EPFO Pushes PF Trust Amnesty Scheme 2026 Before December Deadline

The correct answer is 28 December. The amnesty was made available for a period of six months counted from the date on which the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 2026 was notified, and that notification was issued on 29 June 2026. Six months from that date brings the window to a close on 28 December 2026, which is why EPFO has intensified its drive with under three months to go. Option A, 30 September, has already passed and is not connected with this scheme. Option C, 31 January, would stretch the window beyond the six months allowed in the notification. Option D, 31 March, is the close of the financial year and is a tempting but wrong choice, because the amnesty is tied to the notification date and not to the fiscal calendar. Aspirants should also remember the circular of 11 July 2026 that laid down how an establishment applies.

The correct answer is the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. Section 17 of this Act is the provision under which a formal exemption order is granted to a Provident Fund Trust; the comparable provision in the newer law is section 143 of the Code on Social Security, 2020. Option A, the Income Tax Act, 1961, is relevant to the scheme but for a different reason: the trusts in question are recognised under that Act, and it is precisely the absence of an exemption order under the labour law that the amnesty addresses. Option C, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, deals with gratuity and has no role in provident fund exemptions. Option D, the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, governs health insurance for workers and is unrelated. Candidates should pair section 17 with 1952 and section 143 with the Code on Social Security, 2020.

The correct answer is recognition by the Income Tax Department. That recognition is not waived at all; it is the very qualification a trust must already possess to be eligible, since the scheme is aimed at trusts recognised under the Income Tax Act, 1961 that nevertheless lack a formal exemption order. Options A, B and C name the three statutory requirements of the Code on Social Security, 2020 that the scheme does set aside, namely the minimum number of employees, the size of the corpus and the three-year compliance rule. A further benefit worth noting is the complete operational flexibility a trust enjoys after regularisation, as it may then comply either as an exempt or as an unexempt establishment. The stated purpose of availing the amnesty is to allow income tax benefits available to recognised trusts to continue without interruption.

The correct answer is the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Academy of Social Security, usually shortened to PDUNASS. Training was delivered along two tracks, through online modules and physically at this academy, for departmental officers and employers alike, while the Exemption Division at the head office ran dedicated hybrid programmes for field officials posted across the country. Option A, the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie, trains civil servants and is not the venue here. Option C, the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics, handles indirect tax training and is unrelated to provident fund exemptions. Option D, the National Institute of Financial Management, works on public financial management. Alongside this training, EPFO held seminars with the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange to reach eligible establishments.