How to confirm expenses on a business trip: documents

What is a business trip

Some types of work may require employees to travel long or short distances that are directly related to the performance of core job duties.
According to Art. 166 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a business trip is any departure of an employee during working hours outside the enterprise related to the performance of work tasks. The minimum duration of a business trip can be one working day, but the maximum is not limited. The duration of a business trip is determined by the need to complete the assigned task, taking into account its complexity and volume. The employer must formally formalize the departure of employees on business trips, defining their goals and objectives in advance. On long-term business trips that involve leaving their hometown, employees are entitled to a daily allowance—additional funds for living expenses. They can also count on compensation for travel expenses and rental housing.

It is important to understand the differences between a business trip and a job that requires constant travel. Let's present the similarities and differences in the form of a table:

What business trip expenses are eligible for reimbursement?

The provisions of Art. 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, expenses incurred by an employee during a business trip are included in the list of other expenses. The list of such expenses includes costs for travel, accommodation, meals (per diem), as well as other expenses associated with a business trip (registration of international passports, visas, consular and airport fees, etc.).

We will consider each type of reimbursable travel expenses in the table below:

Business trip: paperwork 2021

As a result of the changes introduced by Government Decree No. 771 dated July 29, 2015, only two documents are currently used to officially register a business trip:

1. An order in form T-9 or T-9a is the main form that determines the direction, purpose of the trip, its duration, etc.
2. An advance report in form AO-1 is a document with which an employee proves the expenses incurred by him with the attachment of supporting documents.

In accordance with the changes that have come into force, it is no longer necessary to fill out an official assignment and travel certificate, as well as register departure in a special journal. At the same time, organizations that are accustomed to this method of registration may not refuse to draw up the above papers, especially since this is not prohibited by law. In this case, the procedure for documenting a business trip must be prescribed in the internal local regulations of the organization.

Master list of documents

The complete package of documents expanded in 2017-2018 includes:

• A travel order (a type of management order), which is prepared in advance using a standard form. The form must be filled out in format No. T-9 or No. T-9a in the case of several business travelers;

• Advance report . In its absence, a report on the funds spent drawn up by the business traveler is used;
• A time sheet for a calendar month or another period of time at the discretion of the accounting department, which indicates the days spent on the trip;
• Service note (required if traveling by your own car or other means of transport). Example for download;
• Travel certificate . Currently, this document is not mandatory. It is issued if, for example, the enterprise’s internal regulations provide for its mandatory nature;
• Service assignment in format No. T-10a. Another one of the documents that is not always necessary. If for some reason the task was generated, then the seconded citizen must fill out a report on it after returning.

Making an order

The organization's personnel officer draws up an order to send him on a business trip. There are two types of forms: form T-9 - for one employee and form T-9a - for a group of employees at once. The order can be drawn up in free form, without using an approved form, but it must indicate:

• details of the employing organization;
• FULL NAME. and the position of the employee;
• departure point;
• destination;
• length of stay on the trip;
• purpose of the trip;
• daily allowance amount.

The head of the company signs the document and returns it to the HR department. The traveler gets acquainted with the order and signs it. If the trip is planned to be long and long, the employee, independently or with the help of persons authorized by the organization, orders travel tickets and reserves a hotel room for accommodation. Based on the order and a preliminary estimate of upcoming expenses, the company’s accounting department calculates the amount of the advance, which should include daily allowance, funds for travel and accommodation (if they have not been paid in advance). An advance can be given to an employee in two ways:

• cash from the organization's cash desk;
• non-cash, by transferring funds to the employee’s card.

The term for payment of the advance is determined by the local regulations of the organization. When traveling, you should collect all checks and receipts, since when writing an expense report, they are used as confirmation of expenses incurred.

As stated in paragraph 3 of Art. 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, tax-free daily allowance: 700 rubles - when traveling within the territory of the Russian Federation, and 2500 rubles - when traveling abroad. The employer has the right to set any amount of daily allowance, but in this case, personal income tax must be deducted from the amount exceeding the specified amounts (clause 3 of Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Daily allowances are accrued for each day an employee is on a business trip, including the day of departure and return. The cost of travel and accommodation must be confirmed by tickets, checks and receipts. Other expenses related to business travel may be reimbursed by a separate decision of the employer.

How to confirm expenses on a business trip

According to the law, travel expenses are subject to reimbursement and are reflected as expenses on the basis of an advance report and documents confirming such expenses.

The advance report is submitted by the employee within 3 working days following the last day of the business trip (based on the order). For example, an employee who returned from a business trip on 04/09/2021 must submit an advance report to the accounting department no later than 04/12/2021.

Below we will look at what documents are needed to confirm travel expenses.

How to confirm per diem

The daily allowance amount is subject to reimbursement based on the following documents:

• order;
• advance report.

Daily allowances are accrued for each day the employee is on a business trip according to the order (both workdays and weekends). Thus, the employer pays the employee per diem not only for days spent in another locality, but also for days on the road.

The amount of daily allowance is determined in accordance with the internal regulations of the company. In this case, the amount of daily allowance included in the tax base should not exceed 700 rubles. (for the Russian Federation) and 2,500 rubles. (for business trips abroad) for each day the employee is on a business trip. If the company’s local regulations provide for daily allowances in excess of the established limit, then the difference between the actual payment and the maximum daily allowance:

• is not taken into account when calculating income tax;
• is subject to personal income tax at the established rate (13% for residents of the Russian Federation, 15% for non-resident employees).

Timesheets

During a work trip, the employee retains his workplace and receives wages. The tariff for this period is equal to the average daily earnings if the trip falls on weekdays, or double the average daily earnings if going to work on weekends or holidays. The time sheet (form T-13) must reflect the hours worked of all employees sent on business trips. Based on the order, travel days are marked in the timesheet with the letter code “K” or the digital code “06”. The length of time worked on these days is not indicated, since they are paid according to average earnings and the actual hours worked on these days are not taken into account.

If a short deadline has been allocated for completing work or assignments, but there is a lot to be done, and you have to work harder than on ordinary days, then this will also need to be reflected in the report card using the code that is adopted for this in the organization. Work will be paid at an overtime rate.

Documents for a business trip in 2020: sending an employee on a trip

Any business trip begins with the execution of an administrative document - an order. If you use unified forms, compose it according to the form:

• T-9, if you are sending one person;
• T-9a, if several.

You will find both forms in this article. A sample business trip order can be downloaded here.

Based on the order, issue an advance to the employee. Its amount should cover the daily allowance for all days of the trip, as well as approximate expenses that the employee will have during the trip. To issue money, draw up a cash order.

In general, no further documents will be required for a business trip at this stage. Thus, travel certificates and official assignments are no longer needed for a long time. But there may be nuances.

If, for example, an employee leaves, returns from a business trip, or is on the road on a weekend or holiday, or while on a business trip, he will work on such days (and this is not provided for by his regular schedule), you must obtain written consent from the employee to work on a day off and issue an appropriate order. If the business traveler will be on vacation on a weekend or holiday, these papers will not be needed.

For more details, see: “How is a business trip paid on a day off (nuances)?”

One-day business trips and part-time business trips are processed according to the same rules. There are no documentary features for them. Just keep in mind that employees are not entitled to daily allowances for one-day business trips. But there is still a way to pay them for such expenses.

See: “How is a one-day business trip paid?”

The Guide from ConsultantPlus will help you prepare other documents for business trips. If you do not already have access to this legal system, a full access trial is available for free.

One-day business trip: paperwork, 2021

The minimum duration of the trip can be one day. It involves the employee traveling to a point from which it is possible to return to their place of residence on the same day. The procedure for registering short work trips is practically no different from multi-day trips. The differences lie in the payment procedure. The employer must reimburse transportation costs if the employee has travel documents. As for daily allowances, they are not paid for such short work trips, in accordance with paragraph 10 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 13, 2008 No. 749. The exception is one-day business trips abroad. The daily allowance in this case is half the established norm. These figures must be specified in the organization’s local regulations.

Arranging a business trip: step-by-step procedure

1. Set the purpose of the trip.

A business trip is a trip by an employee, at the direction of the employer, outside the place of work to carry out a specific assignment arising from his job responsibilities.

The first step is to determine the purpose of the employee’s secondment, because it primarily determines what knowledge and skills the sent employee should have or in which department of the organization he should work.

Previously, the purpose of a business trip was indicated in a document called a job assignment.

Now this document is accepted only if it is established by local regulations of the company.

2. Select an employee.

When choosing a person who will be sent on a business trip, you must remember the guarantees established by law for employees.

Thus, there are categories of persons who, as a general rule, cannot be sent on business trips at all.

These include, for example, pregnant women, as well as employees under 18 years of age.

Some employees (single parents with children under five years old, women with children under three years old, and other workers, in accordance with Articles 259, 264 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) can be sent on business trips only under the following conditions:

1. absence of contraindications in accordance with the medical report;
2. availability of consent of these employees to travel.

Government Decree No. 749 “On the specifics of sending employees on business trips” (.docx)”

3. We notify you of the possibility of refusal.

If a person cannot be sent on a business trip without his consent, he must be made aware of the possibility of refusing it.

To do this, a written notice is drawn up, which contains information about the upcoming business trip and the possibility of canceling it.

One copy of the notice is given to the employee, on the second he can write whether he agrees to leave and whether he is prohibited from leaving due to a medical report.

Also, such consent (disagreement) can be formalized by the employee in a separate letter and submitted to the HR department.

We should also not forget that consent must be obtained from any employee if he will be away on a day off.

4. We issue an order and introduce the employee to it.

If the employee’s consent to a business trip is not required, a business trip order can be issued immediately.

Before January 1, 2013, it was necessary to use a sample order according to the unified form No. T-9.

Now this is not a mandatory requirement, so the organization can develop its own form of order.

If the organization does not use official assignments, then the order should indicate the purpose of the trip as clearly as possible.

In addition, the order must indicate the timing of the business trip and the place in which it will take place.

An official assignment may be indicated as the basis for issuing an order, if its execution is still provided for by local acts of the organization, or details of some other document justifying the need for the employee to travel outside the place of work (invitation, contract, etc.).

Having signed the order, the manager must familiarize the employee with it against signature.

5. We issue an advance.

Clause 10 of the Travel Regulations establishes that before a business trip, an employee is given an advance on travel expenses, intended to pay for travel, accommodation and additional expenses.

In this case, on the basis of an order from the employer or an application from an accountable person, which indicates the amount of money and the period for which it was issued, an expense cash order is issued in form 0310002.

The amount depends not only on the duration of the business trip, but also on the average cost of renting housing at the place of business trip, the amount of daily allowance established by the organization, and other factors.

The money is given to the employee on account, and therefore, upon arrival, he will need to document all expenses incurred.

6. We make notes in the disposal log and in the time sheet.

Until 2015, according to the Regulations on Business Travel, the employer was responsible for recording employees who left and arrived on a business trip.

The employee's departure was recorded in special disposal logs. In many organizations, these documents are still maintained, so if it is available, an appropriate note must be made in it.

But the obligation to keep records of the actual time worked by the employee, assigned to the employer by Article 61 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, has not been canceled, so it is necessary to make a mark on the work time sheet.

Local business trip: paperwork, 2021

It is customary to call a local trip a business trip that does not require the employee to travel outside the locality in which the employing organization is located. An employee's business trip on a short trip is documented using a memo so that his absence from the workplace is not considered absenteeism. Expenses are not reimbursed in any way, since they simply do not exist (but if the employee still manages to spend his money on travel, the employer will be obliged to reimburse his expenses based on the documents provided).

General procedure for documenting a business trip

The required documents for registering an employee's trip on a business trip are:

• memo (if the employee goes on a business trip in his own vehicle);
• waybill (again, if the employee’s personal car will be involved);
• an order for sending on a business trip indicating the purposes of organizing the trip, the destination (confirmation of the employee’s familiarization with the document is his personal signature on the order);
• an advance report indicating the use of company funds to pay travel expenses.

Business trip on a day off: paperwork, 2020

It happens that an employee has to start a work trip on weekends or holidays. For example, leaving early in order to spend a full working week at the destination, necessary to solve the task. In such situations, increased pay is due for working on weekends or, at the employee’s request, he is granted leave on any other day of the year, according to Art. 153 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. This is also true if you are returning on a weekend. Travel and other travel expenses are reimbursed according to the usual rules.

Business trip during vacation, features of 2021

Occasionally, it becomes necessary to send a specialist who is on vacation on a business trip to solve an urgent problem. Do this according to Art. 125 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, only with the consent of the employee. During a business trip, the employee must be officially recalled from vacation by a special order from the employer, executed in any form. The order states the reasons for the recall, indicates the date of return to work and the number of unused vacation days. The employee must indicate his consent in writing. Then everything is done according to standard rules. The remaining vacation days must be given to the employee for rest at any time chosen by him. Or they can be added to next year's holiday.

In such an exceptional situation, the accountant needs to remember that if the employee’s vacation period changes, the amount of vacation pay received must also change. Since vacation pay is paid before going on vacation, the recalled employee may have an account payable to the employer corresponding to the amount of overpaid vacation pay for unused vacation days. The organization's accountant must decide what to do with this amount: re-credit it or return it to the organization's account.

Business trip abroad: rules 2021

If an employee goes abroad and for a foreign business trip he needs to obtain a foreign passport and pay a visa fee, then the sending organization must compensate for these expenses. In this case, the advance can be issued in rubles or foreign currency. If an employee received an advance in rubles and independently exchanged currency, it is important to save and attach a certificate from the exchange office to the advance report. Changes in exchange rates on the date of exchange and the date of approval of the report may affect the reimbursement of travel expenses. Without a certificate indicating the purchase and sale rate, recalculation into rubles will be carried out at the rate current on the day the advance report is approved, and, depending on the economic situation, the amount due for reimbursement may decrease.

As already mentioned, increased daily allowances are required for trips abroad. The days during which daily allowances are accrued at an increased rate are limited by marks of crossing the state border. In accordance with the Decree of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the city of Moscow dated 08.08.2008 No. 28-11/074505, in the case when the accounting department does not have a traveler’s international passport, the basis for calculating the daily allowance is the manager’s order to go on a trip, a printout or photocopy of the ticket or boarding pass and invoice for hotel accommodation. If there is a long way to go from the border or the business trip continues for some time on the territory of the Russian Federation, then the remaining days are paid at the domestic rate. It is important that all supporting documents in a foreign language are attached to the expense report with a line-by-line translation into Russian.

Business trip report

An important task for a business traveler is to carefully collect and store all documents confirming the expenditure of funds related to the organization of a work trip. Upon return, within three days, the employee must provide the organization’s accounting department with a detailed advance report on the trip and cash expenses, information about which must be proven by attaching supporting documents. The advance report is a document of strict accountability and is executed on a double-sided form according to Form No. AO-1. The front side of the paper indicates the employee’s personal data, information about the trip, the issuance of funds and the results of verification of information by authorized persons. The back contains specific information about expenses, dates, amounts and documents confirming transactions.

Sample of filling out the advance report form

According to existing rules, before submitting to the accounting department, all documents (checks, receipts, tickets) should be carefully pasted one after another on an A4 sheet. If the advance amount has not been spent in full, the employee returns the remainder to the organization’s cash desk, or the shortfall can be forcibly deducted from his salary. If the expense exceeds the advance amount, the cost can be reimbursed after approval by management and agreement with the chief accountant of the organization.

Returning from a business trip

How to prepare documents upon returning from a business trip?

First of all, upon returning from a trip, the employee must prepare and submit an advance report. 3 days are given for this . At the same time, the excess of the advance payment must be returned to the employer: in cash at the cash desk or deduction from wages is acceptable at the request of the employee.

For a business trip abroad, the paperwork is similar .

If was not enough , the employer is obliged to reimburse the expenses incurred on the basis of supporting documents - tickets, hotel bills, sales receipts for purchased materials, etc.

If the employee does not return the balance of the unused advance, the employer has the right to withhold this amount from the salary in accordance with paragraph. 3 hours 2 tbsp. 137 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. However, this can only be done if the employee does not dispute the amount.

Therefore, it is necessary to obtain consent to deduct from his salary. A similar position is set out in the letter of Rostrud dated October 7, 2019 No. PG/25778-6-1. If the employee does not agree with the amount of deduction, then it can only be recovered through the court.

Accounting

After submitting the advance report, the employee’s business trip ends and the accountant’s main work begins, related to reflecting the flow of funds in the balance sheet and preparing tax accounting. More precisely, the accountant’s work began earlier. Even when the employee was given an advance, the first step was taken, and the first posting appeared: Dt 71 Kt 50 - if the advance was paid in cash at the organization's cash desk. At the same time, the cashier drew up a cash order in which the traveler signed for the receipt of the advance amount. If the advance was transferred to the employee’s current account or his salary card, then the posting is as follows: Dt 71 Kt 51. Confirmation of the advance in this case is a bank statement.

It should be borne in mind that any travel expenses covered by the organization’s funds must first of all be justified:

1. The amount of expenses must be documented. Travel tickets (for air travel - boarding pass) are considered supporting documents; sales receipts; cash receipts indicating what was purchased; strict reporting forms (receipts, invoices, etc.).
2. The need for expenses is confirmed and justified by the assignment of the business trip.
3. The travel assignment has a direct connection with the company's activities.

If the above conditions are met, the accountant has the right to reduce the income tax base for the advance report in terms of travel and payment for rental housing.

The VAT amount is usually written on a separate line in the supporting documents, so determining it is not difficult. Costs, allocation of VAT and its presentation for deduction must be reflected in separate accounting entries. First, expenses for tickets and accommodation are written off excluding VAT (Dt 20 Kt 71), then VAT is posted separately (Dt 19 Kt 71) and the last posting is to deduct the tax (Dt 68. VAT Kt 19). The cost of tickets abroad and back does not include VAT, so there is nothing to claim for deduction. VAT paid directly abroad in the amount of the cost of travel tickets or hotel payments and highlighted on the receipt as a separate line cannot be claimed for deduction in the territory of the Russian Federation.