Payroll compliance calendar 2026-27: PF, ESI and TDS due dates.

1. Run the month’s payroll and lock it. Every return below is filed from finished payslips; a draft’s figures can still move.
2. By the 15th of the next month, pay PF and upload the ECR (electronic challan-cum-return) on the EPFO portal. It lists every member by UAN, with their PF wage and both shares.
3. By the same day, pay ESI on the ESIC portal for everyone whose gross was ₹21,000 a month or less.
4. By the 7th of the next month, deposit the TDS taken from salaries (by 30 April for March’s). The deposit is not on the calendar below: Facto Lite’s compliance view does not track it yet, and the calendar shows only what the app does.
5. Every quarter, file the TDS return on salaries, Form 138 (Form 24Q until 2025-26). The fourth quarter’s is due on 31 May, two months after the year ends, because it carries the whole year’s salary for each employee.
6. Pay professional tax and labour welfare fund to the state, on the dates the state sets. Karnataka collects PT monthly and Tamil Nadu half-yearly; pick your state above for its rule.
7. Keep every acknowledgement. The receipt number of each quarterly return is printed on the employee’s annual tax certificate.

Your state

The state your company is registered in for professional tax. PF, ESI and the TDS return have one date for the whole country; professional tax and labour welfare fund are paid to the state, on the state’s dates.

A company with staff registered in two states pays each state on its own dates.

ECR (PF return)

The electronic challan-cum-return: the monthly PF file uploaded on the EPFO portal, one line per member with their UAN, PF wage and both shares. The payment is made against it.

For example: On a Basic of ₹15,000, the ECR line shows ₹1,800 from the employee and the same again from the employer.

UAN

Universal Account Number: the employee’s PF number for life, kept when they change jobs. A new joiner either brings one or is given one when first added to the ECR.

ESI contribution

State insurance for employees earning ₹21,000 a month or less: 0.75% from the employee and 3.25% from the employer, paid monthly on the ESIC portal.

Quarterly TDS return

The statement an employer files every quarter listing each employee’s salary and the tax taken from it. It was Form 24Q; under the Income-tax Act 2025 it is Form 138 from 2026-27.

Filing it needs the company’s TAN, the tax deduction account number.

Professional tax

A state tax on employment, at most ₹2,500 a year, taken from salary and paid to the state. Not every state charges it, and each one that does sets its own slabs and dates.

Labour welfare fund

A small contribution, usually tens of rupees a year, from both the employee and the employer, paid to the state’s welfare board once or twice a year. Where it applies and when it is due are set by the state.

• PF and ESI calculator

  PF is 12% of Basic + DA from the employee and the same from the employer — ₹1,800 each on the usual ₹15,000 ceiling, with ₹1,250 of the employer’s share going to pension — and ESI is 0.75% from the employee and 3.25% from the employer when gross pay is ₹21,000 a month or less.

• Salary slip generator

  A salary slip lists the month’s earnings — Basic, HRA and allowances — then the deductions — PF at 12% of Basic, ESI if gross pay is ₹21,000 or less, professional tax and income tax — and the net pay in figures and in words. Fill in yours and download it as a PDF.

• Holiday list 2027

  India’s 2027 national holidays are Republic Day on Tuesday 26 January, Independence Day on Sunday 15 August and Gandhi Jayanti on Saturday 2 October. Central government offices close for 11 more in every state, and each state’s law fixes how many paid holidays a private employer gives — from 7 in Uttar Pradesh to 13 in Kerala.

Facto Lite lists the returns each locked payroll month owes, with the date each is due, and flags the ones that are overdue. See Payroll.