Employers can now validate e-challan offline

Retirement fund body EPFO on Friday said it has provided an offline tool for employers for validating the ECR or EPF return (electronic challan cum return) before uploading it to the unified portal.

"In order to assist the employer to create the correct ECR file every month, EPFO has provided an offline tool for employers for validating ECR before uploading at Unified Portal," the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) said in a statement.

According to the statement, this tool will facilitate the employers to pre-validate the ECR and also carry out amendments in the ECR file before uploading on Unified Portal. It is available for download at www.epfindia.gov.in.

The ECR is a monthly return filed by the employer every month through employer e-sewa portal.

The return has member-wise details of the wages and contributions including basic details for the new and existing members (who have joined or have left service in the wage month for which the return is uploaded).

The approval of uploaded ECR results in the generation of the challan using which the employer has to remit the EPF and allied dues, it said.