available to eligible EPFO members on February 26, 2023.
The deadline for submitting applications was three months later, on May 3, 2023. However, it was extended to June 26, 2023, to provide more time for members to apply for higher pension, and submit details, and the required documents. In June 2023, it also issued upgraded FAQs to clarify doubts regarding the application process and the documents required to be attached.
Nevertheless, the last date for employees was again extended a third time by 15 days to July 11, 2023, before the portal stopped accepting applications from employees for the validation of options/joint options for a higher pension.
In the recently issued revised FAQs, the organization kept the same formula for higher pension calculation. This involves using the 12-month average salary preceding the exit date from the pension fund for calculation purposes if the pension commencement date is before September 1, 2014. If the commencement date is on or after September 1, 2014, the pension will be calculated based on the average monthly pay in 60 months of contributory service preceding the date of exit from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF).
Related: What Do The Revised FAQs From EPFO Say About Higher Pension?
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The Telangana government offers the Aasara pension scheme to senior citizens belonging to the economically weaker sections of society for financial security in old age.
Both PPF and NPS offer good options for the self-employed to build a retirement corpus. But the choice of the right investment instrument would depend on a lot of factors, such as the time duration that you can give to your fund to grow, and the ability to make partial withdrawals, among others
To ensure a successful death claim process, it is vital for the policy holder to submit all the necessary papers and provide clarifications, if any, to avoid delays and probes later. Death claim proceeds are usually tax-exempt.
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