Higher Pension Scheme EPFO: Deadline Extended till May 3rd on EPFO Pension Portal

Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) on Monday announced a new deadline of May 3 for such employees, ten days after the application window for higher pension applications for those employees who had retired before September 1, 2014, and had exercised joint options with employers but whose options were not previously considered closed.

Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) had activated the unified portal whereby their subscribers could sign up for higher pensions. The provision states that it requires employers and employees to jointly seek permission from the EPFO to contribute higher amounts from their basic salaries than what is stipulated under the Employee Provident Scheme.

In terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions handled, EPFO is one of the largest social security organizations in the world. It currently maintains 24.77 crore accounts for its members (Annual Report 2019–20).

The government has also been working towards raising the PF contribution ceiling which was Rs. 5,000 until June 2001, before being raised to Rs. 6,500 and then furthermore to Rs. 15,000 in September 2014.

Despite these ‘contribution ceilings’; you can actually contribute 12% of your basic salary to the employee provident fund. This contribution needs to be met with a matching contribution by the employer as well.

On November 15, 1951, the Workers' Provident Funds Ordinance was enacted, creating the Employees' Provident Fund. The Workers' Provident Funds Act, of 1952 took its place. The Workers' Provident Funds Bill, which established provident funds for workers in factories and other establishments, was introduced in Parliament as Bill Number 15 of 1952.

This aligns these employees' application deadline for a higher pension with that of the other group of employees who began working before and after September 1, 2014.

"Up to 03/03/2023, the EPFO website offered employees who retired before 01.09.2014 and had executed joint options prior to retirement the ability to submit applications online for the validation of joint options. The deadline for submitting applications for the validation of joint options from such employees has now been extended until May 3, 2023, at the request of the employees' and employers' associations, according to a labor ministry release.