An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software that manages hiring from job requisition to offer. It stores candidates and applications in one place, moves them through pipeline stages, and records interview feedback, scorecards and hiring metrics.

Basic salary is the fixed core of a pay structure, before allowances. It is the figure that PF, gratuity, HRA exemption and statutory bonus are all calculated from, and is usually set at 40% to 50% of CTC.

CTC, or Cost to Company, is the total annual amount an employer spends to employ someone. It includes gross salary, the employer's PF and gratuity contributions, insurance premiums and any variable pay or benefits. Because much of it is not paid to you as cash, take-home salary is always lower than CTC divided by 12.

Dearness Allowance (DA) is an inflation-linked payment added to salary, common in government and public-sector pay and revised as the consumer price index changes. Where it applies, it is combined with basic salary to calculate PF and gratuity.

An ECR (Electronic Challan-cum-Return) is the monthly return an employer uploads on the EPFO portal listing each member's wages and PF, EPS and EDLI dues. Uploading it generates the challan the employer pays. The full contribution must reach the EPFO by the 15th of the following month.

EDLI (Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance) is a free life-insurance cover that comes with EPF membership. If a member dies in service, the nominee receives a lump sum, currently up to Rs 7 lakh, on top of the EPF and EPS balances. The employer pays 0.5% of wages towards it; the employee pays nothing.

The Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) is a compulsory retirement savings scheme in India. You contribute 12% of basic salary plus DA each month and your employer contributes a matching 12%, part of which funds your pension. The balance earns interest set annually by the government and is administered by the EPFO.

The EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) is the government body that administers India's EPF, EPS and EDLI schemes for private-sector workers. It holds and invests contributions, sets the annual EPF interest rate, runs the member and employer portals, and settles withdrawals, transfers and pension claims.

The Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) is the pension part of provident fund. From the employer's 12% PF contribution, 8.33% of wages (capped at 8.33% of Rs 15,000, so Rs 1,250 a month) goes to EPS, funding a monthly pension from age 58 for members with at least 10 years of service.

Employees' State Insurance (ESI) is a contributory health and cash-benefit scheme for employees earning gross wages up to Rs 21,000 a month. The employee contributes 0.75% and the employer 3.25% of wages. It provides medical care and sickness, maternity and injury benefits through the ESIC.

The ESIC (Employees' State Insurance Corporation) is the statutory body that runs the ESI scheme. It collects contributions, operates ESI hospitals and dispensaries, pays the cash benefits, and manages the portal employers use to register and file returns.

Employee Self-Service (ESS) is the part of an HRMS that lets employees handle routine HR tasks themselves through a portal or app: viewing payslips, applying for leave, submitting tax declarations and updating personal details, with HR only configuring and approving.

Form 12BB is the declaration a salaried employee gives their employer to claim tax exemptions and deductions, such as HRA, LTA, home-loan interest and Section 80C, during the year so that monthly TDS is calculated correctly.

Form 16 is the annual TDS certificate an employer issues to a salaried employee. Part A summarises tax deducted and deposited against the employee's PAN; Part B gives the detailed salary and tax computation. It must be issued by 15 June following the financial year.

Form 24Q is the quarterly TDS return an employer files for salary payments. It reports each employee's salary and tax deducted, and its fourth-quarter annexure carries the full-year salary computation that generates employees' Form 16.

Full and final settlement (F&F) is the closing account when an employee leaves. It pays out pending salary, leave encashment, gratuity and earned bonus, and recovers any notice shortfall, advances and unreturned assets, with the net balance paid after tax.

Gratuity is a lump-sum payment an employer makes to an employee for long service. Under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, it becomes a legal right after five years of continuous service in any establishment with 10 or more employees, and is calculated from your last drawn basic plus DA and your years of service.

Gross salary is total monthly or annual pay before deductions, but after removing the employer-side costs that sit in CTC. It is the sum of basic, HRA, allowances and reimbursements. Deducting PF, professional tax and TDS from it gives net take-home salary.

HCM (Human Capital Management) is the broadest HR software category, covering the full hire-to-retire journey plus talent acquisition, learning, succession, compensation planning and workforce analytics, on top of the core HR, payroll and time management an HRMS handles.

The Health and Education Cess is a 4% charge added to income tax plus surcharge, after any Section 87A rebate, to fund government health and education spending. It applies to everyone with a tax liability, in both tax regimes.

House Rent Allowance (HRA) is a salary component intended to cover rented accommodation. It is usually 40% to 50% of basic salary, and part of it can be exempt from tax under Section 10(13A) if the employee actually pays rent, in the old tax regime.

HRA exemption is the part of House Rent Allowance that is tax-free under Section 10(13A) when an employee pays rent. It is the least of actual HRA, rent paid minus 10% of salary, and 50% of salary in a metro (40% elsewhere). It applies only in the old tax regime.

An HRIS (Human Resource Information System) is the system of record for employee data and core HR processes: the employee master, org structure, and lifecycle workflows like hiring, transfers and exits. An HRMS adds operational modules like payroll and attendance on top.

An HRMS (Human Resource Management System) is software that runs core HR, payroll, leave, attendance, onboarding and performance from one shared employee database. In the Indian market the term is used interchangeably with 'HR software' for the whole suite.

The Labour Welfare Fund (LWF) is a small statutory contribution collected in some states to fund worker welfare schemes. Both employee and employer contribute token amounts, usually deducted twice a year, and the applicability, rate and frequency depend on the state.

Loss of Pay (LOP), or Leave Without Pay, is a salary deduction for days an employee was absent without an available paid-leave balance. The per-day cut is monthly salary divided by a divisor (calendar days, 30, or 26), multiplied by the unpaid days.

Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) is a salary component that reimburses domestic travel fare during leave. Its value is the tax exemption under Section 10(5), available for two journeys in a four-year block, and only in the old tax regime.

LTA exemption is the tax break on Leave Travel Allowance under Section 10(5). It covers domestic travel fare for the employee and family, for two journeys in a government-notified block of four calendar years, and applies only in the old tax regime.

Minimum wages are the lowest legal pay rates for a job, notified by each state (and the centre for some sectors) by industry, skill level and zone under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. They include a dearness-allowance component revised for inflation, usually twice a year.

Net salary, or take-home salary, is the amount that reaches an employee's bank account after all deductions: their own PF, professional tax, TDS, ESI if applicable, and any recoveries. It is gross salary minus these deductions.

Notice pay recovery is the amount an employer deducts when an employee resigns without serving the full contractual notice period. It is usually calculated on basic, gross or CTC for the unserved days and netted off in the full and final settlement.

India has two ways to tax individual income. The old regime keeps deductions and exemptions but charges higher slab rates; the new regime has lower rates but removes almost all deductions and is the default. A salaried person can choose whichever gives lower tax each year.

The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 makes an annual bonus a legal right for employees earning up to Rs 21,000 a month in establishments with 20 or more employees. It sets a minimum bonus of 8.33% and a maximum of 20% of wages, payable within eight months of the year end.

The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 makes gratuity a legal right after five years of continuous service in any establishment with 10 or more employees. It fixes the 15-days-per-year formula, the Rs 20 lakh ceiling, nomination on Form F, and the narrow grounds for forfeiture.

Payroll software calculates employee pay, computes statutory deductions like PF, ESI, professional tax and TDS, generates payslips and Form 16, and files the returns. It turns a month of attendance and changes into one accurate, compliant pay run with an audit trail.

Perquisites, or perks, are non-cash benefits an employer provides on top of salary, such as a company car, rent-free housing, an interest-free loan or ESOPs. Each is valued by a prescribed method, added to taxable salary, and taxed. Some perks, such as employer PF within limits, are exempt.

Professional tax is a small tax on salaried income levied by some state governments, not the centre. The employer deducts it from salary each month and pays it to the state. It is capped at Rs 2,500 per person per year, and the slabs and applicability vary by state.

Salary arrears are pay owed for an earlier period but received later, most often from a backdated increment or a delayed pay revision. They are taxed in the year of receipt, but Section 89(1) relief, claimed via Form 10E, can reduce the extra tax.

Section 192 of the Income Tax Act requires an employer to deduct income tax at source from salary at the time of payment, based on the employee's estimated income for the year at the average rate of tax. It is the legal basis for monthly salary TDS.

Section 80C is an income tax deduction of up to Rs 1.5 lakh a year for specified investments and payments, including EPF, PPF, ELSS, life insurance premiums, home-loan principal and children's tuition fees. It is available only in the old tax regime.

Section 80D is an income tax deduction for health insurance premiums paid for self, family and parents. Limits are Rs 25,000 for those below 60 and Rs 50,000 for senior citizens, with a separate additional limit for parents. It applies only in the old tax regime.

The Section 87A rebate is a tax concession for resident individuals whose total income is within a set threshold. It reduces the tax liability, often to nil, up to that threshold. The income limit and the rebate cap differ between the old and new tax regimes.

Special allowance is the fully taxable balancing component of a salary structure: whatever is left of gross pay after basic, HRA and specific allowances are fixed. It carries no tax concession, and a large one can be pulled into PF wages under case law.

The standard deduction is a flat amount subtracted from salary or pension income before tax, with no proof or investment required. It applies in both tax regimes, though the amount differs, and is applied automatically by the employer and pre-filled in the tax return.

Statutory bonus is an annual payment employees earning up to Rs 21,000 a month are legally entitled to under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965. It is between 8.33% and 20% of wages, calculated on a wage ceiling of Rs 7,000 or the minimum wage if higher.

Surcharge is an additional levy charged on income tax itself, not on income, once total income exceeds Rs 50 lakh. Rates rise in slabs from 10% to 37% (capped at 25% in the new regime), and marginal relief limits the increase near each threshold.

TDS on salary is the income tax an employer deducts from pay every month and deposits with the government on the employee's behalf, under Section 192. It is based on the employee's projected annual income and spread evenly across the year at the average rate of tax.

A Universal Account Number (UAN) is a permanent 12-digit ID issued by the EPFO that links all of an employee's EPF accounts across different jobs. It stays the same for life and is used to check the passbook, complete KYC, and transfer or withdraw provident fund online.

Variable pay is the part of a package that is not guaranteed, paid out based on individual and company performance against a target amount. It is usually paid annually or quarterly, separately from monthly salary, and is fully taxable when paid.

The Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) is an option for an employee to contribute more than the mandatory 12% of basic salary to EPF. The extra amount earns the same EPFO-declared interest rate and sits in the same account. The employer is not required to match anything above 12%.