Practical recommendations on how to correctly calculate vacation pay

Calculation period for vacation

The length of the calculation period for vacation depends primarily on how long the employee has worked for the organization. But in any case, this period cannot be more than 1 year.

For example, an employee started working for the organization more than a year ago. The billing period will then be equal to 12 months before he goes on vacation. The month is taken into account as a calendar month, complete, from the 1st to the last day.

When an employee is going on vacation after working for less than 1 year, then the entire time that he worked in the organization is taken as the billing period.

And the period is included in the calculation as follows: from the first working day to the last day of the month that precedes the start of the vacation.

The organization also has the right to independently set the billing period. This needs to be written down in a local document of the organization, for example, in a collective agreement. For example, an employer can set a pay period of 6 months rather than 12 months. This is not prohibited by the Labor Code, but if the following condition is met: Vacation pay calculated on the basis of such a calculation period should not be less than calculated according to the general rules.

Vacation in working days

There are such categories of employees who are granted leave in working days:

• employees with whom an employment contract has been concluded for a period of up to two months (Article 291 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• workers hired to perform seasonal work (Article 295 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

For each month of work, the employee is given two working days of vacation. For example, a fixed-term employment contract is concluded with an employee for a period of two months. In this case, the employee can count on a vacation of 4 working days. In this case, the procedure for including payments in the calculation of vacation pay is similar to the procedure for including payments when vacation is granted in calendar days.

An example of calculating vacation pay provided in working days

Sinitsina Anna was granted annual paid leave in working days followed by dismissal (from October 1 to October 2). A fixed-term employment contract for temporary work was concluded with this employee (from September 1 to September 30). For the month she worked, Anna Sinitsina was credited with 30,000 rubles. Vacation pay in this case will be calculated as follows:

1. We determine the number of days based on which vacation pay will be calculated. Weekends according to the 6-day working week calendar are subtracted from the number of calendar days in September. 30 – 4 = 26 days.
2. Determine the average daily earnings. To do this, payments accrued for September should be divided by the number of working days in September according to the calendar of a 6-day working week. 30,000 rub. / 26 days = 1153.85 rub.
3. We determine the amount of vacation pay. To do this, the average daily earnings are multiplied by the number of vacation days. Since the contract was concluded for only one month, the vacation pay that Anna Sinitsina is entitled to amounted to two working days. 1153.85 * 2 days = 2,307.69 rubles.

What to exclude from the billing period

The following days should be excluded from the calculation period when:

• The employee was paid the average salary. By such days I mean periods of paid vacation, business trips (with the exception of the period of feeding a child);
• The employee was on sick leave or maternity leave;
• The employee took leave at his own expense (without pay);
• The employee took additional paid time off to care for people with disabilities;
• The employee, for reasons beyond the control of the employer or the employee himself, did not work. For example, days of power outages;
• The employee was released from work.

To organize personnel records in a company, beginner HR officers and accountants are perfectly suited to the author’s course by Olga Likina (accountant M.Video management) ⇓

Example of defining a billing period

Accountant Petrova O.P. has been working at LLC Continent for four years. She wrote an application for the paid leave she was entitled to from November 6, 2021.

Determine the billing period:

November 1, 2021 – October 31, 2021.

Let's determine the days excluded from Petrova's billing period:

1. The vacation period at your own expense is December 12 – December 25, 2016;
2. Business trip period – April 1 – April 16, 2021;

Thus, we exclude 30 days from the calculation period (Read also the article ⇒ How to calculate vacation pay 2021, an example of calculating vacation pay).

When all days are excluded from the billing period

There are also frequent cases when all days need to be excluded from the billing period. In this case, the calculation period must be replaced by the one that precedes the excluded one.

The calculation also takes a period of a full 12 months.

If the employee also did not have days worked before the required billing period, then the days that the employee worked in the month of going on vacation, immediately before its onset, are taken into account. The same is done if the employee is given vacation in advance during the month of employment (Read also the article ⇒ When to pay personal income tax on vacation pay 2021).

Let's take a closer look at an example:

Accountant Petrova O.P. has been working at Continent LLC since July 24, 2017. Petrova wrote her leave application on November 6, 2017.

Since Petrova worked in the organization for less than a year before her leave, we take the following as the billing period:

July 24, 2021 – October 31, 2021.

The following days should be excluded from this period:

1. Business trip days – July 24 – 31, 2021;
2. Study leave – August 1, 2021 – December 31, 2017.

Since Petrova’s entire payroll period consists of excluded time, and the preceding payroll period Petrova has not yet worked in the organization, then to calculate vacation pay we will take the days of the month of going on vacation, that is:

November 1 – 5, 2021.

How to calculate the duration of rest

The employer is obliged to provide the employee with the number of days she needs within the annual duration of the paid period. Calculation is needed to understand what part of this rest is provided on account of the existing experience, and what part is provided in advance.

Here are instructions on how to calculate the vacation period after maternity leave:

1. Determine the total duration of the employee’s work in the organization.
2. Establish periods that allow you to rest - they are listed in Art. 121 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
3. Calculate the number of days that the employee purchased for each of these periods and add them together.

An employee is given the right to paid rest: periods of direct work, including periods of regular vacations and sick leave, and labor and employment. Parental leave is not counted towards the length of service for receiving annual rest, except in cases where the employee works part-time without leaving the UM.

With a standard annual rest period of 28 days, a full month gives 2.33 days. If less than two weeks are worked in a calendar month, it is not counted towards the length of service; if more, it is counted.

If an employee extends his leave due to illness

When an employee on vacation falls ill, he is forced to extend it for the period of illness. In such a situation, sick time should be excluded from the calculation period. That is, initially, when calculating vacation pay, the billing period is calculated based on the employee’s time working in the organization. And then sick days are excluded from this period.

More details with an example:

The accountant of Continent LLC wrote an application for leave from October 17 to October 31, 2021. She was sick all the days of her vacation and rescheduled it for the period from November 1 to November 15, 2021. The billing period will be as follows:

From November 1, 2021 to October 16, 2021, while days from October 17 to October 31, 2021 should be excluded from the calculation period.

The procedure for calculating vacation pay

The procedure for calculating vacation pay is regulated by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 24, 2007 No. 922 (hereinafter referred to as Decree 922). To calculate the average salary for vacation pay, you need to perform a number of steps. Let's look at it step by step.

Step 1. Determine the composition of payments made to the employee in the billing period

To calculate average earnings, all types of payments provided for by the remuneration system and applied by the relevant employer are taken into account, regardless of the sources of these payments (clause 2 of Resolution 922). That is, payments that must be included in the calculation of average earnings must be fixed in the company’s local regulations (for example, in the Regulations on Remuneration) and accrued for labor, for work - they must be wages.

The following cannot be included in the calculation of vacation pay:

• guarantees (for example, average earnings during a business trip, during vacation);
• compensation (for example, compensation for the employee’s use of personal transport for business purposes);
• social payments (for example, financial assistance).

Bonuses are included in the calculation of average earnings in a special manner, which is named in paragraph 15 of Resolution 922.

Step 2. Determine the billing period

The calculation period for calculating average earnings is 12 calendar months preceding the period during which the employee retains the average salary (clause 4 of Regulation 922).

A calendar month is considered to be the period from the 1st to the 30th (31st) day of the corresponding month inclusive (in February - to the 28th (29th) day inclusive). For example, if an employee goes on vacation in February 2021, then the calculation period will be the period from February 1, 2019 to January 31, 2021.

Time, as well as amounts accrued during this time, are excluded from the billing period if:

• the employee retained his average earnings in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, with the exception of breaks for feeding the child provided for by the labor legislation of the Russian Federation;
• the employee received temporary disability benefits or maternity benefits;
• the employee did not work due to downtime due to the fault of the employer or for reasons beyond the control of the employer and employee;
• the employee did not participate in the strike, but due to this strike he was unable to perform his work;
• the employee was provided with additional paid days off to care for disabled children and people with disabilities since childhood;
• in other cases, the employee was released from work with full or partial retention of wages or without payment in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

In the calculation of average earnings for vacation pay, only those days (hours) should be included in which the employee was present at work, according to the schedule established for him, and performed the work provided for in the employment contract concluded with him upon employment.

In practice, cases may arise that differ from the standard ones. For example, in the 12 months preceding the event, the employee did not have actually worked days or actually accrued wages. What to do in this case? Average earnings are determined based on the amount of wages actually accrued for the previous period, equal to the calculated one (clause 6 of Resolution 922).

Webinar about vacation pay Calculation and accrual in 2021. Analysis of complex practical situations

Example

Lozhkina Vera is going on vacation in February 2021. Calculation period: from February 1, 2021 to January 31, 2021. At this time, Lozhkina was on maternity leave. And during the period from February 1, 2021 to January 31, 2021 (preceding the period from February 1, 2021 to January 31, 2021), she worked and received a salary. In this case, the average salary for vacation pay can be calculated based on this period.

Also, the accountant may be faced with a situation where the employee did not actually have accrued wages or actually worked days for the billing period and before the start of the billing period. In this case, the calculation period must be determined based on the amount of wages actually accrued for the days actually worked by the employee in the month of the occurrence of the event that is associated with maintaining average earnings (clause 7 of Resolution 922).

Pavel Vilkin will go on vacation from February 11, 2021. Calculation period: from February 1, 2021 to January 31, 2021. Vilkin did not work in this organization during this period. He was hired on February 3, 2021. In this case, the estimated period will be from February 3, 2020 to February 10, 2021.

Step 3. Calculate average earnings for vacation pay

Online training at Kontur.School Advanced training and professional development courses for accountants View schedule

The average daily earnings to pay for vacations provided in calendar days are calculated by dividing the amount of wages actually accrued for the billing period by 12 and by the average monthly number of calendar days (29.3) (clause 10 of Resolution 922).

An example of calculating vacation pay when the billing period is fully worked out

The accountant calculated vacation pay for Anton Kostin, who is going on vacation from January 21 to January 29, 2021. Billing period: from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021. Every month during the billing period, Kostin was paid a salary based on his salary in the amount of 30,000 rubles The vacation pay accrued by the accountant will be: (30,000 rubles * 12 months) / 12/29.3 * 9 = 9,215.02 rubles.

If one or more months of the billing period are not fully worked, then the average daily earnings are calculated by dividing the amount of actually accrued wages for the billing period by the sum of the average monthly number of calendar days (29.3), multiplied by the number of full calendar months, and the number of calendar days in incomplete calendar months (clause 10 of Resolution 922). In this case, the number of calendar days in an incomplete calendar month is calculated by dividing the average monthly number of calendar days (29.3) by the number of calendar days of this month and multiplying by the number of calendar days falling on the time worked in a given month (clause 10 of Resolution 922).

An example of calculating vacation pay when the entire pay period has not been worked out

Grishin Victor works at Astra LLC. In July 2021, he goes on annual basic paid leave for 14 calendar days. The employee's salary is 20,000 rubles. In August 2021, Grishin was on sick leave for 4 days, and for this month he was paid a salary of 16,190.48 rubles. Let's calculate the average earnings for the vacation period of Victor Grishin:

Remember that annual leave can be divided into parts. In this case, when granting each part of the vacation, the billing period will be determined anew each time. For example, an employee was on vacation twice in 2019: in June - 14 calendar days and in October - 14 calendar days. The calculation period for calculating vacation pay that fell in June will be from June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2021, and for vacation in October the calculation period will be different: from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021.

Vacation pay can be accrued on any day, starting from the date the vacation order is issued. For example, the manager signed the order on June 17, 2019, but the employee’s vacation will begin only on July 4. You can accrue vacation pay on June 17, or later. The main thing is that vacation pay is paid within strictly established periods.

Step 4. Pay vacation pay, transfer personal income tax and insurance premiums

Personal income tax

Personal income tax should be withheld from the accrued amount, and then vacation pay should be paid to the employee. The employer is obliged to pay vacation pay no later than three calendar days before the start of the vacation (Part 9 of Article 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The day of payment of vacation pay will be the date of receipt of income for personal income tax purposes. It is necessary to transfer personal income tax to the budget no later than the last day of the month in which vacation pay is listed (clause 6 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

For example, vacation pay was paid to an employee on July 22, 2021. This means that personal income tax should be transferred to the budget from July 22 to July 31, 2019 inclusive.

Insurance contributions from vacation pay

They are accrued for the same month in which they were accrued (Letter of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated 09/04/2015 No. 17-4/Vn-1316).

For example, vacation pay was accrued to the employee on July 19, 2021, paid on July 22, and the employee goes on vacation on July 25, 2021. In such a situation, insurance premiums should be calculated on July 19, 2019.

Insurance premiums from vacation pay should be transferred no later than the 15th day of the month following the month in which vacation pay was accrued (clause 3 of Article 431 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If vacation pay is accrued in July, then insurance premiums should be transferred no later than August 15, 2021 inclusive.

The legislative framework