Online Facility To Submit Joint Option Form For Higher EPS Pension ‘Coming Soon’, Says EPFO

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation came out with a procedure to enable subscribers and their employers to jointly apply for higher pensions under the Employees' Pension Scheme

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation announced on its portal that online facility for employees to file a declaration opting for higher pensions jointly with their employers is coming soon.

The portal runs a ticker noting: “Supreme Court Judgement dated 04.11.2022 in the matter Special Leave Petition (c) Nos. 8658-8659 of 2019 In compliance of the direction contained in the para 44 (iii) & (iv) read with Para 44(v) of the judgement (for employees who were in service prior to 01.09.2014 and continued to be in service on or after 01.09.2014 but could not exercise joint option under erstwhile proviso to para 11(3) of EPS-1995), online facility for filing joint option is coming soon".

What are the documents required to submit for a higher pension under EPS?

A joint option form has to be submitted to opt for a higher pension under the Employees Pension Scheme (EPS) 1995. The form will include a declaration from both employer and employee for a higher contribution towards EPS equal to 8.33 per cent of the actual wages per month in the future.

The last date to submit the application for a higher pension under the EPS is March 3. The deadline is just seven days away for the submission of the form. The EPFO issued guidelines on eligibility for and methods of applying for a higher pension for existing employees on February 20, 2023.

Those eligible subscribers can opt for higher pension who either contributed on actual wages higher than Rs 5,000 or Rs 6,500 per month prevalent threshold pensionable salary or exercised their option for higher pension or their request for higher pension was declined by EPFO authorities before the amendment to EPS-95 in 2014.

It is believed that seven days including a weekend, is a rather short period for eligible employees to fully understand the requirements and collect the documents required to apply for a higher pension.

The EPFO circular issued on February 20 stated that "a facility will be provided for which URL (unique resource location) will be informed shortly. Once received, the regional PF commissioner shall put an adequate notice on the notice board and banners for wider public information".

It provided that each application will be registered, and digitally logged and the receipt number will be provided to the applicant. It further stated that the officer in-charge of the concerned regional provident fund office shall examine each case of a joint option on a higher salary and intimate the decision to the applicant through e-mail/post and later through SMS also.

With few days left before the deadline and a long list of documents to be gathered for the submission, many employees would prefer an extension of the deadline.