ECR stands for Electronic Challan cum Return. This is an electronic monthly return to be uploaded by the employers through the Unified Portal.
The return will have member wise details of the wages and contributions; including basic details for the new and exiting members (members who have joined or have left service in the wage month for which the return is uploaded). The approval of uploaded ECR will result in the generation of a Challan using which the employer has to remit the dues in the designated branches of SBI. In this way, each ECR will be linked with a remitted Challan and the ECRs uploaded but not remitted will lapse after 15 days of the generation of the challan.
The monthly upload of ECR will relieve the employer from manual filing of returns; both monthly and annually. If you upload the ECR, there is no need to file Forms 5/10/12A, 3A, and 6A.
The upload of ECRs that are backed with remitted Challan in the EPFO application will result in the updating of member balances on a monthly basis. This information will be shared with the members through the Know Your PF Balance link.
Pro Tip: You can automatically generate the ECR file with greytHR. The ECR file is ready with just a click and all that you need to do is upload it to EPFO Unified portal.