Nowadays, many enterprises practice organizing meals for employees. Accountants in this case have to understand the intricacies of accounting for related business transactions and tax rules. It should be borne in mind that the accounting of the company's costs for employee lunches will depend on whether the company has its own catering division, or whether ready-made sets of products are purchased from third-party companies. As for paying taxes, it all depends on whether the staff’s meals are provided for in the collective (labor) agreement or not. You will learn about all the features from the article “Food for wiring employees.”
Meals for postage employees - canteen on the balance sheet of the enterprise
To summarize the available information about the expenses of the canteen, which is listed on the balance sheet of the enterprise, the accountant must use account 29 “Service industries and farms”. This procedure is provided for in the Chart of Accounts (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 31, 2000 No. 94n).
| DEBIT account 29 | CREDIT account 29 |
| Reflection of direct costs for preparing lunches in the enterprise canteen. In correspondence with the CREDIT accounts for accounting of settlements with personnel for salaries, inventories, etc. | Reflection of the actual cost of ready-made lunches prepared in the canteen. Amounts are subject to debiting from the account. 29 in DEBIT of sales accounts, accounting of finished products, etc. |
How to write off products correctly
Some spoilage is collected by product suppliers. Otherwise, spoiled food products are considered a loss for the enterprise. In accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 3, 24 Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 29 of 02/02/2000 and clause 5 of Art. 5 Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated 02/07/1992 No. 29, missing products are subject to destruction or disposal. Its sale is prohibited due to the fact that it poses a threat to human health.
Meals for posting employees - buffet lunches
When staff meals are organized in the form of a buffet, it is impossible to determine exactly how much food consumed per subordinate. In this regard, the costs incurred by the company for preparing lunches are subject to a single social tax and personal income tax according to a non-standard scheme for this situation.
As is known, UST and personal income tax are targeted taxes (contributions), since they are calculated separately based on the earnings of each of the company’s employees. A prepared meal at the expense of the organization is the employee’s income in kind, on which taxes must be paid, as on wages.
And when organizing lunches according to the buffet system, when everyone puts dishes in any quantity and assortment on their plate, it is impossible to determine with accuracy exactly how much each of the subordinates received this income (in other words, how much each employee had lunch for). ). For this reason, the amount of payment by the company for food provided to employees free of charge cannot be considered as staff income.
This rule is confirmed by judicial practice; it is enough to read paragraph 8 of the Information Letter of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated June 21, 1999 No. 42. A similar conclusion can be drawn after reading the text of the Federal Law dated December 15, 2001 No. 167-FZ and Chapters 23–24 of the Tax Code - in These regulations do not provide guidance on the procedure for determining an employee’s income in such a case.
Meals for posting employees - compensation for the cost of meals for employees
Often, an enterprise does not provide free lunches to staff, but simply compensates them for the cost of food. The chart of accounts provides for the use of:
- account 73 “Settlements with personnel for other operations” - it reflects the implementation of payments to personnel not related to wages and compensation of expenses of accountable persons (payment of compensation for the cost of food from funds taken at the cash desk will be reflected in the DEBIT of account 73 in correspondence with the account 50 "Cashier");
- sch. 91 “Other income and expenses” subaccount 91-2 “Other expenses” - to reflect non-operating expenses.
Let's look at an example of how an accountant records the company's expenses associated with paying employees compensation for the cost of lunches. Let’s imagine that employees of Oblaka LLC receive monthly compensation for the cost of food in the amount of 1,500 rubles:
| DEBIT | CREDIT |
| 91-2 | 73 |
| 99-2 | 68 |
| 73 | 68 |
| 73 | 50 |
Deduction for food from employee salaries
If the Administration can force employees to sign such a collective agreement, then the flag is in their hands. Message edited by pariyskiy: December 23, 2021 - Dear pariyskiy. I would rather quit my job than receive food stamps as my salary. So maybe you can give me an example of what we should do?!
I’m not too confused, we were given an invoice for food for the employees, since in employment contracts we do not provide free lunches, then I shouldn’t take it as an expense, I put it at the expense of profit, right? But personal income tax must be withheld, so in Zi UP I make an accrual and then deductions without charging insurance premiums since I do not accept them as expenses, as I understand it, the postings should be as follows: D 91.1 K 70 - food accrual D 70 K 76 - withholding food D 70 K 68 - personal income tax D 76 K 60 - the amount of food has been capitalized, I don’t accept VAT if it’s wrong, please correct it. There will be no entries for accrual and deduction from wages; you wrote that the lunches are free. In the program, you will have to accrue for lunches so that these amounts are included in the registers for personal income tax and insurance premiums. If you indicate in the accrual type that this is remuneration in kind, then this accrual of transactions will not be generated. For the purpose of calculating VAT, a gratuitous transfer is recognized as a sale, i.e. The Ministry of Finance takes the position that in this case, input VAT can be deducted. For example, Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated No. 03-07-11/325. You are mistaken in thinking that if employment contracts do not provide for free lunches, then they will not be taxed insurance premiums. Article 7 212-FZ states that payments are subject to insurance premiums if paid in an employment relationship, and there is no condition that these payments must necessarily be provided for in employment contracts. And payments that are not subject to insurance premiums are listed in Article 9 255-FZ, and there are no free lunches paid at the request of the employer. The object of taxation of insurance premiums for payers of insurance premiums specified in subparagraphs “a” and “b” of paragraph 1 of part 1 of Article 5 of this Federal Law are payments and other remunerations accrued by payers of insurance premiums in favor of individuals within the framework of labor relations and civil relations. legal agreements, the subject of which is the performance of work, the provision of services, under copyright contracts, in favor of the authors of works under agreements on the alienation of the exclusive right to works of science, literature, art, publishing license agreements, license agreements on granting the right to use works of science, literature, art, including remunerations accrued by organizations for managing rights on a collective basis in favor of authors of works under agreements concluded with users (with the exception of remunerations paid to persons specified in paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 5 of this Federal Law).Explained by experts from the Legal Service consulting GARANT L. Melnikova. “If compensation for food costs is provided for in any internal act of the organization (for example, in the order of the manager), but the employment contract does not refer to this act and does not itself contain the corresponding condition, then such payment should be classified as objects of taxation In our opinion, there is no reason for insurance premiums, since in this case the payment is not related to wages. Kotova: “. if certain payments in favor of employees are not the subject of employment contracts concluded with them by the organization, these payments are not subject to taxation of insurance contributions to the funds. “3.” So I know that it’s being calculated, but I’m at a loss as to which entries to indicate for food, if I indicate D91 K73 in the salary everything is fine, personal income tax is calculated, the entries are entered correctly, but in accounting now I can’t figure out which account. I can’t capitalize the account for 91 since this amount has already been written off from 73, then where should I put it? Personal income tax was accrued in the salary D 73 k68, experts from the Legal Consulting Service GARANT L. Melnikova explain.”If compensation for food costs is provided for in any internal act of the organization (for example, in the order of the manager), but the employment contract does not refer to this act and does not itself contain the corresponding condition, then, in our opinion, there is no reason to classify such a payment as subject to insurance premiums, since in this case the payment is not related to wages. Kotova: “. if certain payments in favor of employees are not the subject of employment contracts concluded with them by the organization, these payments are not subject to taxation of insurance contributions to the funds. “3.” So I know that it’s being calculated, but I’m at a loss as to which entries to indicate for food, if I indicate D91 K73 in the salary everything is fine, personal income tax is calculated, the entries are entered correctly, but in accounting now I can’t figure out which account. I can’t capitalize the account on 91 because this amount has already been written off from 73, then where should I put it?
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Posting meals for employees - the company buys lunches for employees from a third-party company
Important!
If the provision of lunches to the company's employees is stipulated by a collective or labor agreement, their cost is part of the salary expressed in kind, that is, accountants should reflect the cost of meals in the same manner as accruals and payment of salaries are reflected.
For the purpose of reflecting payments related to the remuneration of employees, account 70 “Settlements with personnel for remuneration” is used (maintained separately for each employee). Since the cost of staff meals is not charged to employees, it is a type of wages, which means it is also reflected in account 70. According to DEBIT account. 70 must reflect the amounts of wages issued (pensions to working pensioners, wages, bonus payments, additional payments, allowances, benefits), amounts of taxes, various deductions and payments under executive documents. By LOAN account 70, wage payments will be reflected in correspondence with the accounts of production expenses (sales costs).
It is also necessary to pay attention to the following points regarding tax and accounting in an organization that provides meals to its employees:
- The accrual of UST must be reflected on the LOAN account. 69 “Calculations for social insurance and security” in correspondence with DEBIT of accounts for recording production expenses. The amount of UST is recognized as expenses for ordinary activities.
- If the provision of lunches to employees is not stipulated in labor and collective agreements, the company's costs for employee lunches are recognized as non-operating expenses. They are reflected in DEBIT account. 91 “Other income and expenses” subaccount 91-2 “Other expenses” in correspondence with CREDIT account. 60 “Settlements with suppliers and contractors.”
- Payment for the services of the company from which ready-made meals are purchased, in accordance with the concluded agreement, will be reflected in the DEBIT account. 60 and LOAN account. 51 "Current accounts".
- Costs for the transfer of goods (works, services) for one’s own needs, according to paragraphs. 2 p. 1 art. 146 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation cannot be taken for deduction for the purpose of calculating income tax. These expenses are subject to VAT, which is necessarily allocated to the account. 19 for subsequent offset from tax amounts transferred to the budget.
- Costs that form the accounting profit of the reporting period and are not taken into account when calculating the taxable base for profit tax of the current and subsequent reporting periods should be recognized as a permanent difference. Permanent differences between reporting periods should be reflected separately in the accounts. They are subject to reflection in the analytical accounting of the corresponding account of assets and liabilities, in the assessment of which a permanent difference has arisen. In the case of providing lunches to staff, this will be analytical accounting for account 91 subaccount 91-2.
- The appearance of a permanent difference means the emergence of a permanent tax liability (a tax amount that increases the amount of tax payments for income tax in the reporting period). The amount of the permanent liability can be calculated by multiplying the permanent difference identified in the reporting period by the income tax rate (according to clause 1 of Article 284 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - 24%). Permanent tax liabilities should be reflected in DEBIT account. 99 “Profits and losses” in correspondence with CREDIT account. 68 “Calculations for taxes and fees.”
Withholding food from an employee's salary
Since personal income tax is a personalized tax and is calculated individually for each employee based on his income, and it is almost impossible to calculate how much each employee ate at the buffet table, it is impossible to calculate and withhold personal income tax (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 03/06/2021 N 03-04-06/ 6715). For the same reason, insurance premiums do not need to be charged on the cost of food and drinks (Letter of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated May 24, 2021 N 14-1-1061). If the provision of meals is provided for in a collective or individual labor contract in a certain amount, the amount of income for each employee, calculated taking into account the data of working time sheets, is subject to personal income tax. The company's expenses for paying for buffet meals can be taken into account when calculating income tax, provided that its provision is provided for in a collective or employment agreement. In this case, the money spent is considered labor costs (clause 4 of Article 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 1, 2021 N 03-03-06/1/61204). The fact that the actual income of each employee cannot be determined does not matter (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated 04/06/2021 N A40-65744/11-90-285). The cost of products provided to an employee via a buffet system is not subject to VAT if the provision for catering is stipulated in the collective or employment agreements. Then the provision of food to employees will not be regarded as a gratuitous transfer, which is subject to VAT.
If the organization has its own canteen, the following entries are made: D-t. 29 “Servicing industries and farms” Set of accounts. 02 “Depreciation of fixed assets” (10 “Materials”, 60 “Settlements with suppliers and contractors”) reflects the costs of providing food services to employees; Dt sch. 70 “Settlements with personnel for wages” Set of accounts. 90 “Sales” reflects the transfer of canteen products to pay for labor; Dt sch. 90 “Sales”, subaccount. 3 “Value added tax”, Set of accounts. 68 “Calculations for taxes and fees” VAT is charged on the cost of services provided to the canteen based on market prices; Dt sch. 90 “Sales” Set of accounts. 29 “Service production and farms” the cost of food provided to workers was written off.
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Meals for posting employees - meals for employees are provided for in the labor (collective) agreement
A different situation with taxation of the cost of free meals at an enterprise arises when the provision of meals to employees is regulated by a labor or collective agreement.
Income tax
The costs incurred by the enterprise for organizing meals for employees are not taken into account when calculating the taxable base for income tax, since lunches are provided free of charge (or at a reduced cost) and are not provided for the purpose of providing special meals to certain categories of employees (clause 25 of Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation ).
Unified social tax
Payments to employees are not subject to UST if the taxpayer company does not have these payments as expenses taken into account when calculating income tax. Since free meals are not issued on the basis of an employment contract, the cost of meals cannot be subject to a single social tax. That is, insurance contributions to the Pension Fund should not be paid from the cost of food. However, according to Art. 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the expenses of a taxpayer company may include any labor costs, including accruals in kind. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size of the income tax base on the cost of food only if it is provided for by labor or collective agreements.
If a manufacturing company, or a firm provides services or performs paid work, the cost of food for tax purposes is taken into account separately for production personnel and administrative and management specialists. This is done because the provision of food is related to wages, and it can be attributed to direct or indirect expenses of the company.
The enterprise's expenses for remuneration of production personnel are direct expenses, part of which is not written off at the end of the period, but relates to work in progress. The costs of paying managers are indirect and are written off in full at the end of the tax period to form the income tax base.
Tax accounting
- Income tax
In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the taxpayer reduces the income received by the amount of expenses incurred, subject to the principles of validity and documentary evidence. The cost of free food provided to employees in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation relates to labor costs on the basis of clause 4 of Art. 255 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. If the obligation to provide employees with free food for the taxpayer is not established by law, then the expenses in question can be included in labor costs in accordance with paragraph 25 of Art. 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, if they are provided for by labor or collective agreements (Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 08/27/2012 N 03-03-06/1/434, dated 06/04/2012 N 03-03-06/1/292).) Otherwise , the inclusion of these expenses in the tax base for income tax may lead to disputes with the tax authorities.
In one of its letters, 03/04/2008 N 03-03-06/1/133, the Ministry of Finance expressed the opinion that expenses for paying for food for employees cannot be taken into account for profit tax purposes as part of labor costs even if there is no the ability to identify the specific amount of income of each employee (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation 04.03.2008 N 03-03-06/1/133). This opinion, in our opinion, is controversial, since income tax is a tax on the income of the organization as a whole, and not of each specific employee, such as personal income tax.
- VAT
Amounts of compensation for food expenses (in cash) accrued to employees of an organization in accordance with an employment contract, according to the clarification of the Ministry of Finance, are not subject to VAT (Letter dated 02.09.2010 N 03-07-11/376). Some time ago, there was a different opinion and tax officials insisted on charging VAT on the cost of free lunches provided to employees (Letter of the Federal Tax Service for Moscow dated 03.03.2010 N 16-15/22410), while tax amounts were allowed to be deducted. However, now the position has been revised, taking into account the fact that the relationship between the employee and the employer regarding the provision of food is established on the basis of an employment contract, and not a civil law contract, so there is no implementation. At the same time, the employer himself does not provide food services, but only acts as an intermediary between employees and the entrepreneur. Thus, food is paid for by the employee from his income, from which personal income tax is withheld and which is included in the tax base for insurance contributions.
- Personal income tax
In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 210 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, when determining the tax base for personal income tax, all income of the taxpayer received by him both in cash and in kind is taken into account. Payment by catering organizations in the interests of employees refers to income received by the taxpayer in kind (clause 1, clause 2, article 211 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
Income not subject to personal income tax is listed in Art. 217 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. It does not provide for an exemption from personal income tax for payments (compensations) for food made by the employer in accordance with collective and (or) labor agreements, therefore, regardless of whether payments are provided for by the labor and (or) collective agreement or not, the employee’s income is in the amount of compensation for expenses for food (payment for food), are subject to personal income tax (the specifics of determining the tax base when receiving income in kind are established by Article 211 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
The organization in this case is a tax agent and is obliged to calculate, withhold from the taxpayer and pay the amount of personal income tax (clause 1 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Moreover, the tax agent must withhold from the taxpayer the amount of personal income tax accrued from income received in kind at the expense of any funds paid by the tax agent to the taxpayer upon their actual payment (clause 4 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), no later than the next day after the day of actual deduction of the personal income tax amount, the calculated tax must be transferred to the budget (clause 6 of article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
Tax agents for personal income tax submit to the tax authority at the place of their registration information on the income of individuals for the expired tax period and the amounts accrued, withheld and transferred to the budget system of the Russian Federation for this tax period of taxes annually no later than April 1 of the year following the expired tax period, in form 2-NDFL under income code 2510 “Payment (in whole or in part) for the taxpayer by organizations or individual entrepreneurs of goods (work, services) or property rights, including utilities, food, recreation, training in the interests of the taxpayer.”
- Insurance premiums
Insurance contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund and the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation are levied on payments and other remunerations accrued by payers of insurance premiums in favor of individuals within the framework of labor relations and civil contracts, the basis for which is the amount of payments and other remunerations accrued by payers of insurance contributions for the billing period in favor of individuals, with the exception of the amounts specified in Art. 9 of Law No. 212-FZ. This law stipulates that compensation payments related to payment for food within the limits established in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation are not subject to insurance premiums, but if payment for food is not provided, then the corresponding amounts are subject to insurance premiums (both in cash and in kind forms). Thus, since the payments in question in Art. 9 of Law No. 212-FZ are not named, and regardless of the presence or absence of relevant provisions in an employment contract, collective agreement or agreement, payment for food is fully subject to insurance premiums.
Common mistakes
Error:
The accountant does not withhold personal income tax from the cost of food provided to the employee at the enterprise free of charge, at the expense of the employer.
A comment:
Free food is an employee's income in kind, related to wages. And personal income tax is withheld from wages and other payments related to wages.
Error:
A company that provides buffet meals for employees takes into account the cost of meals as part of the employee's remuneration.
A comment:
In the event that meals are organized according to a buffet system, it is impossible to determine how much lunch a particular employee spent. Accordingly, the cost of food cannot be taken into account as part of remuneration in kind.
Using cash registers in case of deduction from an employee’s salary
Also, on the basis of collective or labor agreements, upon the written application of the employee, remuneration can be carried out in other forms that do not contradict the legislation of the Russian Federation and international treaties of the Russian Federation.
The list of deductions that an employer can make in order to repay an employee’s debt to him is strictly limited, therefore the employer does not have the right to make a deduction from wages to pay off the debt arising in connection with the sale of goods (work, services) to the employee.
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Answers to common questions about employee power supply
Question #1:
The accountant of a company that organizes meals for employees does not take into account separately the cost of free meals for production and management personnel. Are such actions legal?
Answer:
The fact is that the company’s expenses for food for production personnel are considered direct expenses, and the costs for lunches for the administrative and managerial staff are considered indirect. In the first case, part of the expenses will be attributed to work in progress, and in the second case, the expenses are written off completely at the end of the tax period. Therefore, separate accounting should be carried out.
Question #2:
What is the most profitable thing to do: provide meals to employees on the basis of a collective agreement or not provide for lunches in the collective agreement?
Answer:
In the event that catering is provided for by an employment or collective agreement, the company’s expenses for catering can be taken into account when calculating income tax.
