Taxation of employee bonuses in 2021

Incentive payments can be part of the salary, or can be issued as additional accruals. From an accounting perspective, this is part of labor costs, the taxation of which is clearly stated in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. But does the payment of bonuses always fall into this category?

Let's consider the usual situation with the taxation of bonus payments, as well as its nuances in cases where a certain tax risk arises in connection with incentive payments.

What the Tax and Labor Codes of the Russian Federation say

The Labor Code provides for the right to monetary incentives for employees (paragraph 4, paragraph 1, article 22 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, paragraph 1, article 191 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The consolidation of the bonus regime in local documents is reflected in clause 2 of Art. 191 Labor Code of the Russian Federation, paragraph 2 of Art. 191 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Finally, the possibility of accounting for these payments as part of remuneration for labor or another form of incentives is given in Art. 135 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Tax legislation regulates the payment of bonuses to employees as part of the company's profit expenses. Art. 25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation lists the purposes for which these funds can be used, and Art. 225 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation approves a reduction of the tax base by this amount.

Prerequisites for including bonus expenses in labor costs:

the bonus should be assigned and paid exclusively for achievements related to the employee’s professional employment;
the conditions for receiving a bonus and the possibility of depreciation must be clearly regulated in the collective agreement or employment contracts of employees (you can make a reference to the Regulations on Bonuses in these documents), indicating the procedure for accrual and specific amounts.

If the paid bonus does not meet these conditions, then the Tax Code refers it to Art. 270, which speaks of the employer’s right to award staff remuneration for achievements that are not related to the employment contract and are not noted in it. Moreover, funds for their payment are taken not from the wage fund, but from target funds, special purpose funds or net profit at the end of the year (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 19, 2007 No. 03-03-06/1/726).

Is the premium taxed and in what order does it happen?

According to Article 191 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, bonuses are classified as incentives for work.

It is usually called a monetary reward, an incentive payment for:

professional achievements of a person at work;
high skill of the employee demonstrated during a certain period of work;
good production results for the month, quarter, or other period.

Is the premium taxed and in what order does it happen?

The bonus is included in the salary, and this fact is noted in the Labor Code, in article 129.

It says here that an employee’s salary consists of a salary determined by the level of qualifications, the volume of tasks performed and their complexity, as well as from:

compensation payments: additional payments and allowances for harmfulness, overtime, etc.;
incentive payments: cash accruals for certain achievements of an employee, carried out to encourage him.

Composition of wages according to Article 191 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation

Thus, when talking about whether the premium is taxable, we can give a clearly positive answer . Personal income tax (PIT) is deducted here.

Deductions are made for the reason that the premium does not apply to non-taxable income, the list of which is strictly limited:

maternity benefits;
compensation payments for compensation for harm to health;
compensation upon dismissal;
material aid;
payment for medical services;
payment for professional training and retraining of an employee;
gifts with a total value of up to 4,000 rubles per year, which are received by the employee from management;
compensation to an employee for the costs of renting or purchasing housing.

This is a list of a worker's basic income that cannot be subject to income tax. Their complete list is given in Art. 217. Tax Code.

Important! The personal income tax rate is 13%. This figure applies to tax residents of the country.

In Russia, personal income tax is 13%, which can be returned for dental treatment, buying an apartment, training and for some other categories of expenses

If you are interested in how to return 13% for dental treatment, then read the article on our portal.

How tax is withheld from bonuses

Article 226 of the country's Tax Code states that the day the employee receives the bonus is the date of its direct payment. This time must coincide with the withholding of personal income tax. Thus, the tax must be withheld exactly within this period. How the organization pays the bonus - to the employee’s card or in cash - is not taken into account.

When personal income tax is withheld, it must be transferred to the treasury. The procedure is carried out on the same day. The deadline is the next day after the award is accrued or issued.

To be more precise, the order is as follows:

when a person receives a bonus in cash withdrawn from a bank, the transfer of the withheld tax to the treasury must be made on the same day;
when the amount is transferred to the employee's bank account, the tax is deducted on the same day;
If the incentive payment is made from the company's revenue, there is a day following the date of payment for tax deduction.

When a person receives a bonus in cash withdrawn from a bank, the transfer of the withheld tax to the treasury must be done on the same day

All the above points relate to labor bonus accruals and must be complied with without fail and strictly controlled by the accounting department.

Is unearned bonus taxable?

It is worth noting that quite recently the topic of which incentive payments are taxable and which are not was constantly on the agenda in arbitration courts. The reason is that all bonus payments are divided into two categories:

For the work.
Peri-work incentives.

We discussed the topic of labor incentive payments above. Types of bonuses

Peripheral incentives include cash accruals in the following situations:

anniversary dates;
professional holidays;
corporate holidays, for example, the day the company was founded.

Bonus tax calculator

Today, the position regarding the taxation of near-employment bonuses has become unambiguous - personal income tax, like the insurance premium in the listed situations, is collected and paid to the treasury without fail.

Personal income tax, like the insurance premium in the listed situations, is collected and paid to the treasury necessarily

When personal income tax deduction can be avoided

Despite the information discussed above, there are still situations when personal income tax is not deducted from bonus accruals. In this case, one should be guided by paragraph 28 of Article 217 of the Tax Code of the country. It is stated here: bonus remuneration with a total amount of up to 4,000 rubles for one year is not subject to taxation , just like winnings or gifts. 28, paragraph 217 of Article of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation

In order not to deduct tax, several conditions must be met:

time the accrual of bonuses to a significant date;
conclude a gift agreement under clause 2 of Art. 574 Civil Code of the Russian Federation. It must be in writing.

Clause 2 art. 574 Civil Code of the Russian Federation

What's good about deducting personal income tax?

If you carefully study clause 2 of Art. 255 and paragraph 4 of Art. 272 of the Tax Code, it can be noted that all bonus payments fall into the category of labor costs.

Accordingly, these expenses help reduce income tax, which the organization is obliged to pay to the budget.

This scheme can be implemented by the following types of organizations:

on the general tax system;
on a simplified tax system.

Types of awards

To avoid problems with representatives of the tax service, you need to take a responsible approach to registering bonus deductions. In an ideal situation, the rules for conducting them should be written down in one of the following documents:

labor contract;
collective agreement;
regulations on bonuses for company employees.

The best solution is to draw up an additional annex to the employment contract, which will detail the procedure for calculating bonuses. This will allow them to be included in wages and eliminate problems with tax authorities.

By law, the employer must record the bonuses issued in all relevant documents. These include pay slips and 2-NDFL forms.

These are all the things worth knowing about the taxation of stimulus payments and the situations when it is excluded.

– Employee bonuses: “tax” and “labor” nuances, whether an employee’s bonus is taxable and the procedure for paying it

Source: https://law-world.ru/yuridicheskaya-praktika/nalogi/oblagaetsya-li-nalogom-premiya.html

The bonus is for work, but not only

The bonus is an incentive payment included in the remuneration for work. If the company uses a bonus payment system, then the bonus will be an integral part of the money earned by the employee, regardless of how exactly he worked. It all depends on how this situation was regulated in the company’s internal regulations: employment contracts, collective agreement, specially created Regulations on bonuses, etc.

However, there are special types of payments that are not made on an ongoing basis, for example, remuneration paid to employees who participated in a successful project, or cash payments for certain holidays. It is impossible to foresee them in advance, therefore, it is also not possible to prescribe their regulations in local acts.

The taxation of bonuses related to the planned and unplanned groups is significantly different, since they are included in different accounting items.

When is the bonus paid at the end of the year - terms

For annual bonuses, the law does not establish restrictions on the timing of payment. Obviously, payment is possible no earlier than the end of the period based on the results of which the bonus is paid, that is, the calendar year.

The employer determines the deadlines for paying bonuses at the end of the year independently, fixing them in the relevant local act. This may be a specific date, or a date before which the premium must be paid (for example, no later than April 1), or a month (for example, March), etc. It is also possible to indicate a specific event, for example, when a bonus is paid after the annual accounting statements are approved.

This approach does not contradict Art. 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which requires wages to be paid at least every half month (no later than 15 days after the period for which it was accrued). Although the bonus is part of the salary, it is paid for a period longer than half a month, therefore the period for its payment (fixed by a local act) may be longer. This position was voiced by the Ministry of Labor in letter dated September 15, 2016 No. 14-1/10/B-6568.

Taxes on stimulus payments

Let's consider the taxation of bonuses of the first group, recognized by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as part of remuneration and recorded as such in the local documentation of the organization.

These funds reduce the employer's income tax base. The employer also has the right (not the obligation!) to apply regressive rates under the UST (Unified Social Tax) to these payments.

From the employee’s point of view, the bonus is income and therefore subject to mandatory personal income tax. There are several exceptions when payments to an employee will not be included in the personal income tax base:

the employee received an international award;
the award is for special achievements;
the bonus was awarded to the employee by senior officials;
the payment amount is less than RUB 4,000. per year (then it is regarded not as a bonus, but as a gift - Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition to personal income tax, profits, as part of income, are subject to mandatory contributions to the Pension Fund, Social Insurance Fund and Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. Profits included in the exclusion group, that is, exempt from income tax, are not considered the basis for payment of insurance premiums.

NOTE! The execution of accounting documents is dated not on the day the bonuses are accrued according to the documents, but on the day when the funds are issued to the employee.

How does the Ministry of Finance propose to assess the economic feasibility of labor costs?

To the question of how to assess the economic feasibility of labor costs for the purposes of calculating income tax, the Ministry of Finance answered in letters dated 04/24/2015 No. 03-03-06/1/23695, dated 01/30/2015 No. 03-03-06/1/ 3587 and dated January 19, 2015 No. 03‑03‑06/1/882.
They state that the validity of expenses taken into account when calculating the tax base should be assessed taking into account circumstances indicating the taxpayer’s intentions to obtain an economic effect as a result of real business or other economic activity. Since tax legislation does not use the concept of economic feasibility and does not regulate the procedure and conditions for conducting financial and economic activities, the validity of expenses that reduce income received for tax purposes cannot be assessed from the point of view of their feasibility, rationality, efficiency or the result obtained.

Due to the principle of freedom of economic activity (Article 8 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation), the taxpayer carries out it independently at his own risk and has the right to independently and individually assess its effectiveness and expediency.

A similar position is set out in the Determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated June 4, 2007 No. 320-O-P.

Within the meaning of the legal position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, presented in Resolution No. 3-P of February 24, 2004, judicial control is not intended to check the economic feasibility of decisions made by business entities that have independence in the business sphere, since due to the risky nature of such activities there are objective limits in the ability of the courts to identify the presence of business miscalculations in it.

Consequently, the norms of paragraph. 2 and 3 clauses 1 art. 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation do not allow their arbitrary application, since they require the establishment of an objective connection between the expenses incurred by the taxpayer and the focus of his activities on making a profit, and the burden of proving the unfoundedness of the taxpayer’s expenses rests with the tax authorities.

We believe that this response from the Ministry of Finance does not add clarity. Let's turn to the materials of judicial practice and find out how much and what conditions must be met at a time in order for the payment of the premium to be taken into account in tax expenses.

Taxes on bonuses not provided for by local acts of the organization

The second group of payments that can be accrued to employees includes one-time bonuses not provided for in the Regulations on bonuses or the collective agreement (employment contract). This is an essential condition that allows you to include bonuses in labor expenses and reduce the employer’s tax base. If it is not met, then the payment falls under a fundamentally different taxation system.

This type of bonuses is assigned on the basis of a management order (order), which in the usual manner must be familiarized with the signature of the employees named in it.

The accounting reflection of these payments will be different depending on the source of funds for their accrual:

expenses for ordinary activities;
other expenses.

What if we regulate these payments?

To reduce the tax base, entrepreneurs can take into account irregular payments in local acts. For example, in the documents you can indicate regular bonus payments to employees on March 8 or the New Year, upon reaching an anniversary date, etc. Such bonuses cannot be called production bonuses, but with a certain “favor” of the tax authorities, they can be justified as stimulating.

Even in such a situation, personal income tax and mandatory insurance contributions are charged on the amounts of these payments.

However, by law, one-time bonuses that are not assigned for labor performance cannot be included in profit expenses, so the risk of a legal dispute with tax authorities with an unknown outcome cannot be excluded.

ADVICE FOR EMPLOYERS. In order to avoid tax risk, the maximum number of payments to employees must be regulated as payment for labor, correctly substantiating this in the employment (collective) agreement and/or Regulations on bonuses. You can include in these documents the convenient wording “The employer reserves the right to reward the employee at its discretion.”

Can a birthday bonus depend on the employee’s performance of job functions?

Arbitrators of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region have repeatedly given a positive answer to this question. For example, in Resolution No. F05-10182/2016 dated August 10, 2016 in case No. A40-17590/2015, the judges justified the verdict in favor of the taxpayer as follows. According to the collective agreement, the amount of one-time remuneration for the anniversary date (50, 60 years) and for the birthday (55 years and then every 10 years) is determined depending on the length of service in the organization (the longer the length of service, the greater the payment). Therefore, such payments can be qualified as bonuses for length of service. The controversial expenses were carried out for the purpose of additional motivation of workers, retention of personnel, creation and preservation of a stable, highly qualified workforce. Payments are provided for by local regulations, are aimed at increasing the duration (length of service) of work in the organization and are related to its production activities.

Can an employer reward himself?

The awarding of bonuses to senior management is of a special nature. Rewarding top executives can only be done by business owners, since it is they who ultimately own the net profit. In all other situations, the manager does not have the right to sign an order on his own bonus. Otherwise, such an incident will become a reason for tax proceedings with the almost inevitable recognition of such a monetary transaction as an unjustified tax benefit.

Production bonus in 6-NDFL: how to reflect it

6-NDFL reporting differs from 2-NDFL reporting in that it is submitted in relation to all employees of the company (total income).

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How to reflect a production bonus in 6-NDFL?

From Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated 04/04/2017 No. N 03-04-07/19708 it follows that bonuses for the month must be reflected as salary.

Section 1 should reflect the following data:

in lines 020 and 040 it is required to reflect bonuses for all months of the expired period, as well as calculated personal income tax;
in line 070 it is required to reflect personal income tax on bonuses withheld before the end of the reporting period. This amount is most often less than indicated in line 040, since personal income tax is withheld in the next quarter (or year) and accrued in the current one.

Section 2 indicates bonus payments that were made in the last quarter, with the exception of those paid on the last day of this period (these must be included in the report for the next quarter).

Those bonuses that were paid with salaries accrued in the same month should be reflected in lines 100-140. If bonuses and salaries were paid separately, you must indicate:

in line 100 - the last day of the month for which bonuses were accrued;
in line 110 – the day of bonus payments;
in line 120 - the next day (working day) after the day of payment of bonuses.

Example:
On 03/09/2018, bonuses for February 2021 were paid - 250,000 rubles, personal income tax was transferred in the amount of 32,500 rubles (250,000 x 13%).
In 6-NDFL for the 1st quarter of 2021, the amounts are reflected as follows:

***

Thus, personal income tax on premiums must be withheld. The procedure for reflecting payments in Form 6-NDFL should not cause problems, and is carried out according to the above procedure.

What needs to be done to minimize tax risks on premiums

So, let’s summarize regarding the taxation of bonus payments to employees.

Payments of a production nature are justified by local acts of the enterprise.
One-time bonuses may or may not be provided for in regulatory documentation.
Both production and one-time payments are subject to personal income tax and insurance premiums (except for cases recognized by law as exceptions).
Production bonuses reduce the employer's income tax base, but one-time bonuses do not.
To protect yourself from tax risks, an employer should:
try to justify the maximum number of additional payments to employees as bonuses for work;
take care of proper documentation of bonuses (compliance with the designated bonus criteria, their transparency and unambiguous interpretation, execution of a one-time incentive by order, financial justification, correct accounting entries, etc.).

Bonus at the end of the year when calculating vacation pay

According to clause 15 of the Regulations “On the peculiarities of calculating the average salary” (Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 24, 2007 No. 922), the bonus for the previous year in the current year is taken into account in the average earnings, regardless of the time of its accrual. This means that if vacation pay is calculated in 2021, the “average” also takes into account the bonus for 2021.

In the case where vacation pay is calculated before the bonus is accrued for the previous year (for example, the vacation falls in March 2021, and the bonus for 2021 is accrued in April), the average daily earnings after calculating the annual bonus will have to be recalculated, then paying additional vacation pay to the employee (letter from Rostrud dated 05/03/2007 No. 1253-6-1).

The full amount of the bonus at the end of the year is taken into account: when the billing period is fully worked, or if this period is not fully worked (in this case, the bonus accrual period corresponds to the calculated period), and the bonus is accrued in proportion to the time worked.

A proportional calculation of bonuses to the actual time worked will need to be done: if the billing period has not been fully worked, and the accrual is made without taking into account the actual time worked, or when the bonus accrual period does not correspond to the billing period.

Bonus to the director at the expense of net profit: taxation features

Bonuses awarded to employees on holidays are not related to production results and therefore are not considered justified expenses. Such payments cannot be classified as incentive payments and should not be taken into account when calculating income tax. After all, they do not comply with the requirements of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

This position was expressed by the Russian Ministry of Finance in a letter dated April 24, 2013 No. 03-03-06/1/14283. The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the West Siberian District came to a similar conclusion in its resolution dated February 19, 2014 No. A45-25321/2012. The court decided that the costs of paying bonuses for Russia Day and March 8 were economically unjustified and not related to the activities of the organization.

However, some judges disagree with this approach. According to the Moscow District Arbitration Court, amounts paid for the holiday can be taken into account when calculating income tax (resolution No. A40-12724/2014 dated December 5, 2014). In the case considered, the holiday bonus, one-time and annual, was made in accordance with the requirements of the labor regulations, along with other incentive and incentive payments established in the organization.

That is, for the conscientious performance of official duties, increased labor productivity, improved quality of products (works), impeccable long-term work, initiative, innovation in work and other achievements. In addition, any bonus, regardless of how it is named or what date it is dated, encourages the employee to work.

This once again confirms the incentive nature of such payments. The arbitrators also noted that when deciding on bonuses on this basis, the employees’ overfulfillment of planned production indicators was taken into account. Thus, the bonuses paid met the criteria of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

From March 1 of the new year, the owners of organizations have the right to hold a general meeting of participants, sum up the results of the year’s work and distribute the profit received last year. Owners can use retained earnings for any purpose that does not contradict the legislation of the Russian Federation. One of these areas of profit distribution is the payment of benefits to employees as part of the employment relationship.

The topic related to the procedure for accounting and taxation of remuneration made at the expense of net profit is the most relevant in this period, therefore, in this issue of the magazine we will consider this issue in detail. Retained earnings can be used to create various savings and consumption funds, including those from which employee benefits are paid.

In April, the accountant calculated insurance premiums at general rates: 1) from the amount of the premium that relates to the organization’s activities under the general taxation system:

to the Pension Fund for the insurance part of the labor pension - in the amount of 660 rubles. (RUB 3,000 × 22%);
in the FSS of Russia - in the amount of 87 rubles. (RUB 3,000 × 2.9%);
in the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund - in the amount of 153 rubles. (RUB 3,000 × 5.1%);
for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases - in the amount of 6 rubles. (RUB 3,000 × 0.2%);

2) from the amount of the premium that relates to the activities of an organization subject to UTII:

to the Pension Fund for the insurance part of the labor pension - in the amount of 1980 rubles. (9000 rub. × 22%);
in the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia - in the amount of 261 rubles. (9000 rub. × 2.9%);
in the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund - in the amount of 459 rubles. (RUB 9,000 × 5.1%);
for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases - in the amount of 18 rubles. (9000 rub.

Employment contracts do not provide for the payment of bonuses for Defender of the Fatherland Day. In February, among other employees, the head of workshop No. 1, V.K., was awarded a bonus. Volkov. The bonus amount was 13,000 rubles. The bonus was paid on February 20. The bonus amount will be included in the personal income tax base in February. Volkov has no rights to deductions for personal income tax.

Contributions for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases - at a rate of 0.2 percent. In February, the accountant calculated insurance premiums:

to the Pension Fund of Russia - in the amount of 2860 rubles. (RUB 13,000 × 22%);
in the Social Insurance Fund for social insurance - in the amount of 377 rubles. (RUB 13,000 × 2.9%);
in the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund for health insurance - in the amount of 663 rubles. (13,000 rub.

If such a decision is made and recorded in the minutes of the general meeting of shareholders, then the use of the funds of such a fund may fall within the competence of the board of directors of the company (subclause 12, clause 1, clause 2, article 65 of the Law of December 26, 1995 No. 208-FZ) . Now regarding accounting. If the organization has decided to create special funds at the expense of net profit, then to account for their movement, the accountant can keep analytical accounting on account 84.

And the costs themselves correspond to the definition of consumption, which is given in PBU 10/99. This means that the score 91-2 must be used. The correctness of this approach is confirmed by the Ministry of Finance of Russia in the recommendations from the appendix to the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated February 6, 2015 No. 07-04-06/5027. Situation: is it possible to take into account contributions for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases from the amount of premium paid from net profit when calculating income tax? Answer: yes, you can.

When calculating income tax, the premium paid from net profit is not included in expenses (Clause 1, Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Similar clarifications are in letters of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated August 20, 2014 No. SA-4-3/16606, dated May 20, 2010 No. ShS-37-3/1977. Although these letters are addressed to state unitary enterprises, the conclusions made by the tax service are also relevant for commercial organizations.

Bonuses paid from special-purpose funds (Clause 22, Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) are taken into account according to the same rules.

Situation: what bonuses are considered paid from special purpose funds?

The law does not say what is considered special-purpose equipment. According to the tax service, special-purpose funds are funds identified by the owners of the organization for the payment of bonuses (see, for example, letters of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated March 23, 2006 No. 21-08/22586, dated December 15, 2005

No. 21-11/92841). Controlling agencies include, in particular, various types of bonus funds (material incentive funds) formed from net profit as special-purpose funds (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 6, 2008 No. 03-11-04/2/165, Federal Tax Service of Russia on Moscow dated December 28, 2004 No. 28-08/84326).

This approach is also confirmed by arbitration practice (see, for example, decisions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Central District dated April 7, 2005 No. A14-13070-2004-409/28, West Siberian District dated October 10, 2005 No. F04-5674/2004 ( 15453-A27-18), Moscow District dated April 19, 2005 No. KA-A40/2661-05, Central District dated August 30, 2005 No. A64-6875/04-11).

In order for the payment of bonuses to fall under paragraph 22 of Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (the bonuses were paid from special-purpose funds), the decision of the owners (founders) of the organization to allocate net profit to pay bonuses is not enough. It is also necessary to record the owners’ decision to create a fund to pay bonuses from net profit.

The LLC must determine the decision to create such funds in its charter (Article 30 of the Law of February 8, 1998 No. 14-FZ). There is no such requirement for a joint stock company. The decision to create a fund for paying bonuses in a joint stock company is made by shareholders at a general meeting (subclause 11, clause 1, art.

Now regarding accounting. If the organization decided to create special funds at the expense of net profit, then to account for their movement, the accountant can keep analytical accounting using account 84. And the costs themselves meet the definition of expense, which is given in PBU 10/99. This means that the score 91-2 must be used. The correctness of this approach is confirmed by the Ministry of Finance of Russia in the recommendations from the appendix to the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated February 6, 2015 No. 07-04-06/5027.

Situation: is it possible to take into account contributions for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases from the amount of premium paid from net profit when calculating income tax?

Answer: yes, you can.

The organization charges contributions for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases in the amount of premiums at the expense of net profit in accordance with Russian legislation. This means that the amount of contributions can be taken into account when calculating income tax. They are taken into account as part of other expenses associated with production and sales (subclause 45, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

An example of how premiums paid from net profit are reflected in accounting and taxation. The organization applies a general taxation system

LLC "Torgovaya" applies a general taxation system (accrual method). Income tax is paid monthly.

In 2015, by decision of the general meeting of participants, retained earnings from previous years were used to pay bonuses to employees in the amount of 5,000 rubles. for Trade Worker's Day.

Trade Worker's Day is the fourth Saturday in July. Bonuses were awarded along with salaries for July.

The bonus was paid on the deadline set for the payment of salaries for July - August 5. On the same day, insurance premiums calculated from the premium amount were transferred to the budget.

Among other employees, the manager of the organization A.S. was awarded. Kondratiev.

The bonus amount will be included in the personal income tax tax base for July. Kondratiev has no rights to deductions for personal income tax.

The organization calculates contributions to compulsory pension (social, medical) insurance according to the basic tariff. Contributions for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases - at a rate of 0.2 percent.

No. 3210-U. It is especially important that all employees receive money equally, since if the amounts of payments are unequal, it will be obvious that bonus funds are still paid for the volume of work performed, and in this case, insurance premiums must be withheld. To the extent that holiday bonuses are not considered a reward for labor success, they are not related to working relationships, are not intended to motivate high-quality work, and therefore are not subject to insurance contributions. What kind of awards there are, read here.

What is included in the one-time bonus?

One-time employee bonuses are regulated separately, regardless of regular incentive payments. However, all one-time financial awards are also subject to taxation in the form of personal income tax and insurance contributions. This provision is enshrined in Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 03/03/06/1/606 dated 08/29/2007. This provision also regulates the conditions for the provision and taxation of the category in question:

providing a one-time incentive to a subordinate is possible if such a provision is fixed in the local regulations of the enterprise;
Only payments based on production merit are taken into account, and not funds tied to a specific event (for example, an award for outstanding scientific achievements);
all costs for bonus incentives must be recorded in accounting.

We invite you to read: Payment of personal income tax

Thus, we can conclude that the premium is subject to taxation, in particular, personal income tax and insurance contributions are charged on the incentive amount. The manager is strongly recommended to familiarize himself with the list of tax-free bonus amounts.

OSNO and UTII

Let’s say a bonus is awarded to an employee who is simultaneously engaged in the activities of an organization on the general taxation system and in activities subject to UTII. The bonus itself will not affect your tax liability in any way. After all, when calculating income tax, this payment is not taken into account. Premiums paid also do not affect the amount of UTII.

At the same time, insurance premiums that are accrued from bonuses to employees engaged in the organization’s activities on the general taxation system and in activities subject to UTII must be distributed. This is due to the fact that organizations that combine the general tax regime and UTII must keep separate records of income and expenses (clause 9 of Article 274, clause 7 of Article 346.26 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Insurance premiums that are accrued for bonuses to employees engaged in only one type of activity do not need to be distributed.

Types of bonuses that affect how they are reflected in accounting

The concept of “bonus” implies a fairly wide range of applications of this definition, despite the fact that in each specific case it will correspond in meaning to the same meaning: remuneration.

Remuneration, called a bonus, can be awarded as:

monetary or other material rewards for any achievements received by specific people or organizations;
difference in price set for the same product;
the amount paid by the buyer to the seller for the right, during a specified period of time, to buy from him a specific asset (securities) at an agreed price;
funds paid by the policyholder to the insurer upon concluding an insurance contract.

Each of these groups has its own characteristics of reflection in accounting (BU) and tax (TA) accounting.

ConsultantPlus experts explained in detail how to prepare documents for a bonus for an employee. To do everything correctly, get trial access to the system and go to the Ready solution.

Documenting

The basis for calculating a bonus is an order from the head of the organization to reward an employee (Form No. T-11) or a group of employees (Form No. T-11a). The employee (employees) must be familiarized with the order against signature (Section 1 of the instructions approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated January 5, 2004 No. 1).

Instead of standard forms of bonus orders, you can use independently developed forms of such documents (provided that they contain all the necessary details provided for in Part 2 of Article 9 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

This procedure follows from Part 4 of Article 9 of the Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ and is confirmed by the letter of Rostrud of February 14, 2013 No. PG/1487-6-1.

Payment of bonuses from the cash register can be made:

according to payroll or payroll (according to forms No. T‑49 or No. T‑53);

according to an expense cash order (according to form No. KO-2).

This is stated in paragraph 6 of Bank of Russia Directive No. 3210-U dated March 11, 2014.

Decision on payment of bonuses

To pay bonuses from retained earnings, the consent of the owners of the organization (founders, shareholders) to such expenditure of profits is required. This rule applies to both LLCs and joint stock companies (clause 2 of Article 67.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

The decision to spend retained earnings in an LLC is documented in the minutes of the general meeting of founders. There are no mandatory requirements for the minutes of the general meeting of an LLC in the legislation. But there are details that are better to indicate. This is the number and date of the minutes, place and date of the meeting, agenda items, signatures of the founders.

In a joint stock company, minutes of the general meeting of shareholders are drawn up. The minutes of a joint stock company differ from the minutes of an LLC in that they are drawn up in two copies and have mandatory details. They are listed in paragraph 2 of Article 63 of the Law of December 26, 1995 No. 208-FZ and paragraph 4.29 of the Regulations approved by order of the Federal Financial Markets Service of Russia dated February 2, 2012 No. 12-6/pz-n.

In an LLC (consisting of one participant) and in a joint stock company (where all voting shares belong to one shareholder), the protocol is not drawn up (Article 39 of the Law of February 8, 1998 No. 14-FZ, paragraph 3 of Article 47 of the Law of December 26 1995 No. 208-FZ). In this case, the participant (shareholder) draws up a written decision to allocate net profit to pay bonuses.

What does tax depend on?

Firstly, it may depend on the amount of the bonus awarded to the employee. The larger its value, the larger the payment must be made to the budget.

It must be remembered that bonuses affect not only the employee’s taxes, but also obligations to the budget of the enterprise itself.

And in this aspect the following will be important:

the size of the total bonus fund;
grounds for payment of the bonus;
sources from which bonuses are calculated.

For example, if the bonus is paid from free net profit, then the company will not be able to reduce its own taxes.

Also, the amount of tax will depend on whether it is possible to find alternatives to such a payment as a bonus. For example, in some cases it can be replaced by giving money as a gift. This will be the best option for the employee.

Accounting

In accounting, reflect the accrual of bonuses at the expense of net profit by posting:

Debit 91-2 Credit 70

– bonuses paid to employees from net profit have been accrued.

This posting must be made regardless of whether the net profit of previous years or the current year is used to pay the bonus (including profit based on the results of the quarter, half a year, nine months). The fact is that such expenses cannot be reflected using account 84. These will be other expenses that also affect the financial result of the organization. Accordingly, such expenses must be reflected in the debit of account 91-2. Similar explanations are given in letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 19, 2008 No. 07-05-06/260 and dated June 19, 2008 No. 07-05-06/138.