the last date to apply for higher pension from the employees pension scheme eps is may 3 2023 this deadline was extended by the employees provident fund organisation epfo by two months from the earlier deadline of march 3 2023 the extended deadline provided more time for eligible employees to evaluate submit and apply for higher eps pension however with the deadline fast approaching there are still certain issues regarding which clarity has to be provided by the epfo for instance the retirement fund body still needs to clarify regarding the replacement mechanism for the additional 116 eps contribution by employees which was struck down by the supreme court how pension will be computed how additional dues that an individual needs to pay will be calculated implementation of the kerala high court which has asked epfo not to stress on the requirement of documents proof to apply for higher eps pension as these issues need clarification from the epfo many eligible employees are hoping that the deadline to apply for higher eps pension will be extended et wealth online reached out experts to see if there is a need for the extension to apply for higher pension from eps here is what they had to say puneet gupta partner people advisory services ey india the epfo activated the online facility for members to submit the joint option application on february 27 2023 with a deadline of may 3 2023 for the submission of applications while the due date is fast approaching the epfo is yet to clarify some aspects such as the manner of computation of pension and methodtimeline for redeposit of accumulations withdrawn by members if any these are critical aspects for members in their decisionmaking process also there are added complications for employers as they are required to submit wage details of employees for the entire period of employment while approving the application gathering such historical data is likely to pose practical challenges for employers and would be a timeconsuming process given these challenges the epfo may further extend the deadline and provide clarity on these practical issuessowmya kumar partner induslaw in my view its a 5050 chance that the epfo will extend the deadline there are a lot of operational issues that the epfo is no doubt working on however its possible that extending the deadline could only result in the issues being postponed to a later date rather than fully resolved it is imperative that the epfo provides complete clarity on how employees can avail the higher pension option rather than issuing circulars on a piecemeal basissaraswathi kasturirangan partner deloitte india epfo issued notifications on december 29 2022 and february 20 2023 clarifying the eligibility process flow documentsdeclarations to be submitted epfo issued another notification on april 23 2023 mentioning the time which will be allowed to seek further information if application is missing any details however a lack of clarity on following aspects has got many members sitting on the fence a clarity on