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EPFO Launches Revamped Return Filing System For Employers From September
 "EPFO Launches Revamped Return Filing System For Employers From September")
New Delhi: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has introduced a revamped electronic challan-cum-return (ECR) facility from the wage month of September, aimed at making return filing easier and error-free for employers and establishments, as per the latest notification issued by the Central Provident Fund Commissioner.
The new facility separates the process of submitting returns from payment generation. It also includes system-based validations to prevent the filing of incorrect returns. The updated system will automatically calculate damages and interest under sections 14B and 7Q of the Employees’ Provident Funds Act.
It will also make it mandatory for employers to pay interest under section 7Q along with monthly contributions. Section 7Q requires employers to pay interest on pending dues until the date of payment, while section 14B allows EPFO to impose penalties for defaults in payment.
Despite the changes, the existing file format for returns (.txt) will remain the same. Employers will be able to file regular, supplementary, or revised returns through the system. An EPFO official said the move is part of efforts to make the organisation more user-friendly.
The changes are expected to reduce data-entry errors that have made return filing cumbersome in the past. The revamped system will also help prevent errors in pension contributions under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS). For instance, employees earning more than Rs 15,000 a month are not eligible for EPS, but many employers mistakenly make contributions under this head. The new system will flag such errors before filing, ensuring correct submissions.
Similarly, EPS membership ends at 58 years of age unless an employee opts for deferred pension. Earlier, the system did not stop remittances into the pension fund for employees above 58, leading to grievances. Now, the revamped ECR will automatically restrict contributions after 58 years unless specifically marked for deferred pension by the employer.
The EPFO hopes these measures will simplify compliance, reduce mistakes, and provide greater clarity to both employers and employees.
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UniQure needs to run another study to prove that its gene therapy “actually helps people with Huntington’s disease,” a senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration official said on a call with reporters Thursday.
The official, who requested anonymity before discussing sensitive information, confirmed the agency has asked the company to run a placebo controlled trial of its treatment, which is administered directly into the brain. UniQure has said that type of study isn’t ethical because it would require putting people under general anesthesia for hours, a characterization the official disputed.
“So what is really going on? UniQure is the latest company to make a failed therapy for Huntington’s patients,” the official said. “They likely acknowledge or understand at some deep level that their trial failed years ago, and instead of doing the right thing and running the correct clinical study, UniQure is performing a distorted or manipulated comparison in the mind of FDA.”
The comments mark the latest development in a messy public spat between UniQure and the FDA, and as the agency comes under fire for a number of recent drug approval application rejections, including some where companies have accused it of going back on previous guidance. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary in an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick last week seemingly criticized UniQure’s gene therapy for Huntington’s disease. Makary didn’t name UniQure but described its treatment.
UniQure then accused the FDA of reversing its stance that the company’s clinical trial data would be sufficient to seek approval. UniQure’s study used an outside database to measure how patients with Huntington’s disease might decline without treatment, known as an external control. UniQure has said it wouldn’t be feasible to run a true randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, considered the gold standard, because it wouldn’t be ethical to make people undergo a sham hours-long brain surgery.
The FDA official said the agency “never agreed to accept this distorted comparison” and the FDA “never makes such assurances.” Instead, the “FDA will always say, ‘Well, we have to see the data when we get it.'”
UniQure didn’t immediately comment.
The company’s stock rose more than 10% on Thursday and has fallen 58% this year as of Thursday afternoon.
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US mortgage rates rise to 6% after three-week slide as oil-driven bond yields climb – The Times of India
The average long-term US mortgage rate edged higher this week, ending a three-week decline as bond yields rose amid oil-price pressures linked to the war with Iran.The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 6% from 5.98% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said on Thursday. A year ago, the average rate stood at 6.63%, AP reported.The modest uptick breaks a three-week slide in borrowing costs, with mortgage rates having hovered close to the 6% mark for most of this year. Last week’s average had marked the first time the rate dipped below 6% since September 2022, reaching its lowest level in nearly three and a half years.Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy, investor expectations about inflation and economic growth, and movements in the bond market.They typically track the direction of the 10-year US Treasury yield, which lenders use as a benchmark for pricing home loans.The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.14% at midday Thursday, up from around 4% a week earlier.Treasury yields have moved higher in recent days as rising oil prices added fresh inflation concerns, potentially complicating the Federal Reserve’s plans to cut interest rates.
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