Asked by a reader in Bengaluru

My employer deducts PF from my salary but is not depositing it. What can I do?

Answered by Advocate Sharan Jain··Employment & Labour Law

Short answer

Check your UAN passbook to confirm the default, then file on the EPFO grievance portal EPFiGMS and with the Regional PF Commissioner, who can hold a Section 7A enquiry, recover the dues with damages and interest, and prosecute. Deducting and not depositing is a serious offence.

Deducting the employee's share from salary and not remitting it is not a mere compliance lapse. It is the employer using your money, and the statute treats it seriously.

Step 1: verify the default

Log in to the EPFO member portal with your UAN and download the passbook. It shows month-by-month credits for the employee and employer shares. Compare against your salary slips. Print or save the passbook and the slips; that comparison is your entire case.

Step 2: written demand

Write to HR and the employer's authorised signatory, itemising the months not credited, and asking for the ECR challans as proof of remittance. Keep it factual and keep the reply.

Step 3: EPFO

  1. File a grievance on EPFiGMS, the EPFO's online grievance system, with the passbook extract and salary slips.
  2. Write to the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner having jurisdiction over the establishment.
  3. The Commissioner can initiate an enquiry under Section 7A of the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 to determine the amount due, and can levy damages under Section 14B and interest under Section 7Q.
  4. Recovery can proceed as arrears of land revenue, including attachment of the employer's bank accounts.
The employee's share is held in trust
The amount deducted from your wages is your money. Failure to deposit it after deduction attracts Section 405 IPC, now Section 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, criminal breach of trust, in addition to the penal provisions of the EPF Act itself. Saying so in your written demand tends to concentrate minds.

Practical points

  • Do not resign and then start chasing. Raise it while employed if you safely can, because access to records is easier.
  • If several colleagues are affected, complain together. EPFO acts far faster on a collective complaint about an establishment than on a single member grievance.
  • Keep your UAN activated and KYC seeded, so that transfer and withdrawal are not blocked later by the same employer's inaction.
  • Non-deposit also affects your pension service under EPS, so raise it even if the amounts look small.

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Go deeper on this

This answer is the short version. These guides cover the same ground in full, with the procedure, the timelines and the leading cases.

SJ

Answered by

Advocate Sharan Jain

Advocate based in Bangalore, practising before the Karnataka High Court and District, Sessions, Consumer and Family courts. Answers public legal questions to make Indian law more accessible.

This answer is general information on Indian law as at July 27, 2026, published for public education. It is not legal advice, it does not take account of your facts, and reading it does not create an advocate-client relationship. Law changes and every case turns on its own circumstances. Please consult a qualified advocate about your own matter.

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