PF and ESI are the statutory filings that anchor every Indian payroll cycle: 12% employee plus 12% employer on basic plus DA for Provident Fund, 0.75% plus 3.25% on gross wages for ESI, both deposited by the 15th of the following month, with salary TDS due by the 7th. Indian HRM computes every one of these deductions on the same rules the EPFO, ESIC, and Income Tax department publish, so the deductions and challans match what the portals expect. ECR files, Form 16, and the 24Q return generate from the payroll run itself, and a deadline tracker pings you about three days before every due date. No spreadsheets, no third-party consultant.

PF, ESI, TDS payroll that files itself

PF and ESI are the statutory filings that anchor every Indian payroll cycle: 12% employee plus 12% employer on basic plus DA for Provident Fund, 0.75% plus 3.25% on gross wages for ESI, both deposited by the 15th of the following month, with salary TDS due by the 7th. Indian HRM computes every one of these deductions on the same rules the EPFO, ESIC, and Income Tax department publish, so the deductions and challans match what the portals expect. ECR files, Form 16, and the 24Q return generate from the payroll run itself, and a deadline tracker pings you about three days before every due date. No spreadsheets, no third-party consultant.

The rates the engine applies on every run

Provident Fund is 12% from the employee and 12% from the employer on basic plus DA, with a statutory wage ceiling of ₹15,000 per month (companies can opt for PF on full wages). Of the employer's 12%, 8.33% goes to the Pension Scheme (EPS), capped at ₹1,250 per month, and the rest goes to the PF account. ESI covers anyone earning ₹21,000 or less per month, rising to ₹25,000 for persons with disability, at 0.75% employee and 3.25% employer on gross wages. Gratuity runs on the standard formula: (last drawn salary × 15/26) × years of service, tracked from date of joining. Rates current as of FY 2025-26.

ECR upload in about ten minutes

The monthly EPFO ECR (.txt) is produced straight from the payroll run screen, UAN-validated and formatted to spec, including member ID validation, wage-cap handling, and partial-month proration. Wrong formatting causes rejection at the portal; the file here comes out in the exact text format EPFO accepts. Download it, log in to the unified portal, upload, pay. The whole loop usually takes about ten minutes. ESI half-yearly returns are prepared the same way, so nothing has to be assembled by hand at the last minute.

TDS under Section 192, both regimes

Each employee's annual income is projected under the regime they declared, old or new. TDS is computed on the projection and spread across 12 months, and a March true-up adjusts for actual proofs and any investment declaration shortfall. Under Section 115BAC an employee can pick a regime only once per financial year, so the self-service portal takes the declaration in April and the engine projects from there till March. At year close, Form 16 Part A and Part B, along with Form 12BA for perquisites, are generated for every employee with 80C, 80D, and HRA handled, ready to issue by 15 June as the Income Tax Act requires. Form 24Q and 26Q roll up each quarter with annexures attached, validated against the TRACES file format and ready for FVU upload, with no re-keying of PAN data.

Beyond PF and ESI: PT, LWF, gratuity, bonus

Professional Tax slabs are different in every state, and the product ships with the current rules for Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, and the rest, producing challans state by state with the correct format and due date. Labour Welfare Fund cadence varies wildly (Karnataka is annual, Maharashtra half-yearly); configure the state once and the deduction runs at the right frequency. Statutory bonus between 8.33% and 20% is computed on eligible salary under the Payment of Bonus Act 1965, and the gratuity formula runs at full and final settlement, useful when an employee crosses the five-year mark and you need the number in the F&F sheet without a calculator. When rates change in a Union Budget, the update ships with the next product release rather than a spreadsheet patch.

Deadlines, exits, and the audit trail

Four dates matter every month: the EPFO ECR and PF payment by the 15th (late payments draw interest under Section 7Q of the EPF Act 1952), the ESIC deposit by the 15th of the following month, TDS by the 7th of the next month with March sliding to 30th April, and Form 24Q at each quarter close with Q4 due 31st May. One calendar covers every due date for your entity, with reminders pushed a few days ahead, enough lead time to get the payment through net banking. When an employee resigns, the exit module marks the UAN Date of Exit on EPFO, the F&F engine recovers any pending PF and ESI on final-month wages, and Form 16 is issued for the financial year; UAN portability then carries the balance to the next employer. Every calculation, override, and filing event is timestamped, and the full compliance log exports to CSV for statutory audits or HR diligence.