EPFO comes with another extension of the deadline for employers to upload wage details of employees opting for higher pensions till 31st May 2024. Earlier the deadline was December 31, 2023.
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.
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.
Earlier an online facility was made available by EPFO for submitting Applications for Validation of Option /Joint Options for pension on higher wages. The facility was for eligible pensioners/members in compliance with the Hon’ble Supreme Court order dated 04.11.2022.
The facility was launched on 26.02.2023 and was to remain available only till 03.05.2023. However, considering the representations of the employees, the time limit was extended to 26.06.2023 to provide a complete four months to eligible pensioners/members for filing applications.
A last opportunity of 15 days was further given to remove any difficulty faced by the eligible pensioners/ members. Accordingly, the last date for submission of Applications for Validation of Options / Joint Options by employees was extended to 11.07.2023. 17.49 lakh Applications for Validation of Option / Joint Options have been received from pensioners/members till 11.07.2023.
In view of representations received from Employers & Employers’ Associations wherein requests were made to extend time period for uploading wage details of applicant pensioners/members, the employers were also given further period of three months to submit wage details etc. online latest by 30.09.2023.
This time was further extended till 31.12.2023 because many representations were received from Employers & Employers’ Associations wherein requests were made to extend further time period for uploading wage details of applicant pensioners/members.
More than 3.6 lakh Applications for Validation of Option / Joint Options are still pending with the employers for processing.
Therefore, in order to ensure that employers process these remaining Applications for Validation of Option / Joint Options, the Chairman, CBT EPF has kindly approved the proposal to grant another extension of time for the employers for uploading wage details online etc till 31st May, 2024.
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