Found anomalies in your EPS remittances? EPFO explains how you can get refund for wrong contribution
Dec 23, 2025
Synopsis
Employers are making mistakes with Employees Pension Scheme contributions. Some members are wrongly included, while eligible ones are excluded. The Employees Provident Fund Organisation has released new guidelines. These will help field offices correct these errors. The aim is to ensure members receive their rightful pension benefits. This will streamline service delivery for all.
Is your employer not contributing to your Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) account while you are a member of it? Or, your employer is contributing to EPS even though you are not a member of the pension scheme? EPFO says that it has been getting many instances of erroneous remittance of EPS contributions for members ineligible for EPS or non-remittance of EPS contributions for members eligible for EPS membership by the employers.
EPFO has issued guidelines for field offices handling cases of such employees. The guidelines describe the possible scenarios of such erroneous remittances as well as the rectifications to be carried out to get a refund in such cases.
According to the EPFO circular issued on December 19, 2025, “Instances of erroneous remittance of EPS contributions for members ineligible for EPS or non-remittance of EPS contributions for members eligible for EPS membership by the employers have posed a challenge in efficient service delivery to such members. Accordingly, the possible scenarios of such erroneous remittances as well as the rectifications to be carried out are provided as below for uniform compliance by all the Field Offices.”
The guidelines focus on two broad situations: where EPS membership was wrongly allowed to ineligible members, and where EPS membership was wrongly denied to eligible members.
Scenario I: EPS Membership wrongly allowed to ineligible members
| Establishment Type | PF Contributions | Pension Contributions | Rectification to be done | Physical amount to be transferred (Y/N) |
| Unexempted | Remitted to EPFO (A/c No.1) | Erroneously Remitted in A/c No.10 of EPFO | • Erroneously remitted EPS contributions need to worked out along with interest @ declared rate by EPFO • Worked out total amount to be physically transferred from A/c No.10 to A/c No.1 by EPFO • Corresponding erroneous Pension Service need to be deleted in the Member’s Account by EPFO |
Yes (Within EPFO) |
| Exempted | Remitted to Trust | Erroneously Remitted in A/c No.10 of EPFO |
• Erroneously remitted EPS contributions need to worked out along with interest @ declared rate by EPFO |
Yes (EPFO to Trust) |
Scenario II: EPS membership wrongly denied to eligible members
| Establishment Type | PF Contributions | Pension Contributions | Rectification to be done | Physical amount to be transferred (Y/N) |
| Unexempted | Remitted to EPFO (A/c No.1) | Erroneously Remitted in A/c No.1 instead of A/c No.10 of EPFO | • Due EPS contributions need to worked out along with interest @ declared interest rate by EPFO • Worked out total amount to be physically transferred from A/c No.1 to A/c No.10 by EPFO • Corresponding Pension Service along with Non-Contributory Period (NCP), if any, need to be credited to the Member’s Account by EPFO |
Yes (Within EPFO) |
| Exempted | Remitted to Trust | Erroneously Remitted in PF Trust instead of A/c No.10 of EPFO | • Due EPS contributions need to worked out along with interest @ Trust declared rate by EXEMPTED TRUST • Worked out total amount to be physically transferred from Trust to A/c No.10 by EXEMPTED TRUST • Corresponding Pension Service along with Non-Contributory Period (NCP), if any, need to be credited to the Member’s Account by EPFO |
Yes (Trust to EPFO) |
[The Economic Times]
