Dear All,
My question is what are the steps to establish provident fund for employees in the company.
What are the legal steps to establish gratuity scheme in a company?
Plz read, Recognised provident Fund, Patr I of The Sixth Schedule of Income Tax Ordinance,2001
<center>THE SIXTH SCHEDULE
PART I
RECOGNISED PROVIDENT FUNDS
[See sections 2([48] ) and 21(e)] </center> 1. <b>Recognition of provident funds. â </b> (1) The Commissioner may accord recognition to any provident fund which, in his opinion, complies with the requirements of rule 2, and may at any time, withdraw such recognition if, in his opinion, the circumstances of the fund cease to warrant the continuance of the recognition.
(2) An order according recognition shall take effect on such date as the Commissioner may fix in accordance with such rules as the Central Board of Revenue may make in this behalf, such date not being later than the last day of the financial year in which the order is made.
(3) An order according recognition to a provident fund shall not, unless the Commissioner otherwise directs, be affected by the fact that the fund is subsequently amalgamated with another provident fund on the occurrence of an amalgamation of the undertakings in connection with which the two funds are maintained or that it subsequently absorbs the whole or a part of another provident fund belonging to an undertaking which is wholly or in part transferred to, or merged in, the undertaking of the employer maintaining the first-mentioned fund.
(4) An order withdrawing recognition shall take effect from such date as the Commissioner may fix.
(5) The Commissioner shall neither refuse nor withdraw recognition of any provident fund, unless he has given to the trustees of the fund a reasonable opportunity of being heard.
<b>2. Conditions for approval.- </b>
(1) In order that a provident fund may receive and retain recognition it shall satisfy the conditions hereinafter specified and any other conditions which the Central Board of Revenue may, by rules, prescribe -
(a) all employees shall be employed in Pakistan , or shall be employed by an employer whose principal place of business is in Pakistan
Provided that the Commissioner may, if he thinks fit, and subject to such conditions, if any, as he thinks proper to attach to the recognition, accord recognition to a fund maintained by an employer whose principal place ofbusiness is not in Pakistan, provided the proportion of employees employed outside Pakistan does not exceed ten per cent;
(b) the contributions of an employee in any year shall be a definite proportion of his salary for that year, and shall be deducted by the employer from the employee's salary in that proportion, at each periodical payment of such salary in that year, and credited to the employee's individual account in the fund
Provided that an employee, who retains his employment while serving in armed forces of Pakistan or when taken into, or employed in, the national service under any law for the time being in force, may, whether he receives from the employer any salary or not contribute to the fund during his service in the armed forces of Pakistan or while so taken into, or employed in, the national service a sum not exceeding the amount he would have contributed had he continued to serve the employer;
© the contributions of an employer to the individual account of an employee in any year shall not exceed the amount of the contributions of the employee in that year, and shall be credited to the employee's individual account at intervals not exceeding one year
Provided that, subject to any rules which the Central Board of Revenue may make in this behalf, the Commissioner may, in respect of any particular fund, relax the provisions of this clause -
(i) so as to permit the payment of larger contributions by an employer to the individual accounts of employees whose salaries do not, in each case, exceed five hundred rupees per month;
(ii) so as to permit the crediting by employers to the individual accounts of employees of periodical bonuses or other contributions of a contingent nature, where the calculation and payment of such bonuses or other contributions is provided for on definite principles by the regulations of the fund;
(d) the employer shall not be entitled to recover any sum whatsoever from the fund, save in cases where the employee is dismissed for misconduct or voluntarily leaves his employment otherwise than on account of ill-health or other unavoidable cause before the expiration of the term of service specified in this behalf in the regulations of the fund Provided that in such cases the recoveries made by the employer shall be limited to the contributions made by him to the individual account of the employee, and to interest credited in respect of such contributions in accordance with the regulations of the fund and accumulations thereof;
(e) the fund shall be vested in two or more trustees or in the Official Trustees under a trust which shall not be recoverable save with the consent of all the beneficiaries;
(f) the fund shall consist of contributions as above specified, received by the trustees, or accumulations thereof, and of interest credited in respect of such contributions and accumulations, and of securities purchased therewith and of any capital gains arising from the transfer of capital assets of the fund, and of no other sums;
(g) the accumulated balance due to an employee shall be payable on the day he ceases to be an employee of the employer maintaining the fund
Provided that notwithstanding anything contained in clause (f) or (g)-
(i) at the request made in writing by the employee who ceases to be an employee of the employer maintaining the fund, the trustees of the fund may consent to retain the whole or any part of the accumulated balance due to the employee to be drawn by him at any time on demand;
(ii) where the accumulated balance due to an employee who has ceased to be an employee is retained in the fund in accordance with the preceding clause, the fund may consist also of interest in respect of such accumulated balance;
(iii) the fund may also consist of any amount transferred from the individual account of an employee in any recognised provident fund maintained by his former employer and the interest in respect thereof;
(h) save as provided in clause (g) or in accordance with such conditions and restrictions as the Central Board of Revenue may, by rules, specify, no portion of the balance to the credit of an employee shall be payable to him
Provided that in order to enable an employee to pay the amount of tax assessed on his total income as determined under sub-rule (4) of rule 7, he shall be entitled to withdraw from the balance to his credit in the recognised provident fund a sum not exceeding the difference between such amount and the amount to which he would have been assessed if the transferred balance referred to in sub-rule (2) of rule 7 had not been included in his total income.
<b>3. Employer's annual contributions</b>, when deemed to be income received by employee. - That portion of the annual accretion in any year to the balance at the credit of an employee participating in a recognised provident fund as consists of -
(a) contributions made by the employer in excess of one-tenth of the salary or Rs.100,000, whichever is low of the employee; and
(b) interest credited on the balance to the credit of the employee in so far as it exceeds one-third of the salary of the employee or is allowed at a rate exceeding such rate as may be fixed by the Federal Government in this behalf by notification in the official Gazette, shall be treated to have been received by the employee in that year and shall be included in his total income for that year and shall be liable to income tax.
<b>4. Exclusion from total income of accumulated balance. â</b>
(1) Subject to such rules as may be made by the Central Board of Revenue in this behalf, the accumulated balance due and becoming payable to an employee participating in a recognised provident fund shall be excluded from the computation of his total income.
(2) The provisions of sub-rule (1) shall also apply where, on the cessation of his employment, the employee obtains employment with any other employer and the accumulated balance due and becoming payable to him is transferred to his individual account in any recognised provident fund maintained by such other employer.
<b>5. Tax on accumulated balance.-</b> Where the accumulated balance due to an employee participating in a recognised provident fund is included in his total income, the Commissioner shall calculate the total of the various sums of tax which would have been payable by the employee in respect of his total income for each of the years concerned if the fund had not been a recognised provident fund and the amount by which such total exceeds the total of all sums paid by, or on behalf of such employee by way of tax for such years shall be payable by the employee in addition to any other tax for which he may be liable for the income year in which the accumulated balance due to him becomes payable.
<b>6. Deduction at source of tax payable on accumulated balance.</b> - The trustees of a recognised provident fund, or any person authorised by the regulations of the fund to make payment of accumulated balance due to employees shall, in cases where rule 5 applies, at the time an accumulated balance due to an employee is paid, deduct therefrom the amount payable under that rule and the provisions of Part V of Chapter X shall, so far as may be, apply as if the accumulated balance were income chargeable under the head "Salary".
<b>7. Treatment of balance in newly recognised provident fund.</b> â
(1) Where recognition is accorded to a provident fund with existing balance, an account shall be made of the fund up to the day immediately preceding the day on which the recognition takes effect showing the balance to the credit of each employee on such day and containing such further particulars as the Central Board of Revenue may prescribe.
(2) The account referred to in sub-rule (1) shall also show in respect of the balance to the credit of an employee the amount thereof which is to be transferred to that employee's account in the recognised provident fund, and such amount (hereinafter called his `transferred balance') shall be shown as the balance to his credit in the recognised provident fund on the date on which the recognition of the fund takes effect, and the provisions of sub-rule (4) and the proviso to clause (h) of rule 2 shall apply thereto. (3) Any portion of the balance to the credit of an employee in the existing fund which is not transferred to the recognised fund shall be excluded from the accounts of the recognised fund and shall be liable to income tax in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance, other than this Part.
(4) Subject to such rules as the Central Board of Revenue may make in this behalf, the Commissioner shall make a calculation of the aggregate of all sums comprised in a transferred balance which would have been liable to income-tax if this Part had been in force from the date of the institution of the fund, without regard to any tax which may have been paid on any sum, and such aggregate, if any, shall be deemed to be income received by the employee in the income year in which the recognition of the fund takes effect and shall be included in the employee's total income for that year, and, for the purposes of assessment, the remainder of the transferred balance shall be disregarded, butno other exemption or relief, by way of refund or otherwise, shall be granted in respect of any sum comprised in such transferred balance Provided that, in cases of serious accounting difficulty, the Commissioner may, subject to the said rules, make a summary calculation of such aggregate.
(5) Nothing in this rule shall affect the rights of the persons administering an unrecognised provident fund or dealing with it, or with the balance to the credit of any individual employees, before recognition is accorded, in any manner which may be lawful.
<b>8. Accounts of recognised provident funds.</b> â
(1) The accounts of a recognised provident fund shall be maintained by the trustees of the fund and shall be in such form and for such periods, and shall contain such particulars, as may be prescribed.
(2) The accounts shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times by income tax authorities, and the trustees shall furnish to the Commissioner such abstracts thereof as may be prescribed.
<b>9. Treatment of fund transferred by employer to trustee</b>. â
(1) Where an employer, who maintains a provident fund (whether recognised or not) for the benefit of his employees and has not transferred the fund or any portion of it, transfers such fund or portion to trustees in trust for the employees participating in the fund, the amount so transferred shall be deemed to be of the nature of capital expenditure.
(2) When an employee participating in such fund is paid the accumulated balance due to him therefrom, any portion of such balance as represents his share in the amount so transferred to the trustees (without addition of interest, and exclusive of the employee's contributions and interest thereon) shall, if the employer has made effective arrangement to secure that tax shall be deducted at source from the amount of such share when paid to the employee, be deemed to be an expenditure by the employer, within the meaning of section 20, incurred in the tax year in which the accumulated balance due to the employee is paid.
<b>10. Particulars to be furnished in respect of recognised provident funds</b>. The trustees of a recognised provident fund and any employer who contributes to a recognised provident fund shall, when required by notice from the Commissioner, within such period (not being less than twenty one days from the date of service of the notice), as may be specified in the notice, furnish such return, statement, particulars or information, as the Commissioner may require.
<b>11. Provisions of this Part to prevail against regulations of the fund.</b> Where there is a repugnance between any regulations of a recognised provident fund and any provision of this Part or of the rules made thereunder, the regulation shall, to the extent of the repugnance, be of no effect, and the Commissioner may, at any time, require that such repugnance shall be removed from the regulations of the fund.
<b>12. Appeals. - </b> (1) An employer objecting to an order of Commissioner refusing to recognise, or an order withdrawing recognition from a provident fund may appeal, within sixty days of the service of such order, to the Central Board of Revenue.
(2) The Central Board of Revenue may admit an appeal after the expiration of the period specified in sub-rule (1), if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from presenting it within that period.
(3) The appeal shall be in such form and shall be verified in such manner and shall be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed.
<b>13. Provisions relating to rules.</b> - In addition to any power conferred by this Part, the Central Board of Revenue may make rules-
(a) prescribing the form of application for recognition and the statement and other particulars and documents to be submitted therewith;
(b) limiting the contributions to a recognised provident fund by employees of a company, who are shareholders in the company;
© providing for the assessment by way of penalty of any consideration received by an employee for an assignment of, or creation of a charge upon, his beneficial interest in a recognised provident fund;
(d) determining the extent to, and the manner in, which exemption from payment of tax may be granted in respect of contributions and interest credited to the individual accounts of employees in a provident fund from which recognition has been withdrawn;
(e) regulating the investment of the moneys of a recognised provident fund; and
(f) generally, to carry out the purposes of this Part and to secure such further control over the recognition of provident funds and the administration of recognised provident funds as it may deem requisite.
<b>14. Definitions.</b> - In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires ,
Is the income of Provident Fund is exempt from tax?
Please give reference with the answer.............
Regards,
*
what are the legalities of setting up a provident fund from scratch?