Salary commission: main functions when the Federal Tax Service calls for a salary commission

A little history

In its letter dated July 17, 2013 No. AS-4-2/12722, the Tax Service for the first time regulated the work of commissions on the legalization of the tax base. The procedure applied to most major taxes: VAT, income tax, personal income tax, insurance fees, taxes under special regimes, as well as land, transport and property taxes.

However, at the beginning of this year, the Federal Tax Service canceled the rules regarding many payments (letter dated March 21, 2017 No. ED-4-15 / [email protected] FN). As for personal income tax and insurance contributions, the correctness of the formation of the tax base and the completeness of their payment still remained the subject of the work of the commissions. And on July 25, 2021, letter No. ED-4-15/ [email protected] , in which the Federal Tax Service presented updated rules for the functioning of “salary” commissions.

Venues

Currently, there are “salary” commissions in the following bodies and institutions:

in the tax service;
State Labor Inspectorate;
in the administration (local authorities).

By their status, these commissions are some kind of collegial bodies that have their own composition (employees who are authorized to resolve issues about the income of citizens and control them). Legalization of wages is a rather complex controlled process that requires deep knowledge and experience in this field. Therefore, employees selected to the commission must have a high level of competence in matters of wages.

Most often, commissions can be found in the administrations of populated areas of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

However, the Federal Tax Service is also authorized to create them and, accordingly, carry them out.

Target

The creation of salary commissions has as its main goal to legitimize the employee’s shadow income. In other words, this body identifies those employers who set minimum wages in their organizations, and give out the rest of the earnings “in envelopes”.

This approach is illegal because:

the state does not fully receive personal income tax (personal income tax) into its budget;
the employee himself is deprived of the right to a decent pension in the future, because contributions to the Pension Fund of Russia (Pension Fund of Russia) can only be made from a “white” salary;
Also, an employee cannot fully reimburse himself for tax deductions based on the amount of personal income tax, for example, when purchasing home ownership, paid training, mortgage, treatment, etc.

The Commission for the Legalization of Wages directs its activities to identifying unscrupulous employers and persuading them to obtain the “white” income of their employees in the amount they are entitled to.

In addition, the commissions are working to reduce the number of enterprises that delay wage payments and identify the reasons for this behavior of managers.

In addition, the competence of this body also includes identifying those organizations, companies, enterprises that officially, without any shadow payments, set wages for their employees much lower than what is required by the amount of monetary remuneration in a similar industry of the employer. This is a very important point, since managers unreasonably underestimate payments to employees and thereby “save” on taxes and other payments in favor of various funds.

Any of the above approaches by an employer towards its employees is unlawful, incorrect and unacceptable. That is why commissions for the legalization of wages have been created, so that every worker in the Russian Federation can fully take advantage of all the rights granted to him, and also so that the state receives taxes and fees in its budget in full.

Such commissions are usually attended by company executives who violate current legislation in the area of establishing the amount and timing of payment of wages to employees.

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Goals and objectives

The main goal of tax base legalization commissions is to encourage people to pay more personal income taxes and insurance premiums. Of course, we are not talking about bona fide payers (agents), but about those who hide the facts of economic activity or do not fully reflect them in accounting, and also submit unreliable reports.

The commission is given certain tasks. They boil down to identifying facts of violations in the activities of an organization or entrepreneur that are associated with:

with failure to register labor relations with employees;
with payment of “gray” wages;
with payment of wages less than the minimum wage or subsistence level;
with late payment of personal income tax and/or insurance premiums;
with the submission of false accounting and/or tax reporting.

Selection criteria

In most cases, the tax office selects candidates for participation in the commission based on the following parameters:

Low salary.
Shadow circulation of money in the company.
Undue payments for workers' labor.
Deliberate reduction of salaries.
High VAT deductions.
Reduced tax burden.

The selection is carried out with the aim of finding out the factors why the employer does not fulfill his duties.

But lately, tax officials have been trying to pay more attention to the procedure, which is aimed at persuading people to move to a new level of payment.

Tax compliance, clean payments, elimination of shadow money circulation.

Stages of the commission's work

Conducting a direct commission meeting with the participation of a taxpayer or agent is one of the stages in the work of the tax authorities to legalize the tax base. It is preceded by the following work:

selection of candidates;
carrying out analytical and control measures in relation to them;
sending them letters that should encourage them to independently solve the problem: making changes to the statements, paying off debts, and so on.

If the taxpayer has not taken action on his own, material is prepared for consideration and a commission meeting is held. But the work on legalizing the tax base does not end there. After the meeting, the tax authorities will monitor the performance indicators of the persons invited to the commission. If violations are not eliminated, they may be summoned for a conversation to local government bodies, and some entities - to the regional administration.

Results of the salary commission's work

A meeting is organized to which the employer is summoned. A protocol is kept during the process. Based on the results of the meeting, a proposal to increase salaries is sent to the company management. The employer must subsequently report on this matter.

IMPORTANT! The salary commission's proposals are advisory in nature. That is, the head of the company is not obliged to fulfill them. However, he must keep in mind that the commission may forward the collected information to the control authorities. In this case, the company may be subject to punishment. In particular, this is an administrative penalty: a fine in the amount of 30,000–50,000 rubles.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION! The recommendations of the salary commission should be followed. You can do this in stages, gradually increasing your salary.

How is the selection made?

Tax inspectorate specialists analyze the data at their disposal regarding the activities of the taxpayer or agent regarding the payment of personal income tax and insurance premiums. At the same time, the candidates for the commission meeting risk being:

Tax agents who:
reduced the volume of tax transfers by more than 10% compared to the previous period;
pay wages below the average level for the type of activity in the region.
Individual entrepreneurs who:
claimed professional deductions amounting to more than 95% of income;
reflected sales revenue in the VAT return, and zero income in the 3rd personal income tax return;
did not submit the above-mentioned declarations for the reporting period.
Payers of insurance premiums who:
reduced the number of employees by more than 30% compared to the previous period;
have arrears in paying contributions;
in previous periods, contributions were calculated at an additional rate of 6 or 9%, but in the reporting period other rates were applied.
Payers in respect of whom:
there is information obtained from requests from citizens, organizations, control agencies and other sources about their taxable income.

Who conducts salary commissions?

In Russia there are “salary” commissions for remuneration, vested with the right to check the legality of the amount of wages accrued and paid to personnel.
Various bodies have supervisory powers in this area:

tax office;
local government bodies;
State Labor Inspectorate.

In fact, salary commissions are permanent collegial bodies, which include employees of the district administration.
Their decisions are advisory in nature. For the most part, labor and wage commissions are located at district administrations to legitimize wages and protect the rights of employees of companies located in a particular district. However, it happens that salary commissions are carried out by the tax office or the Federal Tax Service.

Analysis stage

So, the candidates have been selected, and now tax officials will have to analyze their activities in terms of personal income tax and insurance contributions. To do this, they analyze a variety of information, including:

received as part of a tax audit in accordance with Article 93.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation;
data from open information resources, registers and databases maintained by the Federal Tax Service;
information obtained from the Internet and the media;
information from credit institutions, as well as law enforcement agencies, customs, licensing, Pension Fund and other funds, municipal authorities, the Central Bank, Rostrud and others;
information contained in complaints on behalf of citizens and legal entities;
information provided by employees or shareholders of the audited organization.

All information found is used for analysis in the following areas:

Basic accounting data and other information that gives a general description of the object of analysis.
Organizational balance.
Salary level and fulfillment of the obligation to pay personal income tax.
Fulfillment of the obligation to pay insurance premiums.
Entrepreneurs' reporting.

Having assessed the activity of the subject, tax specialists draw conclusions about the level of its tax risk. If an organization or individual entrepreneur is selected to appear at the commission, a calculation of its tax burden will also follow.

Work principles

If you received a call to the commission, it means that the tax authorities conducted an analysis of your business, namely its economic side.

During the investigation, dubious aspects were identified, which became the reason for your invitation.

Before going to the meeting, it is worth obtaining documentation on salary payments, as well as compelling arguments why the salary is lower than necessary, and so on. The commission will certainly take an interest in these particular points, on the basis of which a verdict will then be made.

This procedure is for informational purposes only and is aimed at eliminating unscrupulous employers or motivating them to switch to a legal method of doing business.

As a result, you will be provided with a list of recommendations that will become pioneers in the world of legal business.

A chance to voluntarily close all questions

Before inviting a taxpayer or agent to the Federal Tax Service, he may be sent an information letter inviting him to independently analyze his activities in terms of the tax burden for personal income tax and insurance contributions, including determining the tax base and deductions. If the subject comes to the attention of the commission due to a debt, it will be asked to repay it. If the reason was distorted tax and accounting reporting, the subject will have a chance to make changes to it.

The letter must set out the facts of violations that were identified during the previous analysis. As well as questions that Federal Tax Service specialists want answers to.

Among other things, the taxpayer (agent) may be asked to:

pay off debt;
conduct an independent risk assessment (order of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation dated May 30, 2007 No. MM-3-06/ [email protected] );
calculate personal income tax and insurance premiums based on real income;
adjust the base for personal income tax and insurance premiums, clarifying professional deductions and the amount of non-taxable income;
submit updated declarations and calculations.

The subject is given 10 working days from the date of receipt of the letter to take action. The letter itself must be sent no later than a month before the expected date of the commission meeting.

As a reaction, the taxpayer or agent can pay the debt, provide updated documents or reasoned explanations of the fact that he did not commit any violations and, accordingly, there is no reason to call him to the commission.

Why is a commission created?

The main candidates for visiting the salary commission are companies and individual entrepreneurs whom the tax authorities suspected of using “gray” wage schemes and issuing salaries “in envelopes”. If suspicions have not yet been confirmed, inspectors will not rush into an on-site inspection. First, the alleged violator will be called to the commission and asked to correct the situation on his own. Also, those whose guilt is no longer in doubt will be called to the commission, but the amount of hidden income is so small that it is ineffective to order an on-site inspection.

Tax authorities draw information about possible schemes not only from their own sources (calculations, declarations, etc.), but also from requests from citizens, organizations and regulatory agencies. Also, employees of the Federal Tax Service take into account information from competent foreign sources about residents of the Russian Federation who receive income abroad.

Call to a meeting

If the deadline has expired and the subject has not taken the necessary measures, the Federal Tax Service will send him a notice of summons to a commission meeting. This can be done in different ways: in person, by registered mail, electronically via TKS. In the latter case, receipt of the call must be confirmed within 6 working days from the date of sending. Otherwise, the Federal Tax Service may block bank accounts.

Having received the notification, the payer (agent) will see not only the exact time and place of the meeting, but also a detailed description of why he is being called. Accordingly, it is worth considering your line of behavior and preparing documents.

The organization or another representative of the organization, acting on the basis of a power of attorney, can go to a meeting of the commission on legalization of the tax base.

Commission meeting

Each meeting of the commission is held individually. This means that only one organization or one entrepreneur is invited. The commission listens to explanations of all suspicious facts and a story about what measures are being taken or will be taken to independently eliminate violations.

Next, the commission sets out its view of what still needs to be done. In particular, he proposes to submit updated 6-NDFL calculations and calculations of insurance premiums for previous periods.

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In the reporting, it is recommended to reduce the values for a number of indicators, namely, the expenses of individual entrepreneurs, the costs of paying for insurance coverage from the Social Insurance Fund and the amount of payments not subject to contributions. On the contrary, it is proposed to increase some indicators. This is the rate of additional tariffs and the number of employees receiving wages. Plus, it is recommended to list underpaid insurance premiums, personal income tax and penalties for all periods. The deadline for implementing the recommendations is 10 working days from the date of the commission meeting.

There is a possibility that, based on the results of the commission’s work, the Federal Tax Service will send information to the police, labor inspectorate, migration service and other regulatory authorities. If the commission discovers that the employer paid wages below the subsistence level or the minimum wage, then it will be reported to local authorities on a quarterly basis.

Review Process

There is no single procedure for holding a meeting - in each case it is held individually. However, in any case, the invited person should have the opportunity to explain the reasons for his violations, as well as talk about what he has done or plans to do to eliminate them.

As a result of the review, the commission will make recommendations. If they are associated with distortion of accounting data, the time frame within which they must be eliminated will be determined. In addition to paying off the debt and submitting updated reports/calculations, the entity may be advised to take measures to prevent similar violations in the future.

The essence of the recommendations and the deadlines for correcting distorted data should be reflected in the minutes of the commission meeting. Its findings can be sent to law enforcement agencies, the Federal Migration Service, the Labor Inspectorate and other bodies.

If the taxpayer does not come to the meeting of the “salary” commission...

The failure of a taxpayer, tax agent, or insurance premium payer to appear is recorded in the minutes of the commission meeting.

If a taxpayer (tax agent, insurance premium payer) fails to appear at a commission meeting for a valid reason, the meeting may be postponed. In this case, the notification is sent again in the form approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation No. ММВ-7-2/ [email protected]

In case of failure of duly notified payers to appear at the commission without a good reason, they will be subject to mandatory liability measures provided for in Art. 19.4 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

For your information:
According to Part 1 of Art. 19.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, disobedience to a lawful order or requirement of an official of a body exercising state supervision (control), state financial control, an official of an organization authorized in accordance with federal laws to exercise state supervision, entails a warning or the imposition of an administrative fine:
for citizens - in the amount of 500 to 1,000 rubles;
for officials - from 2,000 to 4,000 rubles.

In addition, in relation to payers who did not appear at the commission meeting without good reason and whose reporting data does not indicate a positive change in their financial condition, the following measures may be taken:

repeated call to the interdepartmental commission at local governments;
a call to the interdepartmental commission under the administrations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (in relation to state and municipal unitary enterprises, joint-stock companies with the participation of capital of the Russian Federation of the corresponding constituent entities of the Russian Federation or municipalities);
carrying out pre-test analysis in the prescribed manner;
preparation of materials for scheduling an on-site tax audit.

Is it possible not to show up?

The absence of an invited subject at the meeting will be reflected in the minutes. If this is due to valid reasons, the meeting may be postponed. If not, then it will take place without a “defendant”. In this case, the violator may be fined under Article 19.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in the amount of 500–1000 rubles for a citizen and 2000–4000 rubles for an official.

If the invited person did not appear (did not send his representative) and at the same time, according to the reporting data, no positive changes are planned in his activities, then other measures may be taken in relation to him:

summons to a commission under municipal authorities (or regional, if we are talking about unitary enterprises or joint-stock companies with the participation of government agencies);
pre-test activity analysis;
on-site inspection.

What should I do to avoid being called to the salary commission?

If you know for sure that the average salary of specialists in your industry according to OKVED is significantly higher than what you pay at your enterprise, you should not wait for an invitation to the salary commission to give explanations, because in this way you can come under the close attention of government agencies.

However, you can easily maintain the required salary level for your employees by using the staff outstaffing service. At the same time, you will be able to not only protect yourself and your company from salary commissions and audits by the tax office, prosecutor’s office and other government agencies, but also significantly reduce your personnel costs.

In addition, you additionally receive personnel records, migration documents and tax deductions.

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After commission

So, the subject visited the commission and received a protocol with recommendations. Now his activities will be under the supervision of the tax authority, which will monitor whether there are positive dynamics.

At the same time, once a quarter the Federal Tax Service will monitor:

updated declarations/calculations with increased amounts of personal income tax and insurance contributions;
dynamics of debt repayment;
dynamics of the number of employees;
the amount of wages paid to employees;
tax burden.

In relation to debtor employers and those who pay wages below the minimum, control will be carried out monthly.

If it is revealed that the payer or agent does not show any positive dynamics and has not provided any explanations about this, then information about him will be sent for a pre-audit analysis. As a result, the subject has a great chance of being included in the on-site tax audit plan.

Tasks of the salary commission

Many employers lower wages to reduce the tax burden. This is done as follows: the employment contract sets the minimum wage, but in fact the employee’s earnings can significantly exceed the specified value. As a result, the company partially evades paying taxes. It is to prevent this offense that the salary commission exists. Let's take a closer look at its tasks:

Legalization of actual earnings.
Legalization of the relationship between employer and worker.
Elimination of wage debt to workers.
Equalization of wages across the industry.
Full payment of taxes by the company.
Legalization of “black” and “gray” wages.

The salary commission bases its actions on the average salary in the industry. She has the right to receive information about the salary paid by the company. To improve the efficiency of its activities, the commission can cooperate with the labor inspectorate, tax inspectorate, trade union organizations, and internal affairs bodies. Every quarter the commission organizes meetings, the results of which are transmitted to the regulatory authorities. The employer may then be held liable for the offence. The final goal of the salary commission is to increase employee salaries and eliminate “shadow” earnings. Insurance premiums also increase automatically.

IMPORTANT! The activities of the salary commission are based on industry average salaries according to OKVED. This is the average salary in a particular area, which significantly exceeds the minimum wage.

It should be noted that the activities of these commissions are not aimed at increasing wages, although this may ultimately occur. In this case, the “target” is to identify “gray schemes”, that is, salaries “in envelopes”, when the tax base is deliberately reduced and the state receives less personal income tax and insurance contributions.

Reasons for inviting a commission

For entrepreneurs

1. Low tax burden for personal income tax. The load is calculated as the ratio of the accrued tax (line 070 of section 2 of the 3-NDFL declaration) to income from business activities (line 110 of sheet B of the declaration).

2. The share of professional deductions is 95% or more of income. The share is calculated as the ratio of professional deductions (line 120 of the declaration) to income from business activities (line 110 of sheet B of the declaration).

3. The VAT return shows revenue, but the 3-NDFL declaration shows zero income (or 3-NDFL is not presented). First, inspectors compile a list of all individual entrepreneurs who indicated revenue in lines 010-050 of section 1, lines 020 of section 4 or in column 2 of section 7 of the VAT return. Then, from this list, entrepreneurs are selected who did not reflect income in line 010 of sheet B of the 3-NDFL declaration, or who did not submit this declaration.

For employers (companies and individual entrepreneurs)

1. Personal income tax debt. It is determined by comparing two quantities. The first is the tax withheld according to the 6-NDFL calculation data. The second is tax receipts reflected in the “Settlements with the Budget” card (taking into account data on separate divisions). Additionally, calculation data for insurance premiums and data from 2-NDFL certificates are analyzed.

2. Debt on insurance premiums (including for additional social security for flight crew members of civil aviation aircraft, as well as certain categories of employees of coal industry organizations).

3. Reduction in personal income tax payment compared to the previous period by more than 10% (taking into account the average number of employees and calculation data for insurance premiums).

4. Reduced payment of insurance premiums compared to the previous period, despite the fact that the average number of employees remained at the same level. Data from calculations of insurance premiums for periods starting from 2021, cards “Calculations with the budget” (taking into account data on separate divisions), data from the calculation of 6-NDFL and information on the average number of employees are analyzed.

5. Reduction in the number of employees compared to the previous period by more than 30%. Inspectors compare three values. The first is the number of individuals from whose payments insurance premiums are calculated, reflected in the calculations of insurance premiums for periods starting from 2021. The second is the number of individuals who received income by submitting a 6-NDFL calculation. The third is information about the average number of employees for last and the years before last. Additionally, calculation data for insurance premiums and data from 2-NDFL certificates are analyzed.

Salary commissions: procedure in 2018

It should be noted that the correctness of this approach has also been confirmed by court decisions (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Far Eastern District dated November 1, 2007 N F03-A51/07-2/4597).

Dangerous moment. The legal status of the “salary” commission is not defined by any regulations. However, you should not ignore the invitation. A refusal may be followed by a priority tax audit. In addition, a fine may be imposed on the head of the company, since the right to demand explanations from taxpayers is enshrined in Art. 31 Tax Code.

On the other hand, since there is no regulatory regulation of the actions of “salary” commissions at the legislative level, then there is no regulation of attendance on them. Therefore, the manager can visit the commission in the company of relevant specialists: an accountant, lawyer, financier, consultant, etc. Also, any employee can represent the company on the basis of a properly executed power of attorney.

Parting words

In conclusion, it is necessary to recall that the function of the “salary” commission is not to increase wages for employees of organizations, but to bring hidden forms of remuneration out of the shadows. If a company’s wages are taken into account in full when paying insurance premiums, as well as personal income tax, then there will be no claims against it (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated August 8, 2007 No. 15-08/075418).

It should also be borne in mind that the “salary” commission operates with statistical data that is not suitable for a comprehensive and complete analysis of the company’s activities. In addition, each enterprise conducts its activities individually, acting at its own peril and risk. Therefore, the approach should be individual, and not an average statistical one. And if the head of an enterprise succumbs to persuasion and decides to raise wages at the facility entrusted to him, then it is better to do this not abruptly, but gradually, following a certain schedule. Then the salary increase will look justified, and no one will even be able to think that the existence of the schemes did exist.

When deciding to increase wages, you should remember that this will lead to an increase in the tax burden and may cause the manager to be called again to give explanations. But already on a “unprofitable” commission.

When going to the “salary” commission, you should not be afraid that your explanations will conflict with the explanations of the workers, since it is not intended to invite the workers themselves to the meeting of the “salary” commissions (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated December 2, 2009 No. 3-5-04 /1774).

Post:

The practice of paying wages in envelopes

It is obvious that after the pandemic, some taxpayers, even if they planned to “whiten” the income of employees, continue to use such schemes. This may be due to a lack of cash in the business; in the current situation, falling income has a significant impact. Companies want to continue to exist in the market, continue to operate; in the current conditions, businesses strive to at least somehow optimize their costs. I have heard a lot about situations when employers at an interview directly ask applicants to make a choice: a white salary minus taxes or a gray one; many specialists deliberately make this difficult choice, depriving themselves of social guarantees for the sake of more income here and now.

Shadow employment

Budget revenues from personal income tax and insurance contributions lag significantly behind other taxes, which indicates a large share of gray salaries. The incomes of citizens of the Russian Federation often differ from the minimum wage and the industry average: officially people receive very small amounts that have nothing to do with reality. Moreover, such indicators are typical not only for small and medium-sized enterprises, but also for large companies.

Also, recently, companies, realizing the consequences and responsibility for paying gray wages, have begun to use alternative methods of paying their employees. Thus, sometimes accountants are outsourced, and their services are paid for by a separate company. Drivers are registered as individual entrepreneurs, and money is transferred to them for transport services. Outsourcing companies and individual entrepreneurs keep the received amounts minus taxes as salaries, and if the salary exceeds the amount, the money is withdrawn in cash from current accounts.

This practice occurs in all regions of Russia, which gives this problem a federal character. To reduce the volume of gray income, a federal program for the legalization of shadow wages was developed, the provisions of which were discussed at a meeting back in October 2021. This program provides a new methodology for monitoring violations in this area.

Defend your position

When you come to the “salary” commission, you must be prepared for the fact that the controllers will try to find out the reasons for what they consider to be low salaries. In addition, they will try to catch the company having salaries in “envelopes”. It should be noted that controllers do not have any evidence to accuse the enterprise of evading its obligations to the budget and extra-budgetary funds. Members of the commission can only ask questions to which reasoned answers must be given.

Firstly, the commission is always interested in why the company’s salaries are lower than the industry average for such organizations. Let us recall that controllers try to interpret low wages as the company’s dishonesty (payment of wages in “envelopes”, use of “gray” schemes).

Attention
Controllers try to interpret low wages as the company’s dishonesty. However, they do not have any evidence to accuse the enterprise of evading its obligations to the budget and extra-budgetary funds. Members of the commission do not have the right to impose additional charges or fines based on “speculation”; they are only competent to ask questions to which reasoned answers should be given.

There can be many answer options, it all depends on the specific circumstances.

1. The company has just begun to operate, so the activity at the initial stage does not bring profit or all funds are directed to the development of production. A similar response is also possible when opening a new direction, re-equipping or repurposing production.

2. Temporary difficulties are a universal reason that is also easily explained. For example, changes in market conditions, decreased funding, decreased demand and reduced sales markets. And one should not discount the financial crisis, the consequences of which have not yet been overcome.

3. The presence of part-time workers is a fairly popular and objective reason for low salaries. As you know, part-time workers do not work full time, so they are paid wages only for the time worked. But the employment contracts set out completely market wages.

4. Special bonus system. This explanation is suitable for trading and other non-production companies, where the effectiveness of an employee is determined by the result achieved. For example, the number of transactions concluded or products sold, and not the number of hours spent at work. The motivation system involves dividing wages into two parts: salary and bonus. Moreover, bonuses may be paid not monthly, but once a quarter or year, and in some cases not paid at all if the employee does not achieve a certain result fixed in the bonus regulations.

Members of the “salary” commission are also interested in the reason for the transfer to the company of workers whose salary at their previous place of work was higher than their current one.

You can also prepare several answers to this question.

1. An employee who was laid off from his previous employer was hired. The newly hired employee decided that it was better to have a small (compared to his previous job) but stable income than to be unemployed and live on benefits.

2. The employee is more interested in criteria such as convenient office location and flexible work schedule.

The “salary” commission is also interested in such an indicator as accountable amounts. Controllers believe that money issued on account is a hidden form of wages, especially if the indicators on the issuance of amounts on account are quite high.

In this case, members of the commission should explain that cash is issued on account in strict accordance with the Procedure for conducting cash transactions approved by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Regulations on accountable funds in force at the enterprise. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that money on account is issued only if the employee fully reports for the previous advance. If necessary, then as evidence you can present the local Regulations on accountable funds, acts of cash discipline inspections carried out by the servicing bank, acts of inventory of accountable funds, advance reports, cash receipts and expenditure orders.

Special rules
When going to the “salary” commission, you should not be afraid that your explanations will conflict with the explanations of the workers, since it is not intended to invite the workers themselves to the meeting of the “salary” commissions (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated December 2, 2009 No. 3-5-04 /1774).

Another information that is the subject of clarification at the “salary” commission is the source of expensive purchases made by the company’s employees (apartments, cars).

In such a situation, it should not present any evidence that the company is not hiding payments. The accounting records of an enterprise contain information only about those employee incomes, the source of which is the enterprise itself. Income that an employee receives outside of the employer is not subject to company accounting. The source of an employee's expensive purchases is the employee's own business. In the end, he may have additional income (part-time, under contract agreements), he can take out a loan from a bank or borrow from friends, receive an inheritance or sell an old car (apartment). In any case, the employee’s income received outside the company cannot be the subject of interest and verification of the enterprise.

Sometimes at “salary” commissions they ask for clarification regarding the payment of monthly dividends. But such questions arise in rare cases, since dividends, as a general rule, are paid annually or quarterly. In addition, they are not widespread, because not all employees can be participants or shareholders. But if a problem arises, then you need to keep the following in mind. In order for dividends to be recognized as such, they must meet the concept of dividends, namely, be paid from net profit, which is formed on the basis of accounting data at the end of the year. In addition, they must be properly documented: minutes of meetings of participants or shareholders (Article 42 of the Federal Law of December 26, 1995 No. 208-FZ, Article 28 of the Federal Law of February 8, 1998 No. 14-FZ). If all the necessary conditions are met, then there will be no problems (resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the East Siberian District dated August 11, 2005 No. A33-26614/04-S3-F02-3800/05-S1).

The size of the “industry average” salary

Those managers whose average salary in the company is less than the industry average are invited to the meeting of the “salary” commission.

The definition of “industry average salary”, which is used by inspectors, is mentioned in the “Concept of a planning system for on-site tax audits”, approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 30, 2007 No. MM-3-06 / [email protected] This order also approved the Publicly Available Self-Assessment Criteria risks for taxpayers, used by tax authorities in the process of selecting objects for conducting on-site tax audits. One of the criteria is “payment of average monthly wages per average-level employee by type of economic activity in a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.”

Sources of obtaining information on statistical indicators of the average level of wages by type of economic activity in a city, region or in general for a constituent entity of the Russian Federation are also determined by the above order:

official websites of territorial bodies of the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). Information about the addresses of these Internet sites is located on the official Internet site of Rosstat www.gks.ru;
collections of economic and statistical materials published by territorial bodies of Rosstat (statistical collection, bulletin, etc.);
requests to the territorial body of Rosstat or the tax authority in the corresponding constituent entity of the Russian Federation (inspectorate, department of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the constituent entity of the Russian Federation);
official websites of the departments of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation after posting the relevant statistical indicators on them. Information about the addresses of Internet sites of the departments of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is located on the official Internet site of the Federal Tax Service of Russia www.nalog.ru.

Having analyzed publicly available information about the value of the “industry average salary”, it is possible to predict a call to the “salary” commission.