We are a registered charitable trust. We need to pay the partial monthly salaries of some employees from both of our FC & Local funds. Kindly let us know how we should deduct & pay the monthly EPF dues from the said salaries. You are well aware that the EPFO recommends to clear the monthly EPF dues of an employee online through a single challan only. Besides, we can’t mix FC funds with Local funds as per FCRA regulations also.
While two EPF challans for a particular reporting period can be made, reconciliation and credits becomes a challenge. The general practice is:
(a) pay the full contribution for some periods from FC funds and some periods from domestic funds if a balance can be achieved
(b) if (a) is not feasible, then payment maybe made from one stream only and the surplus/deficit adjusted in respective books.
The above practice is not a rule but since it is payment of statutory dues (employee benefit), a very harsh view may not be taken by the Department.
CS Sharad Bhargava