Email / SMS from EPFO - FAILED TO REMIT DUES SINCE COVERAGE - What to do ?

Have you received this message by EPFO recently either by Email or SMS :

Email title - "EPF - NO Complaince filled form registration till JUN-2023 (OR SEP-2023)"

Email / SMS message

DEAR EMPLOYER, YOUR ESTABLISHMENT __________ PRIVATE LIMITED, HAS FAILED TO REMIT DUES SINCE COVERAGE, PLEASE MAKE THE ECR PAYMENTS AT THE EARLIEST TO AVOID further PENAL DAMAGES AND INTEREST. PLEASE IGNORE IF ALREADY PAID - EPFO

Why this message ?

Lately lot of employers are getting such email notice / reminder from EPFO. What does this mean and why it is being sent?

This is an automated message generated by the EPFO Portal and sent to all the MCA registered establishments. Many of these companies have less than 10 employees and are not required to manage compliance or do fillings with epfo/esic. So why are these companies also getting this email?

• Under the new spice+ process being used by MCA (Minisitry of Corporate Affairs), MCA is mandatorily registering businesses under both EPF and ESIC. Earlier, this was not the case. Companies used to self-register with EPFO and ESIC once they crossed the required threshold of number of employees. For EPFO/EPF, this threshold is 20 employees and for ESIC it is 10 employees.

• EPFO and ESIC departments still follow the old process that requires filings by each and every company registered with EPFO/ESIC. So now, because the small companies (<10 employees) are also being registered with EPFO and ESIC at the time of incorporation itself, EPFO's automated process end up sending email and notices to these newly registered companies too (even when they have not crossed the threshold).

• Govt has issued a notice to handle this mismatch. As per https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1605558 -- "However, the above new companies will have to comply with the provisions of EPF & MP Act, 1952, and ESI Act, 1948 when they cross the threshold limit of employment under the respective Acts. ". As per this notice, companies less than 10/20 employees need not comply with provisions of EPF and ESIC act (event if they are registered with EPF and ESIC)

But looks like it is not easy for EPF and ESIC department to follow this. As per our internet search, ESIC has created an option to mark company as 'dormant' on ESIC website to stop receiving these email and sms notices, but the option rarely works. Most of the companies never see this option on their esic portal. Neither MCA nor EPFO/ESIC departments have created any clear process to handle this, as per our knowledge.

So What to do?

If your company is below the threshold level of employees, you can just send an email to your respective epfo office clearly stating that you have less than 20 employees and hence not liable to comply with EPFO fillings. You can attach a signed declaration of the same on your company's letterhead.

In our experience, EPFO does not acknowledge the email. So we never know for sure whether sending such an email is sufficient or not. We just hope it works for EPFO. :)

Sample Email

Please find attached the signed 'declaration of Non-applicability of PF' for establishment _____ (CIN: ________) as we are a new company and only have __ employees.

Please acknowledge the receipt of the same by replying to this mail. Thanks for your time and consideration.

Attached: pdf file named ____.pdf