a. Government and Provincial Councils

    Contributions should be made for the temporary employees of provincial councils.

b. Enterprises which comprise of only family members

    -  If the business is run solely by family members then those businesses are exempted from payment

       of EPF.

    -  If even one external employee is recruited then contributions must be made for that particular 

       employee and all the family members

c. Companies where partners or directors are the only employees

    If the above parties are paid for their services then contributions should be made

The employee status or the designation is irrelevant to the contribution to EPF. Employees working on piece rate, contract basis, commission basis, work performed basis or any manner what so ever are eligible for contributions to EPF.

a. Pensioned people employed in your business

b. Students above 14 years of age who work after school hours

c. People who work in your company as well as in another at the same time

d. People who rotate or migrate from one place of work to another

e. Contract workers

f. People who have obtained a refund and re-employed

g. Expatriate employees

Yes the employer is liable to contribute to EPF for the above persons.

Regardless of the nature and the category of your business, an employer of even one employee is legally bound to pay contributions to the Fund.

Within 14 days of the recruitment of the first employee “FORM-D” should be filled in duplicate, certified and sent by registered post to the nearest Labour Office or directly to the Commissioner of Labour. A prompt reply will be sent along with the registration number and two letters of the English Alphabet indicating the revenue district.

Providing members with membership numbers is the sole responsibility of the employer.
The first employee should be given No.1, second employee No. 2 etc…

With the company EPF registration number / and the employee number the total membership number is as follows;

E.g. :  Company EPF Reg. No : 75357/A
           Employee number : 01
           Employee membership number : 75357/A/01

If an employee leaves employment at your company and rejoins later, it is always advisable to assign him / her with a new membership number. If the employee has already claimed the benefits then a new number is mandatory.

Note:

The membership number is the number referred to in the Central Bank reference documents. For no reason should the same number be assigned to two employees. In the case of a mistake made by the employer in the assignment of membership number, it is the employer’s total responsibility to solve the problem. The EPF cannot be held responsible in any manner.

The contribution should be made for the total earnings of an employee
 

The total earnings should include the following

        Salary, Wages or Fees

        Cost of Living allowance, Special Living allowance and other similar allowances

        Payment with respect to holidays

        The cash value of cooked or uncooked food supplied by the Employer to the Employee

         (The determination of such values will eventually be made by the Commissioner of Labour)

        Food allowance

        Any other kinds of remuneration that may be specified

        Payments in the form of discounts (commissions), piece-rate payments and contract basis

         payments

Payment of contributions

        Obtain 3 copies of “Form-C” (issued free) from the nearest Labour Office or download from the

         EPF website

        Fill the “Form-C (s)” in triplicate

        The original should be submitted to the Collection counter of the EPF at the 2nd Floor of the 

         Ceylinco House in Fort or post it to;

                    The Superintendent,
                    Employee’s Provident Fund,
                    Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
                    P.O. Box 1299
                    Colombo.

With a cheque written in favor of the “The Superintendent of EPF”. A receipt should be obtained and should be kept for future reference.

        The second copy should be forwarded to the nearest Labour Office

        The third copy should be filed for future reference

An employee should be registered with the EPF within 14 days of appointment. For registration, forms “A, B, H” should be obtained free of charge from the labour department of the area. The duly filled and attested documents should be returned to the Labour Department of the area upon which the “B” card will be returned to the employer. The “B” card should be handed over to the employee by the employer.

Note:

When filling the A, B, H forms the identification, marriage and family member information should be properly checked and the fingerprints should be properly recorded.

A report in the following format should be prepared, attested and sent.

Model :

Member Account Correction Report
 

Company Registration Number ..............................
Company / Estate name ..............................

Year & Month	Member Name	Mistaken Membership No.	Corrected Membership No.	Contribution Information	Other

I certify that the information in the above document is true to my knowledge. I hereby request the records to be corrected as stated above.

                                                                             ...............................................

Date : ...........................                               Signature of Employer (Rubber Stamp)

If the membership number is wrong in both B and C forms then, for the total duration of contribution to those accounts, a report as above, for each individual, should be sent accompanied by the B card, to the Labour Department of the area.

If the membership number is only wrong in the C form then a report as above for the total duration of contribution should be sent to;

        The Superintendent,
        Employees' Provident Fund,
        Central Bank,
        Colombo 01.

A duly certified letter indicating the member name, mistaken membership number, correct number, cause of error and a request for correction should be sent to the Labour Department of the respective area. The “B” card with the mistaken membership number should also accompany this letter.

If the member name is wrong only in the “C” form, a report indicating the error, the corrected name, the cause of error and the amount paid should be sent to EPF. A copy of the report should be sent to the Labour Department of the respective area.

If the member name is wrong in forms “A, B, H” a letter informing the error, correction and the cause of error should be sent to the labour department of the respective area. A letter of request for correction of name should be sent to the Labour Department by the employee concerned as well.

When claiming benefits, as proof of identity of the member, fingerprint verification is used by the EPF and the Labour Department. Obtaining proper and clear fingerprints from the employee, using forms “A”,”B”,”H” will benefit the employee immensely when claiming benefits and against malpractices.

To obtain fingerprints equipment and ink specified by the Labour Department should be used. Thumbprints of members are required for the following forms.

“A, B, E, G, H, I, J, K, L, M”

(i)   Payroll information, cheque roll information, extra allowance information, labour registry

(ii)  Attendance information

(iii)  Proof of payment of benefits (Central bank receipts, Cheque numbers, Registered post receipts

       etc…)

(iv) Third copy of the “C” certificate

(i)   Cheque

(ii)   Money Order

(iii)  Bank Drafts

(iv) Cash (Bank of Ceylon Taprobane branch or People’s Bank First City Branch)

(v)  Direct Debit

(i)  The payment amounts in numbers and words should match

(ii)  The total of “C/C3” form value, the “C1” form value and the cheque or money order amount should

       match

(iii)  Cheque should be in favor of “Superintendent EPF”

(iv)  Should be duly signed by authorized person

(v)   When a correction is made in the cheque the authorized person should certify such corrections

(vi)   Post dated cheques or outdated cheques should not be sent

(vii) The date on the cheque should be clearly filled

(viii) The cheque should not be bounced

(ix)  The cheques can be posted or handed over in person

(x)   ETF cheques should not be sent to EPF

       If the number of employees in the organization exceeds 150, monthly contributions can be made 

         using “Form-C1” and special permission can be sought from the Commissioner of Labour to send 

         the particulars of the contributions for each member once every six months using a “Form-C3”.

        Contributions sent without C forms are not credited to the Employee’s account and will lead to

         complications and penalties.

        Sending through electronic media is encouraged for such organizations as manual data entry may

         lead to difficulties

(i)  Failure to mention the period for which contributions are made in the “C/C1” forms.

(ii) The period of contribution is incorrectly recorded in the “C/C1” forms.

(iii) When a copy of an old “C1” is used, the period of contribution is not changed.

(i) Since 1999 two statements are issued a year.

     a.  1st half yearly statement for January to June (for the current year)

     b.  2nd Annual statement at the end of the year which contains the total contribution and

          accumulated balance for the whole year.

(ii) The statements are issued only if the “C/C3” forms are received within the relevant time period. The

     January – June forms should be received before the 31st July and the July – December forms before

     the 31st January of the following year.With a cheque written in favor of the “The Superintendent of 

     EPF”. A receipt should be obtained and should be kept for future reference.

The new address should be informed to the following institutions as soon as possible.

       Assistant Labour Commissioner
       Administration Department,
       EPF Secretariat Office,
       No. 356,
       Galle Road,
       Colombo 03.

      Assistant Superintendent,
Current Contributions Division
Employees Provident Fund,
Central Bank of Sri Lanka,
P.O. Box 1299
Colombo 01.

If the new address is not informed as soon as possible the “C/C3” forms, receipts and bi-annual account information summary will not be delivered to the employer and may lead to great inconvenience.

       The nature of the job is irrelevant. All employees should be enrolled whether they are permanent,

         temporary, apprentice, casual or shift workers.

         the particulars of the contributions for each member once every six months using a “Form-C3”.

        Employees working on piece rate, contract basis, commission basis, work performed basis or any

         manner what so ever are eligible for membership.

Providing members with membership numbers is the sole responsibility of the employer.

With the company EPF registration number / and the employee number the total membership number is as follows;

eg : Company EPF Reg. No : 75357/A
        Employee number : 01
        Employee membership number : 75357/A/01

An employee should be registered with the EPF within 14 days of appointment. It is your responsibility to remind the employer of this. For registration, forms “A, B, H” should be used and will be provided to you by the employer. The duly filled and attested documents should be sent to the Labour Department of the area upon which the “B” card will be returned to the employer. The certified and attested B card will be returned to you. It is advised that the B card be safely kept with you due to the fact that it will be necessary for future interaction with EPF.

Note:

When filling the A, B, H forms the identification, marriage and family member information should be properly checked and the fingerprints should be properly recorded for your own future benefit.

No you don’t. The previous B card can be forwarded to the new employer and a G form should be filled. The G form with the B card shall be sent to the Labour Department of the area by the employer and after processing the B card with the new membership number will be returned to the employer. You will receive the new B card from the employer.

In case of a lost B card, a money order drawn in favor of the Commissioner General of Labour with Colombo as the paying office for Rs. 1.00 , should be sent with a completed B card addressed to the Assistant Labour Commissioner of Accounts Division, No 356, Galle Road, Colombo 03 to receive a copy of the B card.

Or you can visit the Central Records Division of the Labour Dept Head Office, 9th Floor, Colombo 5 and obtain a copy of the B card by paying Rs.1.00.

The following documents are required for the change of name

(i)   A document indicating the name in the B card, the correct name and a certificate from the employer

      disclosing that both the names refer to the same person and that there is no other person by that 

      name

(ii)  Employer certified copies of the birth or marriage certificates. (In case of marriage, the marriage

      certificate should be sent)

(iii) Certified NIC copy. (Can be certified by the GS of the area or the Deputy Labour Commissioner of

      the area)

(iv)  B card

The request should be handed over to the Labour Office of the area. The new B card with the corrected name will be sent to the employer. The name in the A, B, H forms will also be changed.

The name in the B card should be compared with the name in the annual account summary issued by the Central Bank. In case of mismatch further assistance should be sought from the Central Bank regarding correction.

If the registration number in the B card is wrong, it should be immediately brought to the employer’s attention. Correcting the B card is the responsibility of the employer. If the employer takes no action the employee can get assistance through the Labour Department of the area.

When claiming benefits, as proof of identity of the member, fingerprint verification is used by the EPF and the Labour Department. Placing clear fingerprints of the correct member in the forms “A”,”B”,”H” will benefit the employee immensely when claiming benefits and against malpractices.

(i)   The application will be checked against existing documents by the Labour Commissioner.

(ii)  If the records don’t match with the application, the application will be returned to you with a letter of

      explanation.

(iii) If the records are in order, a letter will be sent to the Central Bank with a request for payment of

      benefits. This letter will be copied to you. After examining the details in the letter of payment, the

      Central Bank will re-check the information against their records. If every thing is in order payment

      will be made.

(i)  The application form should be completely filled and accurate

(ii)  Membership number and NIC number should be accurate

(iii)  Crediting account number, bank name, branch and account name should be accurately filled

(iv)  If a housing loan has been obtained, the credit account (for payment of benefit) also should be in

       the same bank. The housing loan form (14), attested by the bank and the district Labour

       Commissioner, should be forwarded with the application. If the housing loan has not been taken

       after approval, housing loan form (2) original and copy should be sent with the application.

(v)   If a bank with money transferring capabilities, the transfer and claim of benefits will be faster.

(vi)  If in a company which exceeds 150 employees, the D form for the contributions of the prior 6

        months should be duly filled and attested by the employer

(vii) The last month of payment of benefits should be properly checked and filled

(viii) Depending on the type of re-claim of contributions the proper certificates should be attached to the

       application

(ix)  The name in the B card / The name in the NIC / The name in the Birth certificate /The name in the

       bank account that refunds will be credited/ The name in the Central Bank records should be the

       same and if they do not match a certificate of verification, indicating that those names are of the

       same person, should be attached to the application.

(i)  If the name in the application does not match with the name in the Labour Department records, a 

      letter form the employer certifying the correct name and the member number, should be sent.

(ii)  If the membership number does not match, a letter indicating the correct number, name and

      explanation for the error, should be obtained from the employer

(iii) If two people are registered under the same membership number, a complete explanation regarding

      the dates and amounts should be obtained from the employer and should be sent to the Labour   

      Commissioner. Your membership number should be indicated.

(iv) After acknowledgement of application the processing will be concluded in 6 weeks. In case it has not

      been processed by 6 weeks a member can inquire by quoting the reference number.

(v) All marriage certificates, death certificates, birth certificates, appointment letters etc. will be

      scrutinized. Forgery is an offence and legal action will be filed.

(a.)   Name should be properly recorded in all documents (last name with initials as indicated in the NIC)

(b.)   The NIC number should be accurate

(c.)   The name, account information and membership number should be checked in the annual account

         summary issued by the Central Bank.

(d.)   When using G form to amalgamate accounts, claiming of benefits or applying for a housing loan,

         the name and the NIC number should be identical to the records.

The cumulative balance of your EPF account, maintained by the Central Bank, is invested in Securities guaranteed by the Government of Sri Lanka. Therefore the annual dividends are credited to your account at compound interest. Thus your investment in time and money is safe, sound and growing annually in the hands of EPF.

(i)  When there are discrepancies in the account balances

(ii)  When a previous loan is not repaid

(iii) When the accounts with respect to a previous loan are inactive

(i)  Form 2- Account balance certificate

(ii) No 11, Loan grant conformation

(iii) No 14, Certificate of completion of loan repayment or the amount due

(iv) No 12, Failure of repayment (default application filled by the bank)

(a.)   When the Loan is applied for but not taken
         The original and the duplicate of the certificate of balance issued by the Central Bank (White and 

         Pink of the EPF Loan “Form-2”) should be submitted along with the K form.

(b.)   When the loan received has been settled

         Four copies of the EPF housing Loan “Form-14” should be submitted along with the K form.

(c.)   When there is an amount outstanding on the loan

         The EPF housing Loan “Form-14” in quadruplicate, certified by the lending institution concerned 

         and the Assistant Commissioner of Labour of the area should be submitted along with the K form.

Note:
If the member opens a current account or a savings account in the bank, which the member obtained a housing loan, the processing time of the refund can be minimized.