The internet became popular in the early 80’s, online banking kicked off when apps became available in mobile phones and peer to peer transfer was possible once ewallet system got developed. We as a society have come a long way in terms of technology and adopting it, nowadays you even see grandma’s using QR code to pay for their groceries!
Now, we all know that progress cant be restrained nor ignored, digitalisation is not new- lets take online payment for instance, it has been around for decades. Maybank introduced the service called Maybank2u to 20 million of its customer back in 2006. the system was clunky and limited in terms of offering, but it was adequate at that time. Today hundreds of millions are transacted daily over its application, giving convenience to its customers especially during the pandemic. We have numerous technology that has become a saving grace for many during this challenging times, imagine we had no Grab or FoodPanda, still paying bills at Pos Malaysia or Kedai Telekom and no Lazada or Shopee, yes we shudder to think too. While these have been mostly focused on the mass and general public, less attention has been given to small and micro business, where some say are the backbone of our economy.
So when EPF the Employment Provident Fund, one of the worlds oldest and largest provident fund institution in the country launched its online ePayroll service, the efforts to enhance its offering for businesses definitely have to be praised. The new service is for all employers nationwide who employ a minimum of 1 staff and already have the i-akaun (if you dont we suggest applying). At the moment, the system allows for usual staff contribution deduction and monthly statements, with ePayroll companies can have access to a whole host of new services. Like generation of pay slips where the system supports all types of wage format including weekly, monthly or even daily, bosses can also auto produce yearly tax forms for their employees, the built in ‘check’ button will allow to see if the employee is an EPF member and there is also the calculation SOCSO and IRB payment function that solves that issue. Learning the application is less complicated, it will just take a couple hours for those who have been using the i-akaun it will be much simpler.
However, its strongly recommended to start the ePayroll service and date back to January 2021 in order to have an accurate income tax calculation and a complete EA form for the year.
The new service is timely, given the challenges many business face during this pandemic, and will also provide alternatives to expensive payroll software’s or even hiring additional staff to manage these tasks. Lets just hope EPF does not wait too long in integrating HR applications like time attendance, appraisal and making it mobile friendly.
