India compliance
EPF, ESI, professional tax, labour welfare fund, TDS, new form numbers and files to upload.
India compliance is on the Professional plan, and in the free trial. It applies to a business on the India edition. The menu item is PF, ESI & tax.
Rules and rates change, and state rules vary. Check compliance figures before you rely on them, and check sample payslips before your first real run. The app doesn't file returns or pay anyone. It makes files and data for you or your accountant to use.
Rates
Rates are stored with the date they start, so a run uses the rate in force on its date. Your own rate wins over Ellibo's on the same date. Where published figures differ, the pay run uses the best-supported one and tells you to confirm it. The rates table marks these Please confirm. Where no single figure can be given, the pay run asks you to enter it.
EPF
For each person you can turn EPF on or off, and choose full wages or up to the ceiling. A run works out:
- the employee's share
- the employer's share, split between pension (EPS) and EPF
- EDLI and admin charges
A run warns you when someone has no UAN.
ESI
A person is covered when their regular pay is within the wage limit, and stays covered until the end of that contribution period (April to September, or October to March). Below the daily limit, there is no employee share. A run warns you when someone has no ESI number.
Professional tax and labour welfare fund
These go by the state of the person's location, so give each location a state. Without one, professional tax is skipped and a run warns you.
If a state's rate is missing, the pay run skips it for those people and warns you. To add a rate or replace ours, go to PF, ESI & tax and click + Add a state rate.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu charge professional tax twice a year on six months' pay, and local bodies collect it. The app takes it in one month of each half-year: August and February for Kerala, September and March for Tamil Nadu. Someone who leaves pays in their last month. Tamil Nadu's amounts are Greater Chennai Corporation's, so a business elsewhere in the state should enter its own local body's amounts, ticking Charged twice a year.
Kerala's labour welfare fund depends on which Act covers your business, so the pay run asks you to enter it.
TDS on salary
Each month, the app works out the year's tax from what was paid, this month and the months to come. It takes off what was already taken, and spreads the rest over the months left. One-off pay is taxed in the month it is paid.
- Regime - each person is on the new or old regime, under My tax.
- Declarations - on the old regime, people enter rent, investments, insurance and a home loan. Payroll can verify them, and verified amounts take their place.
- A previous employer - people can enter income and tax from a job earlier in the year.
- No PAN - a run warns you, as tax may have to be taken at a higher rate.
- High income - above the surcharge limit, a run warns you. Relief near those limits isn't worked out, so an accountant should check.
Contractors
Mark someone as a contractor. They get contractor TDS instead of EPF, ESI and salary TDS, once the yearly or single-payment limit is passed. Choose the section on their record, or enter a rate.
Labour Code wages
If allowances are more than half of pay, the excess counts as wages. A run tells you how much.
New form numbers
Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, familiar forms have new numbers:
| New | What was | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Form 130 | Form 16 | The yearly salary tax certificate |
| Form 138 | Form 24Q | The quarterly TDS return for salaries |
| Form 140 | Form 26Q | The quarterly TDS return for contractors |
The app gives you:
- Form 130: a yearly statement to support Part B, on each person's tax page. Part A comes from the tax department's portal. Have your accountant check the statement before you issue it.
- Forms 138 and 140: data for each quarter, for your accountant or the return utility. It isn't a file already validated for filing.
Files for each month
Under PF, ESI & tax, choose the month and download:
- EPF return (ECR) - a text file for the EPFO portal. People without a 12-digit UAN are left out, and the page names them.
- ESI contributions - an Excel 97-2003 (.xls) file for the ESIC portal's monthly upload. People without a 10-digit ESI number are left out, and the page names them. Someone with no wages this month appears with a reason code: 1 on leave, 2 left service, or 4 out of coverage. Change the code if a different reason applies. The portal takes up to 500 people at a time.
Portals change their formats, so compare your first file with the portal's sample, and have your accountant check the figures. If a portal rejects a file, tell us.
Paying the dues
The page shows what you owe, from the payable accounts in your books. When you have paid on the portal, click Record payment, and enter the amount, date, the account you paid from and the challan number.