EPF ECR File Generator (and ESIC Monthly Sheet)

About the EPF ECR File Generator (and ESIC Monthly Sheet)

Every month an employer with EPF-covered staff uploads an ECR (Electronic Challan-cum-Return) on the EPFO employer portal: a text file with one line per member — UAN, name, gross, EPF, EPS and EDLI wages, the employee’s and employer’s contributions, NCP days and refunds — and it is rejected if a line breaks the rules. This generator makes that file from your payroll sheet (Excel, CSV or rows pasted from a spreadsheet) and checks every member first: the wage ceiling (₹15,000 until 16 September 2026 and ₹25,000 from 17 September, with September 2026 split by days), EPS only for EPS members and not after 58 unless deferred, EPS wages never above EPF wages, contributions not below the statutory rate, NCP days within the month, UANs and names in the form the portal takes.

Once the result is unlocked, you get the ECR .txt (or .zip), a check sheet with every line, its checks and an estimate of the challan accounts (A/c 1, 2, 10 and 21), and — when the sheet has ESI IP numbers — an ESIC monthly contribution sheet with days, wages and the 0.75% and 3.25% shares. Already have an ECR file? Drop it here to check it line by line. Nothing is uploaded: the payroll stays on your device.

Common uses

• A small employer or HR office filing the monthly ECR without payroll software.
• A CA or payroll consultant preparing ECR files for several client establishments from their Excel payrolls.
• Checking an ECR file made by other software before uploading it, especially for September 2026 and the new ceiling.

The ECR file

An ECR line has 11 fields in this order, separated by #~#, with no heading row and whole rupees only: UAN, member name, gross wages, EPF wages, EPS wages, EDLI wages, EPF contribution (employee share), EPS contribution, EPF-EPS difference (employer’s EPF share), NCP days and refund of advances. Lines end with CRLF, as in the sample file of EPFO’s ECR validation tool. The UAN is 12 digits; the name starts with a letter and has only letters, spaces and dots (85 at most) — other characters are dropped, and the name in the UAN record is what counts. The file name has only letters and digits (ECR202610.txt); a text file above 2 MB is uploaded as a .zip holding just that file, up to 8 MB. EPFO says the format is unchanged in the revamped ECR (its FAQs, Q16), where regular, supplementary and revised returns are all uploaded as such .txt files (user manual).

How the amounts are worked out

• EPF wages = the wages for PF (Basic + DA, or the Code wages from the pay columns with the 50% rule) up to the ceiling — or full wages when PF is paid on them.
• EPS wages = wages up to the ceiling for EPS members, 0 for others; EDLI wages = EPF wages up to the ceiling.
• Employee share = 12% of EPF wages (+ VPF); the employer pays 12% too, of which EPS = 8.33% of EPS wages and the rest, the EPF-EPS difference, goes to EPF. With the 10% rate, both shares are 10% and EPS stays 8.33%.
• September 2026: the ceiling is ₹15,000 for 1–16 September and ₹25,000 for 17–30 September, worked out day by day in one ECR; members newly covered from 17 September and EPF members who join EPS on that day are marked “new” or “eps” in a September 2026 column (EPFO wage-ceiling FAQs, Q7–Q9).
• Age 58: EPS is not payable from the 58th birthday unless the member is flagged for deferred pension; the revamped ECR restricts it automatically (FAQs, Q11 and Q14). In the birthday month the default is EPS for the days before it; choose “no EPS” or “whole month” under More rules if your return statement shows otherwise.
• Challan accounts (estimate): A/c 1 = employee + employer EPF; A/c 10 = EPS; A/c 21 = 0.5% of EDLI wages; A/c 2 = 0.5% of EPF wages, at least ₹500 (₹75 with no contributing member). The portal works out the challan, with interest under section 7Q and damages under section 14B if payment is late.

The rules are the same as in the PF & ESI contribution calculator, which works through one employee step by step.

What is checked

Before a line goes into the file: the UAN (12 digits, once per file), the name, amounts as whole numbers of up to 10 digits, gross wages at least EPF wages, EPS wages at most EPF wages, EDLI wages equal to EPF wages up to the ceiling, the employee share not below the statutory rate, EPS not above 8.33% of EPS wages and 0 for non-members and members past 58, the employer’s two parts adding up to its share, and NCP days as whole days within the month (all of them when there were no wages). When your sheet already has the contributions, they are used and checked; untick that under More rules to have them worked out instead. Rows with an error are left out and listed; warnings and notes stay in.

The ESIC monthly sheet

For members with an ESI IP number, the sheet lists the IP number and name, the days for which wages were paid (from a days column, else the days of the month less NCP days), the month’s wages (an ESI wages column, else gross wages), the reason code for zero working days and the last working day from your columns, and the employee’s 0.75% and employer’s 3.25% shares, each rounded up to the next rupee. A member is covered when the ESI wages less overtime are within the ESI ceiling (₹21,000 a month, ₹25,000 for a person with disability — ESIC: coverage; an input here). Overtime counts for the contributions but not for coverage (ESIC: wages). When ESI is still payable for a member whose wages are now above the ceiling, mark the member Y in an ESI covered column. No employee share is due when the average daily wage is at most ₹176 (ESIC: contribution). Copy the columns into the monthly contribution template you download from the ESIC employer portal.

Limitations

• It makes the monthly return file; arrear files and the challan itself are prepared on the portal.
• EPS membership depends on wages at joining and on old EPF records: members who joined after 1 September 2014 with wages above the ceiling of the time are not in EPS, but those within ₹25,000 on 17 September 2026 joined it that day (EPFO wage-ceiling FAQs, Q9 and Q13). Mark members outside EPS N in an EPS member column — the payroll cannot tell.
• The portal also checks each UAN against its records (linked to the establishment, date of joining and exit); those checks need the portal itself.
• The ESIC sheet is a working sheet for the monthly contribution upload, not the portal’s own template file.
• An aid for preparing the return, not legal or payroll advice. The employer answers for the return: compare the portal’s return statement with your payroll before approving it.

Privacy

The payroll is read and the files are made in this browser: no member data is uploaded. Your settings and the column choices for a sheet layout are kept in this browser’s local storage.