Can employers charge provident fund (PF) administration charge to employees? A potential employer is showing this as part of my cost to company (CTC). My current employer does not do this. I see this as business expense that should not be recovered from employees. Is there a law against this practice?
—Jobby Kunjachan
The PF administration charges is a charge to be allocated over and above the employer’s PF contribution and logically is to be borne entirely by the employer and hence the employer’s contribution will be increased in addition to the PF contribution. So if an employer contributes 12% of the basic salary the administration charges of 0.65% will be in addition to the 12% and the total cost to employer would be 12.65%. And this additional charge should not be a part of the employee’s CTC and should be an expense head in the profit and loss of the employer’s balance sheet. The employee’s contribution of 12% will be entirely deducted for PF and there will be no charges debited to the employee’s salary.
I am 56 years old and I have opted for early retirement. How can I plan my finances so as to ensure regular income of Rs1 lakh per month for next 20/30 years—considering inflation as well. Details of my assets and income are given below:
