When do you need to report on accountable amounts?

Procedure for withholding accountable money

Funds that are issued to the employee as accountable funds are withheld from the salary in case of non-return by the employee. To do this, an order is issued to withhold accountable funds in free form. Such an order must be issued within a certain period, namely, no later than one month from the end date of the period that was set for the employee to report. These funds can only be recovered if the employee does not dispute either their amount or the basis. In this regard, it is necessary to obtain the written consent of the employee, in which he confirms that he is not against deductions. If there is no such consent, funds can only be recovered through the court (137 Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Important! The amount of deductions from an employee’s monthly salary should not exceed 20%.

Retention of unspent imprest amounts

So, let’s say that an employee, from the funds received as an account, paid for the business expenses of the enterprise, while he still had a certain amount of money left unspent. Or, during the period for which he was given cash on account, he did not carry out or pay business expenses at all.

In the first case, the employee must submit a report to the organization’s accounting department on the amounts spent and make a final payment for them: return the remaining money to the company’s cash desk. In the second case, the employee must return to the company’s cash desk all the money he received on account. In this case, they do not prepare a report on the amounts spent.

Please note that the document confirming the employee’s return of unspent amounts and the acceptance of these amounts by the company’s accountant is a cash receipt order. Its unified form No. KO-1 was approved by Decree of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated August 18, 1998 No. 88.

An advance report is provided for settlements with accountable persons. Its unified form No. AO-1 was approved by Decree of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated August 1, 2001 No. 55. To this document, the reporting employee must attach documents confirming the expenses incurred: travel certificate, business trip report, cash receipts, receipts and other documents for payment of business expenses. expenses.

We repeat that three working days

. They should be counted either after the expiration of the period established by the head of the enterprise for which cash can be issued on account, or from the day the employee returns from a business trip.

The accountable person must return the unspent accountable amounts to the enterprise's cash desk simultaneously with the submission of an advance report to the accounting department.

If the employee does not return the unspent accountable amounts, they are withheld from his salary. Paragraph 2 of Part 2 of Article 137 of the Labor Code allows this to be done.

Holding order

According to Part 3 of Article 137 of the Labor Code, in order to repay an unspent and not timely returned advance previously issued to an employee for reporting, the employer has the right to decide to deduct from the salary of the specified employee no later than one month from the date of expiration of the period established for the return of the advance. Condition - the employee must not dispute the grounds and amounts of the withholding.

The employer makes and formalizes the decision, usually in the form of an order or instruction. Normative legal acts have not established a unified form for such an order. To deduct amounts from wages, his written consent must be obtained. Such conclusions are given in the letter of Rostrud dated August 9, 2007 No. 3044-6-0.

Please note that deductions from wages can be made in a limited amount. Unspent accountable amounts should be withheld for each payment of wages to an employee who has not returned them on time, in the amount of no more than 20 percent of the unpaid amount. The basis is Article 138 of the Labor Code.

Example 2

Manager of Yarilo LLC N.K. Razin received 4,000 rubles as a report on May 16, 2011. to pay for printer repairs in a specialized organization. Repairing the printer cost only 2,500 rubles.

At Yarilo LLC, cash on account for payment for minor repairs of office equipment based on the order of the manager is issued for a period of 28 calendar days from the date of issue. According to clause 11 of the Procedure, the amounts spent must be reported within three working days. Thus, submit the advance report to the accounting department and unspent accountable amounts to the cash desk of Yarilo LLC. Razin must until June 15, 2011 inclusive.

On June 15, 2011, Razin brought a repaired printer from a specialized organization to Yarilo LLC. On the same day, he submitted an advance report to the organization’s accounting department, to which he attached a cash receipt and an acceptance certificate for the work performed. In this case, the balance of the unspent accountable amount is 1,500 rubles. (4000 – 2500) — Razin did not return.

On June 27, 2011, Razin gave written consent to withhold 1,500 rubles. from his salary. On the same day, the head of Yarilo LLC issued an order to make the appropriate deductions.

Salary N.K. Razin for June 2011 amounted to 24,000 rubles. This means that the accountant of Yarilo LLC has the right to withhold 4,176 rubles from his salary for the specified month. [(RUB 24,000 – RUB 24,000 x 13%) x 20%]. Since the unreturned balance of the unspent accountable amount (1,500 rubles) is less than this amount, the accountant withheld it in full from Razin’s salary for June 2011.

Figure 2

. WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE EMPLOYEE TO RETENTION

to CEO LLC "Yarilo" A.A. Veselov From the manager N.K. Razin Due to my failure to return unspent accountable amounts in the amount of 1,500 rubles within the prescribed period. I don’t mind their deduction from my salary. June 27, 2011 Razin N.K. Razin

Limited Liability Company "Yarilo" ORDER No. 61 About deduction from wages unspent accountable amounts Yaroslavl 06/27/2011 1. To repay the unspent and not returned timely advance payment issued for printer repairs, deduct from the salary of manager N.K. Razin a sum of money in the amount of 1500 rubles. 2. Accountant Z.P. Stepanova to deduct from the salary of the specified employee starting in June 2011. General Director Veselov A.A. Veselov Performer accountant Stepanova Z.P. Stepanova I have read the order: Razin N.K. Razin 27.06.2011

Figure 3

. RETENTION ORDER

The following entries were made in the accounting records of Yarilo LLC:

DEBIT 94 CREDIT 71

—

1500 rub. — the accountable amount not returned on time is reflected;

DEBIT 20 CREDIT 70

— 24,000 rub. – salary accrued for June 2011 N.K. Razin;

DEBIT 70 CREDIT 68 SUB-ACCOUNT “PIT SETTLEMENTS”

— 3120 rub. (RUB 24,000 × 13%) – personal income tax withheld from N.K.’s salary. Razin;

DEBIT 70 CREDIT 94

— 1500 rub. — the accountable amount not returned on time is withheld;

DEBIT 70 CREDIT 50

— 19,380 rub. (24,000 – 3120 – 1500) – N.K.’s salary was paid. Razin.

Let’s say that the head of an organization missed the deadline allotted for making a decision on withholding from an employee’s salary an advance that was not spent and not returned in a timely manner. Or the employee disputes the grounds and amounts of the withholding. In this case, the organization will have to go to court.

If the employee repays the debt on the previously received accountable amount on his own, then the unspent and not returned on time accountable amount in accounting should also be written off to the shortage account by posting to the debit of account 94 and the credit of account 71. Then, when the amount of debt is returned, for example, to the cash desk of the enterprise it is necessary to make an accounting entry on the credit of account 94 in correspondence with the debit of account 73 subaccount “Settlements with personnel for shortages”.

Deadline for return of accountable money

The legislation does not establish a deadline for issuing accountable funds; the employer must do this independently. This period is indicated in the employee’s application for the release of money for reporting. No later than three days after the established deadline, the employee must account for the funds received. If we are talking about money given to an employee on a business trip, then the report must be submitted within three days from the date of return from the business trip (Government Decree No. 749 of October 13, 2008).

If, when issuing accountable money, no deadline was set for providing an advance report, then the employee is obliged to provide it on the day the money is issued. However, it is better to ensure that such situations do not arise and there are no claims from the inspection authorities, to set a deadline for the report or return of funds.

Important! The size of the report and the period for which it is issued is determined by the employer. The employee must report on the funds issued no later than 3 days from the end of this period.

If an employee does not return unspent funds on time, this is a violation of cash discipline. But there is no liability for such a violation.

Violation of deadlines for submitting advance reports

If an employee sent on a business trip was given or transferred funds for reporting, then after returning from the business trip, he is obliged to provide the chief accountant with an advance report within 3 working days.

The situation is similar regarding the timing of reporting on funds issued for a certain period. Documents confirming expenses (for hotel accommodation, payment for travel tickets, etc.) must be attached to the report.

If the employee does not submit an advance report within the prescribed period, he or she becomes indebted to the employer in the amount of the advance received, that is, the employee becomes financially liable, and the corresponding amounts can be deducted from the employee’s salary in the manner prescribed by law.

The employer has the right to file a claim in court to recover the outstanding amounts from the employee. As part of our focus on protecting the rights of employers, we have repeatedly initiated and successfully carried out these lawsuits.

Hold example

To the accountant of LLC "Continent" Petrova O.P. On February 1, 2021, an advance payment of 4,000 rubles was issued for the purchase of stationery for the accounting department for a period of 25 days. Petrova purchased stationery for only 2,500 rubles, for which she compiled an advance report, to which she attached supporting documents: a cash receipt and a sales receipt. Petrova did not return the remaining amount of accountable money - 1,500 rubles (4,000 - 2,500) on time, but wrote an application to recover this amount from her wages for February 2018.

Petrova’s salary for February is 35,000 rubles. The employee does not have children, so she is not required to provide a personal income tax deduction.

The maximum amount of deductions from wages per month is 20%:

35,000 x 20% = 7,000 rubles.

The amount that needs to be withheld from Petrova is less than 20% of the salary, so we can withhold it in full.

The postings will be as follows:

Collection of accountable amounts from an employee

So, the employee did not provide an advance report or did not provide proper documents on the expenditure of the issued amounts for the appropriate purposes; The employee does not agree to withhold the corresponding amounts of wages.

What to do?

In this case, the employer can file a lawsuit to collect accountable funds from the employee.

Statement of claim for recovery of accountable funds

A statement of claim for the recovery of accountable funds is a procedural document that requires compliance with the rules for its preparation in accordance with the requirements of procedural law.

Since the employee was given funds for specific purposes, and the employee did not report on their intended use, we can therefore say that the employer suffered damage by the employee, and unjust enrichment occurred on the employee’s side.

As stated above, it is important that the deadline by which imputed amounts are issued is specified.

PAY ATTENTION to the statute of limitations ; the employer can file a claim in court within one year after the damage was discovered. Since the relevant dispute arises from labor relations, cases of this category are considered by district courts.

When can you write off accountable amounts?

Accountable amounts can only be written off due to the expiration of the statute of limitations (ST). To do this, use the following procedure:

• Set the date from which the ID period is counted. It begins to be maintained from the day that follows the deadline for returning the report (191 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). For example, the employee had to return the unspent account by February 10; accordingly, from February 11 I begin counting the ID period. ;
• 3 years are counted from the beginning of the ID period. The term of ID is 3 years (196 Civil Code of the Russian Federation). The deadline for this particular case is not established by law, so the deadline for the ID is accepted. But it is necessary to take into account such circumstances that may cause the interruption of the ID. In this case, the ID countdown begins again.

Tax accounting

Issuance of money on account

does not lead to expenses for the organization, both general and special taxation systems (USNO and UTII). This follows from paragraph 14 of Article 270, paragraph 3 of Article 273, paragraph 2 of Article 346.17, paragraph 1 of Article 346.29 of the Tax Code.

Returned unspent imprest amounts

do not increase taxable income, both when calculating income tax and the single tax under the simplified tax system or UTII. After all, accountable amounts do not become the employee’s property, but are his receivables until he reports on them and returns the unused amounts. The basis is Articles 41 and 346.29 of the Tax Code.

Uncollectible accounts receivable

in tax accounting is subject to write-off as non-operating expenses. If a reserve for doubtful debts is created for non-operating expenses, the amounts of bad debts not covered by the created reserve should be written off (subclause 2, clause 2, article 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). An organization using the general taxation system can do this.

Please note that the expiration of the statute of limitations is one of the criteria for recognizing a debt as bad and, therefore, taking it into account as expenses for corporate income tax purposes. To include amounts of receivables for which the statute of limitations has expired, documents confirming the expiration of the statute of limitations are required as expenses. This is stated in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated September 15, 2010 No. 03-03-06/1/589.

An organization that applies the simplified tax system, regardless of the chosen object of taxation, does not have the right to reduce the base for a single tax by the amount of written off bad receivables (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 13, 2007 No. 03-11-04/2/274).

The amount of written off bad receivables does not matter for organizations paying UTII. This follows from paragraph 1 of Article 346.29 of the Tax Code.

What to do if the director does not account for the accountable money

Until recently, it was believed that it was necessary to withhold personal income tax on unreturned accountable amounts. But nowadays things are different. If the employee does not report, then the money cannot be recognized as his property; this debt will remain with him. It is necessary to withhold personal income tax and calculate insurance premiums only if the employee’s debt is forgiven. In this case, the employee receives income, and the company receives a loss. Therefore, with any employee, even with

director, it is worth agreeing to provide a report on advances issued. But if the company does not write off the debt and does not withhold it from the employee, then it can only be written off after the expiration of the ID period, which is 3 years (

What to do if the employee has not returned the accountable amounts?

What to do if an employee does not return funds received on account for a certain period? It is necessary to find out whether the employee has spent the accountable amounts in full for the appropriate purposes. Request that relevant information and supporting documents be provided in writing.

• If the funds have not been spent in full , it is necessary to find out whether the employee intends to return the accountable amounts. In writing, request an explanation from the employee about whether he intends to return accountable funds that are not used. In the letter, indicate the deadline for providing explanations.
• If the employee does not intend to return the corresponding accountable amounts , find out from him whether he agrees to withhold unused accountable amounts from his salary. If you agree, obtain written consent.
• If an employee does not agree with the debt to the employer for accountable amounts, in this case he should seek judicial protection of his rights.

USEFUL : watch the video on the advice of a labor lawyer, and also write your question in the comments of the video

Should I set a deadline for issuing money under the report?

Any answer to this question has its positive and negative consequences. It is worth understanding that by determining a specific deadline for issuing accountable money, the company will be obliged to comply with it. Otherwise, there is a high chance of filing claims from tax authorities for failure to receive funds to the cash register. The fine for this violation is 4–5 thousand rubles. for officials and 40–50 thousand rubles. for legal entities (clause 1 of article 15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

At the same time, such claims cannot be considered absolutely justified, since such a violation as untimely return of accountable funds is directly contained in Art. 15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation is not provided for. However, such a risk exists and must be kept in mind.

Read more about possible penalties for violations when handling cash in the article “Cash discipline and responsibility for its violation .

Check whether you are correctly registering mutual settlements with accountable persons in accounting using the Ready-made solution from ConsultantPlus. If you don't have access to the system, get a free trial online.

In turn, if the deadline for the return of accountable cash is not recorded anywhere, then the controllers cannot have any claims for its untimely return. True, in this case, problems with the tax authorities are not excluded. Thus, in letter No. 04-1-02/704 of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated January 24, 2005, tax officials expressed the opinion that if the deadline for issuing cash on account is not specified, such a period is considered equal to 1 day. However, they do not justify their position with any legal acts.

In connection with the above, making a decision at the level of local internal corporate acts on establishing (or not establishing) deadlines for issuing reports is based on an assessment of one’s own economic situation and possible risks.

New rules for issuing money will be reported

Accountable money can be issued without applications. An employee also has the right to receive a new report before reporting for the previous one. These are the main changes in working with accountable amounts, which are effective from August 19, 2021.

The Bank of Russia changed the procedure for conducting cash transactions by instruction dated June 19, 2017 No. 4416-U. Since August 19, the cash book can be maintained by any employee of the accounting department, and not just the cashier (clause 4.6 of the Procedure). To take advantage of the amendment, make changes to the job description of the employee who is assigned to maintain the cash book. Establish an additional payment for the employee; it is enough to agree on it in an additional agreement to the employment contract (Part 2 of Article 151 and Article 72 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). No changes to the staffing table are required.

From August 19, cash documents can be drawn up on the basis of fiscal documents (clause 4.1 of the Procedure). It is permissible to issue “receipts” and “consumables” electronically (clauses 5 and 6 of the Procedure). But this will require an enhanced qualified signature. It is not necessary to print receipts for “receipts”; they can be sent by email to the person who deposits the money.

But in the case of “consumables”, the recipient of the funds must also have an electronic signature. In practice, “physicists” often do not have it, so they will not be able to certify a document in this way. Then it is safer to draw up a cash receipt order in the usual way on paper

Money can be issued on account either at the request of an employee or on the basis of an administrative document (clause 6.3 of the Procedure, approved by the instruction of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation dated March 11, 2014 No. 3210-U, hereinafter referred to as the Procedure). This may be an order, instruction or other document. For example, an order to send an employee on a business trip. Previously, it was possible to issue money on account only on the basis of an employee’s application.

The requirements for the content of the document remain the same. Both in the application and in the order, write the amount and period for which the company issues money on account. The document must be signed by the manager. If you issue money on account without an application or administrative document, tax officials may consider that since there are no documents, there are no accountable persons. Then their amount will be added to the cash book balance, and if the balance is higher than the limit, it will be considered that it has been exceeded. Inspectors fine up to 50,000 rubles for this violation. (Article 15.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). Failure to submit an application violates the procedure for issuing cash rather than conducting cash transactions, and you cannot be fined for this.

The main thing is that both the applications and the administrative documents for the issuance of money on account include the amount of cash, the period for which the cash is issued, the signature of the manager and the date. The form of the application and administrative document is arbitrary. It’s safer to compile them when you issue money on report to salary cards. Otherwise, there is a risk that tax authorities and the bank may decide that this is not accountable income, but other income, and demand personal income tax from it.

An employee can be given a new amount to report at any time. You can issue money even if the employee has not reported on the previous advance (clause 6.3 of the Procedure).

The report deadline remains the same. The employee is required to report on accountable amounts within three working days after the end of the period for which the money was issued (clause 6.3 of the Procedure). You decide for yourself for what period to issue the money. You can set different deadlines depending on the employee’s position. An exception is reporting for a business trip, for which the employee must report within three working days after returning from a business trip.

>Understanding the new rules for reporting

An example of accounting for imprest amounts

Let's look at how transactions will be reflected in accounting using the previous example.

The accountable person did not report on time: consequences and procedure for solving the problem

The question often arises about the taxation of unpaid amounts issued for reporting. Tax inspectors believe that if there is no evidence of expenses incurred from funds allocated for reporting in the interests of the organization, then these amounts should be included in the personal income tax tax base. The Federal Tax Service outlined its point of view in Letter No. SA-4-7/23263 dated December 24, 2013 in paragraph 8, in which it refers to two decisions of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation:

• Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated 03/05/2013 No. 14376/12;
• Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated March 5, 2013 No. 13510/12.

If there is no possibility of withholding personal income tax (an employee is fired), the enterprise, as a tax agent, is obliged to submit to the tax office a notice of the impossibility of withholding tax (clause 5 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

If an employee does not report on time and does not return the accountable amounts, then the employer can collect them within one month after the expiration of the return date (Article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). But this can only be done if the employee agrees with the size and the very fact of retention. Thus, in order to recover money from wages, it is necessary to issue an order from the manager, as well as obtain the employee’s consent to the recovery.

Registration of issuance of accountable funds

As noted in the Instructions of the Central Bank of Russia, an expense cash order is used in all cases of cash issuance by an organization. This document is drawn up in accordance with the statement of the responsible person, containing a request for the issuance of money for the needs of the enterprise.

In accounting, the provision of amounts of money for production purposes should be recorded in the debit of account 71 “Settlements with accountable persons”, and the credit of account 50 “Cash”.

If the accountable person has not reported on the funds received for production needs, then such money must be returned to the enterprise. When such an operation is performed, a cash receipt order is drawn up.

In accounting, cash returns should be recorded as a debit to account 50 “Cash” and a credit to account 71 “Settlements with accountable persons.”

In a similar manner, the issuance of money for the needs of the enterprise and employees of separate structural divisions of the organization is formalized.

As stated earlier, account 76 can be used, but only if the reporting person is not an employee of the company.

In a situation in which a person who has received money for production needs refuses to provide a report or return the amounts received, the mechanism provided by law should be used.

Article 137 of the Labor Code of Russia gives enterprises the right to withhold from employees’ wages amounts received by the latter for production needs. This possibility arises only in the absence of a report from the employee or his refusal to return unspent funds.

If such a person is not an employee of the company, then you can use the mechanism provided for in Chapter 60 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which consists of the obligation to return everything received without legal grounds.

Deviation from the procedure for interaction with accountable persons, approved by the Central Bank of Russia, is a violation, liability for which is provided for in Art. 15.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

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