The ECR is to be filed only for those employees who have their Aadhaar number seeded with the universal account number.
If you want to use any of the services offered by the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), your Aadhaar number needs to be linked with the universal account number (UAN). Unless the Aadhaar number is seeded with the UAN, making transfer or withdrawal of provident fund (PF) money may become a hurdle.
The employers are required to file the electronic challan-cum-returns (ECR) carrying employee’s details with the EPFO. The ECR is to be filed only for those employees who have their Aadhaar number seeded with the universal account number (UAN). This new rule was to be implemented from June 1, 2021 but now it has been extended till September 1, 2021.
Effectively, the employees now have time to link the two before September 1, 2021. Make sure that you complete seeding the Aadhaar number with the universal account number (UAN) as the last date now stands as before September 1, 2021.
“Linking of Aadhaar with the UAN is mandatory. Effective 1 September 2021, employers will not be able to remit PF for cases where such linking is not done. The deadline has now been extended to September 1, 2021 from 1st June 2021. Employers need to use this extended time to make sure that suitable communication is sent to employees advising them of the consequences of non-linking, and provide guidance on how the linking can be completed,” says Saraswathi Kasturirangan, Partner, Deloitte India.
As an employee if you have yet seeded Aadhaar with UAN, initiate the process to link them. You may log on to the EPFO employee portal to check the status and upload KYC documents. But, importantly, keep tracking and follow up with the employer if the seeding remains incomplete even after a few days of uploading the documents. Your employer will not be able to communicate and intimate your wages, PF details with EPFO, if they remain unseeded till September 1, 2021.
