Post‑incorporation compliance · Overview
EPFO & ESIC After Company Incorporation — What You Actually Owe
The two codes arrive in the same filing, on the same day, without you asking for either. So almost everyone treats them as one problem. They are not. One of them has a deadline that expires quietly six months after incorporation. The other has no deadline at all. If you only have the appetite to deal with one thing on this page, deal with ESIC.
The one thing to take away
Being registered is not the same as being covered. Both codes are issued automatically to every new company regardless of headcount. Neither one means EPF or ESI coverage has started to apply to you. What differs is what you are expected to do about that — and there, the two could hardly be less alike.
Why you have both codes
Incorporating through SPICe+ pulls in a linked form, AGILE‑PRO‑S (INC‑35). It handles GST registration, professional tax where the state requires it, a bank account, a shops‑and‑establishment registration — and registration with both EPFO and ESIC. Registration for those two through SPICe+ has been mandatory for new Public, Private and One Person Companies since 15 February 2020.
The important consequence is the one people miss: nobody assessed your company before issuing them. The codes are a by‑product of an integrated setup process, not a finding that EPF or ESI coverage applies to your business. A company with two directors and no staff receives exactly the same two codes as one with two hundred employees.
The law behind both changed in November 2025. The Code on Social Security, 2020 came into force on 21 November 2025, and EPF and ESI coverage now runs under Chapters III and IV of the Code and its First Schedule rather than under the old Acts. The ESI Act, 1948 has been repealed. The Code also lists the EPF Act, 1952 for repeal, but that item was not among the provisions brought into force on 21 November 2025, so we cite the EPF Act below only to the extent it is still in force. The EPF threshold is unchanged at twenty. The ESI threshold is now ten across the board, which is the bigger change.
If you run an LLP, this does not apply to you at all. AGILE‑PRO‑S is attached to SPICe+, the company incorporation route. An LLP incorporated on FiLLiP receives PAN and TAN and nothing else — no EPFO or ESIC code is generated, and you register separately only if and when you cross a threshold.
Side by side
This is the table we find ourselves drawing on a whiteboard most often, because the asymmetry is genuinely counter‑intuitive:
| ESIC | EPFO | |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage threshold | 10 or more persons in any establishment other than a seasonal factory, in an area where ESI has been notified — s.1(4) and First Schedule of the Code | 20 or more employees, under s.1(4) and the First Schedule of the Code |
| Is there a dormant option? | Yes — declare the company “Inactive” on the employer portal | No. No equivalent exists |
| Deadline to act | Six months from registration, then renewable every six months | None. Liability simply follows the threshold |
| If you miss it | The option disappears from your login permanently — regional office only | Nothing to miss |
| Returns if never covered | None — but declare status, or it is read as an active defaulting employer | Generally none. See the caveat on that page |
| Drop back below the threshold | Status can be re‑declared | Coverage continues under s.1(8) of the Code — a one‑way door |
| Closing the code | Regional office, with evidence of nil employees | Regional office. No online route |
The ESIC column comes from ESIC’s own circular on MCA‑registered employers and from its published position on coverage as at 1 January 2025. The thresholds in both columns come from the Code itself — EPFO has not, as far as we can find, published guidance specifically on auto‑issued codes, which is why the EPF page is careful to say where it is reading the law rather than quoting a rule. One consequence of the Code worth flagging for Gujarat: under the old ESI Act, schools and clinics were coverable only if the State notified them, and Gujarat had not. The Code’s ten‑person test applies to every establishment, so that gap should no longer be relied on.
What to do, in what order
Because only one of the two has a clock on it, the sequence matters more than the volume of work:
- Work out how old the company is. If incorporation was less than six months ago, everything below is easy. If it was longer, the ESIC self‑service route has already closed and that is the thing to deal with first.
- Count your people honestly — including anyone engaged through a contractor, and think about whether any director is an employee in substance rather than just in title. This single number decides both questions.
- Deal with ESIC. Declare Inactive if you still can; go to the regional office if you cannot. This is the time‑sensitive half.
- Then EPF. If you have never reached twenty and never opted in, there is usually nothing to file — but check whether anyone ever opted in voluntarily (s.1(5) of the Code), and whether you ever crossed twenty in the past, because s.1(8) makes that permanent.
- Diarise the renewal. An ESIC Inactive declaration lapses after six months and reactivates the registration by itself. This is the step people complete and then lose a year later.
None of this makes a genuine liability disappear. If you were coverable and did not comply, the answer is to regularise from when coverage began, and it is a much better conversation to start yourself than to have after an inspection.
The detail on each
FAQ
Can I refuse the EPFO and ESIC registration at incorporation?
No. AGILE‑PRO‑S must be filed with SPICe+ Part B, and EPFO and ESIC registration through it has been mandatory for new companies since 15 February 2020. GST is the part of that form you can decline; these two are not.
Which one should I deal with first?
ESIC, without much hesitation. It is the one with a six‑month window that closes on its own, and the one where doing nothing quietly converts you into an active defaulting employer. EPF liability follows the statutory threshold and does not run on a clock.
We have four employees. Are we covered by either?
On headcount alone, neither — four is below both thresholds. But count carefully before relying on that: contract workers engaged for the establishment can count, and a whole‑time director on a salary may be an employee in substance. The number you think you have is often not the number that matters.
Does any of this apply to an LLP?
Not the automatic registration. AGILE‑PRO‑S is linked to SPICe+, the company route, so an LLP never receives these codes at incorporation. The coverage thresholds themselves apply to any establishment that crosses them, LLPs included — the difference is that an LLP registers deliberately, when it has to.
Is there a penalty just for having an unused code?
Not for holding it. The exposure comes from a registration that is treated as active while nothing is being filed against it — which is precisely what the ESIC Inactive declaration exists to prevent, and why letting that window lapse matters more than the code itself.
Related
- Company Annual Compliance — what is due and when
- Annual Compliance Checklist — AOC‑4 and MGT‑7A
- DIR‑3 KYC — the new three‑year rule, line by line
- Private Limited Company Registration in Ahmedabad
Sources: Code on Social Security, 2020 (in force from 21 November 2025, Notification S.O. 5319(E)), sections 1(4), 1(5), 1(8) and 164 and the First Schedule; Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, to the extent still in force; ESIC circular F. No. P‑11/14/19/Misc/02/2022‑Rev. II (issued before the Code; we have not seen it withdrawn); Ministry of Corporate Affairs SPICe+ / AGILE‑PRO‑S, mandatory for EPFO and ESIC registration of new companies with effect from 15 February 2020. ESI contributions apply only in areas where the scheme has been notified, so confirm the position for your registered office. Reviewed 27 October 2026. Guidance, not legal advice specific to your establishment.