A wide divergence in the data on companies? contribution towards the employees? pension scheme (EPS) has taken the Employees? Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) by surprise.
According to the mandated returns (MIS-104) filed by companies with the EPFO regional offices, the membership under EPS was about 8.27 crore on March 31, 2012.
The consolidated (six-monthly) reports filed by the same companies with the EPFO head office in Delhi, in contrast, show the EPS membership at 6.92 crore on March 31, 2012, a difference of 1.34 crore or 16%.
Though there is no official explanation for the wide disparity in the two sets of data, sources said it could imply that companies don’t unfailingly update their consolidated reports filed to EPFO.
The MIS-104 returns give the actual payment made by companies under the EPS. A higher number for the scheme memberships in the MIS-104 returns than what is shown in consolidated reports, according to sources, could also imply that some of the beneficiaries are not genuine employees. The contribution to EPS by the employees and companies is tax-exempt.
However, when contacted, a senior EPFO official said: ?The difference could be because the records were not reported properly.?
It is learnt that in a recent circular, the EPFO regional commissioner for pension, Jagmohan, has asked regional officers to ?once again check the figures? and send the revised figures to the head office. EPFO collects the EPS data quarterly from the companies? MIS-104 returns filed with regional offices, while the consolidated monthly returns are filed with the head office in New Delhi twice a year for documenting the annual report as mandated under the EPFO Act rules for EPS, 1995.
According to the EPFO data, the difference in memberships under MIS-104 and EPS was highest for Tamil Nadu at about 94.57 lakh, followed by Maharashtra (26.48 lakh), Himachal Pradesh (16.24 lakh) and Andhra Pradesh (11.17 lakh). For some states, the difference was negative ? Rajasthan (13.93 lakh), Haryana (17.32 lakh), Delhi (2.06 lakh) and Karnataka (1.37 lakh).
?The entire exercise of online filing of challan-cum-receipts and e-passbook is aimed at eliminating discrepancies,? said an EPFO official who had helped in implementing the two schemes.
As on March 31, 2011, EPS had a membership of 6.16 crore. EPFO had settled 32.60 lakh claims on EPS and 3.32 lakh claims were pending.
Currently, the employers contribute 8.33% of the basic salary (up to R6.500 per month) for EPS, while the government pays another 1.16%. While delay in depositing PF contributions attract heavy penal rates, submission of false returns or non-compliance is punishable with imprisonment up to one year.
