EPFO extends the deadline to opt for higher pension under EPS to July 11

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) extended the deadline to opt for a higher pension to July 11, 2023. The EPFO has extended the deadline again to apply for higher pension for Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) subscribers.

"EPFO extends deadline to apply for higher pension for members till July 11," said PTI in a tweet. Saraswathi Kasturirangan, Partner, Deloitte, said, "Employees face the uncertainty of potential changes in the pension calculation formula. There have been requests to the EPFO to extend the time limit for applying for a higher pension, which the EPFO has considered."

The Employees' Provident Fund Organization ( EPFO ) has enabled an online facility for employees to opt for higher pension contributions. This is in the form of a joint application with the employee using EPFO utility. The link for the same is https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/.

The Supreme Court had ruled that employees who were part of EPF before 01.09.2014 or on 01.09.2014 but could not apply for higher pension can opt for a new option within four months. Following this, the application deadline was extended to 3 May 2023

Post validation, the employee will be required to agree to a Disclaimer message appearing as a part of the application, following which, the employee will be directed towards the next page of the application where PF membership-related information for all the previous active PF/ Pension accounts are required to be furnished along with information on bank accounts and details of contribution along with the supporting documents.

In November 2022, the Supreme Court had upheld the Employees Pension (Amendment) Scheme 2014. After the amendment in EPS provisions dated August 22, 2014, the salary cap for pension was increased from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000 per month.

Post submission of the application by the employee on the EPFO portal, an acknowledgement number will be generated, which can be used by the employee for future reference. Further, the EPFO has also provided a link for tracking the application status for Pension applications on higher wages.

The EPFO has previously extended the deadline twice: first from March 3, 2023, to May 3, 2023, and then to the current date of June 26, 2023.These extensions were necessitated by delays in issuing clarifications and the delayed release of the pension computation method.The recent introduction of the missing contributions calculator has further complicated matters for EPF members, who require additional time to gather necessary information and assess their eligibility for a higher pension.