Your first hire is a bigger compliance moment than your incorporation was. The company existed on paper; now it is an employer, and a handful of registrations and monthly obligations switch on. None of them are hard individually — the mistake founders make is not knowing they exist until a notice arrives.
Provident fund (EPF)
The Employees' Provident Fund is a retirement-savings scheme, funded by contributions from both employer and employee. Registration with the EPFO becomes applicable once your headcount reaches the level the law specifies, and many employers register at or before that point. After registration, contributions and returns are a monthly rhythm, not a one-time task. We handle the EPFO registration and set the process up so the monthly filings are tracked.
Employees' State Insurance (ESI)
ESI provides medical and cash benefits to employees earning up to a wage threshold, again funded by employer and employee contributions. It applies once you cross the applicable employee count, and coverage is tied to each employee's wages. Like EPF, the registration is the small part; the monthly contribution and return cycle is the ongoing commitment. We take care of the ESIC registration and the setup around it.
Professional tax
Professional tax is a state-level tax on employment, so whether and how it applies depends on the state you operate in — some states levy it, others don't, and the slabs differ. Where it applies, you register as an employer, deduct it from salaries and remit it on the state's schedule. Because it is state-specific, the right first step is confirming your state's position rather than assuming. We handle professional tax registration for the states that require it.
The thresholds move — so verify
Each of these schemes has its own applicability thresholds and contribution rules, and they are set by law and revised periodically. We deliberately don't print specific figures here that could be out of date by the time you read them. The reliable approach is to confirm the current thresholds for your headcount, wages and state at the point you hire — which is something we do as part of setting you up as an employer.
Do it before payroll runs, not after
The clean way to hire is to sort the registrations before the first salary goes out, so deductions and contributions are correct from month one. Retrofitting compliance after several pay cycles means back-contributions, interest and avoidable stress. If you are about to make your first hire, treat the employer registrations as part of the hire itself — not a task for later.