Rule 294 — Accounts.
The rule prescribes how the accounts of a provident fund are to be kept, reported and communicated.
Sub-rule (1) requires the accounts of a provident fund to be prepared at intervals of not more than twelve months. Sub-rule (2) requires an account to be maintained for each subscriber, including the particulars shown in Part A of Form No. 185. Sub-rule (3) deals with accounts kept outside India: certified copies must be supplied to a local representative of the employer in India not later than the 15th June in each year, or any other subsequent date fixed by the Assessing Officer.
Sub-rule (4) requires the trustees to furnish an abstract of the individual account for the tax year of each employee participating in the fund, in Part B of Form No. 185, to the Assessing Officer of the area in which the accounts of the fund are kept, or, if the accounts are kept outside India, to the Assessing Officer of the area in which the local headquarters of the employer are situated, and by the 15th June in each year or any other subsequent date fixed by the Assessing Officer.
Sub-rule (5) fixes what the account to be made under paragraph 11(1) of Part A of Schedule XI must show in respect of each employee: the total salary paid during the period of his participation in the fund, the total contributions, the total interest accrued on them, and, so far as may be, the percentage of the employee's salary in accordance with which contributions have been made by the employer and employee.
Sub-rule (6) requires every employer, as soon as possible after the close of each financial year, to send each member a statement of his account in the fund showing the opening balance at the beginning of the period, the amount contributed during the year, the total amount of interest credited at the end of the period or debited in the period, and the closing balance at the end of the period.
A recognised provident fund holds money for many employees over long periods, and both the employee and the Department need a reliable running account of it. The rule fixes the frequency, the form and the recipients: an account for each subscriber in Part A of Form No. 185, an annual abstract to the Assessing Officer in Part B, an annual statement to the member himself, and a special route for funds whose books are kept abroad so that the records are still available in India.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency of preparing the accounts of the fund | Intervals of not more than twelve months | Applies to the accounts of the provident fund | Sub-rule (1) |
| Date for supplying certified copies of accounts kept outside India | Not later than the 15th June in each year | Or any other subsequent date fixed by the Assessing Officer; supplied to a local representative of the employer in India | Sub-rule (3) |
| Date for the trustees to furnish the Part B abstract | By the 15th June in each year | Or any other subsequent date fixed by the Assessing Officer | Sub-rule (4)(b) |
| Time for the employer to send each member his account statement | As soon as possible after the close of each financial year | Statement showing opening balance, contributions, interest and closing balance | Sub-rule (6) |
Three different documents run on three different tracks and are easily conflated. Part A of Form No. 185 is the subscriber's account maintained inside the fund; Part B is the annual abstract the trustees send the Assessing Officer by the 15th June; and the sub-rule (6) statement is what the employer sends each member after the financial year closes. The 15th June dates in sub-rules (3) and (4) are both movable in one direction only — to any other subsequent date fixed by the Assessing Officer — so they can be extended but not brought forward by agreement. Where the accounts are kept outside India two things follow: certified copies must reach a local representative of the employer in India, and the Part B abstract goes to the Assessing Officer of the area of the employer's local headquarters rather than of the place the accounts are kept. Sub-rule (5) is content, not timing: it lists what the paragraph 11(1) account must show, including the percentage of salary at which employer and employee contributions were made, so far as may be.
A provident fund whose books are maintained abroad closes its accounts for the twelve months to the 31st of March. Certified copies must reach the employer's local representative in India not later than the 15th June, and by that date the trustees must also furnish the Part B abstract of each participating employee's account to the Assessing Officer of the area in which the employer's local headquarters are situated. Separately, and as soon as possible after the financial year closes, the employer must send each member a statement showing his opening balance, the year's contributions, the interest credited and the closing balance.
An employee meets it in the annual provident fund statement the employer sends after the year closes. The trustees meet it in the Form No. 185 accounts and the Part B abstract furnished to the Assessing Officer each June.
The accounts of a provident fund shall be prepared at intervals of not more than twelve months.
Every employer shall, as soon as possible, after the close of each financial year, send to each member, a statement of his account in the fund showing the following details