Labour Code registers: Forms I, IV and IX, the Form V wage slip and Central vs State rules

When the four Labour Codes came in, the old registers did not disappear overnight, and that has left many HR teams unsure what an inspector will now ask for. The Labour Code registers are simpler than the old set: three registers, one wage slip, one nomination form and one annual return. The harder question is which forms apply to you, because the Central forms are not for everyone.

The Labour Code registers in one table

The Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 343(E), published on 8 May 2026) set out the registers in rule 51(1). The OSH (Central) Rules accept the same registers for OSH purposes (rule 72(3)), so you do not keep a second set.

Registers can be kept electronically or on paper. They are kept for five years after the last entry (rule 51(4)).

Form IV register of wages, column by column

The Form IV register of wages is the one that takes the most care. The gazette prints three groups of columns:

• Wages earned: (13) basic, (14) DA, (15) allowances, (16) overtime, (17) total wages earned.
• Deductions: (18) EPF, (19) ESIC, (20) society, (21) income tax, (22) insurance, (23) advances, (24) recovery of fine, (25) recovery for damage or loss.
• Then (26) total deductions, (27) "Others" and (28) net payment.

Column (27) has no instruction. The sensible reading is that it holds deductions outside (18) to (25), so net payment is (17) less (26) less (27). Whatever your reading, an inspector checking the Code on Wages limit (total deductions not more than 50% of wages) will look at every deduction, so print a line showing (26) plus (27) and check the 50% limit on that total.

Column (24) deserves a warning. A late-coming deduction belongs there only if it is a fine imposed with the full procedure in section 19 of the Code on Wages. A deduction for time actually lost is not a fine at all. We explain the difference in the late coming deduction post.

Wage slip Form V and nomination Form VII

The wage slip Form V goes to every employee on or before the day of payment, electronically or on paper. An email or a payslip in the employee app counts, provided the employee can actually open it. For a shop floor where many workers do not use email, a printed slip or a kiosk is still the practical answer.

Form VII is the nomination form under rule 45. It needs no witnesses; the employer certifies it. Collect it at joining along with the PF and ESI nominations, and re-collect it when an employee marries or loses a nominee.

Central sphere establishment or State rules?

Here is the point many software vendors and consultants got wrong in the first months. The Central Rules apply only to establishments for which the Central Government is the appropriate government. A central sphere establishment is, broadly, one in railways, mines, oilfields, major ports, air transport, telecom, banking or insurance companies, or a central PSU.

Everyone else, including almost every factory, warehouse, hospital and IT company, follows:

1. their State's own Code rules, once the State notifies them (most copy the Central forms, sometimes with different numbers); and
2. their existing State rules and registers, until then.

On 24 September 2026 the Labour Secretary said about ten States had published their rules and that the rest were expected by 31 October. Bihar's Code on Wages rules, for example, apply from 1 July 2026. Several large industrial States were still at the draft stage in late September. This list moves week by week, so check it with your labour consultant every quarter.

A worked example: one group, three answers

A group has three units:

• A general insurance company's office in Mumbai. Insurance is central sphere, so it keeps Forms I, IV and IX under the Central Rules.
• A packaging plant in Patna. Bihar has final rules, so the plant keeps Bihar's registers, which largely follow the Central forms.
• An assembly plant in Manesar, Haryana. Haryana's rules were still in draft in late September, so the plant keeps its existing registers under the old State rules until the final rules are notified.

One HR team, three register sets. A system that prints the Central forms for all three is not compliant for two of them.

Form XXIII annual return

The Code on Social Security (Central) Rules, rule 53(5), require one unified annual return, the Form XXIII annual return, for the calendar year, uploaded on the Ministry's portal by 28 or 29 February. The OSH Rules prescribe Form XVII, which is the same "single annual integrated return".

Part I, which every establishment fills, has ten sections: general information, hours and shifts, manpower by skill (directly employed and through contractors, by gender), contractors engaged, welfare amenities, industrial relations, maternity benefit, bonus, accidents and dangerous occurrences, and man-days lost. Part II is for mines only. Contractors with more than 50 workers file too.

On that timetable the first return under the new rules would cover calendar year 2026 and fall due by 28 February 2027; State-sphere units should confirm their State's own form and date. Either way, start collecting the manpower-by-skill and contractor figures now; they are the ones most companies do not have in one place.

A short checklist

1. Decide, unit by unit, whether you are central sphere or State sphere.
2. For each State, note whether its rules are final or draft, and the form numbers it uses.
3. Keep Form I, Form IV and Form IX (or the State equivalents) electronically, with a five-year retention rule.
4. Check the 50% deduction limit on the total of every deduction column.
5. Use column (24) only for fines imposed with the section 19 procedure.
6. Collect Form VII nominations at joining.
7. Start the Form XXIII data pack for 2026 before the year ends.

For contract workers, the principal employer's records sit alongside these; see contract labour compliance under the OSH Code. The wage figures in Form IV also follow the Code's wage definition, explained in the 50% wage rule post.

Vatsin Payroll prints these registers from the payroll and attendance data, and chooses the register set by sphere and State: the 2026 forms for central-sphere units and States with final rules, and the existing forms elsewhere, which HR can override unit by unit.