An organization purchased goods (work, services) for an employee: how to deduct their cost from the salary and calculate personal income tax

20.10.2019

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5 minutes.

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation allows for various deductions from wages. This is done with the consent of the employee, on the initiative of the employer or the decision of government bodies, in compliance with established legal requirements. The company cannot make transfers without grounds, as this would be a direct violation of human rights.

Regulatory base of deductions

All types of legal deductions from employee income are enshrined in current legislation. First of all, the specifics of applying deductions from wages are prescribed in the Labor Code of Russia, namely in Articles 130, 136–138 and 248 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In addition to labor legislation, the procedure for withdrawals is regulated in the Tax and Family Codes of the Russian Federation, as well as in some federal laws:

1. Law of October 2, 2007 No. 229-FZ “On Enforcement Proceedings”.
2. Law of July 21, 1997 No. 118-FZ “On Bailiffs”.
3. Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity.”
4. Law of May 19, 1995 No. 81-FZ “On state benefits for citizens with children.”

It is these legal acts that provide the legislative basis for regulating issues related to deductions from the earnings of Russian citizens.

Dependence of size on type of retention

At the request of the employee, a deduction can be made without being embarrassed by the size. Restrictions of Art. 138 Labor law (Labor Code of the Russian Federation) does not apply to them.

Mandatory payments are limited both in size and order.

Thus, according to Articles 137 and 248 of the Labor Code, recovery of received in excess by an employee or compensation for damage is possible no later than a month from the moment, respectively, the obligation to repay arises (for example, an advance payment) or the final amount of material damage is determined.

At the same time, the Labor Code indicates the need for the employee’s consent to the withdrawal. With a few exceptions provided for in 137 and 248. This means that without consent, such amounts can only be withheld by court decision .

Types of deductions from wages

The current regulatory framework provides for the following types:

1. Mandatory deductions from wages are types of investigations from the wages of Russian citizens, which are carried out on the basis of legislative norms. For example, personal income tax, which must be withheld from almost all types of income and receipts in favor of individuals.

Mandatory deductions include not only personal income tax, but also deductions from wages based on a writ of execution: alimony, deductions from the earnings of convicted citizens. The key difference from other types is the presence of a legislative or administrative document on the basis of which deductions are made from debtors. An administrative document means a court decision, enforcement proceedings, a writ of execution, etc.

2. Optional - this is a type of deduction from earnings that is made by order of the employer, by agreement between the employer and the employee.

By decision of the employer, amounts excessively transferred to citizens, for example, as a result of a counting error, may be withheld from the income of subordinates. Also, money may be withheld from workers’ earnings in the following cases:

• by order of the body for resolving individual labor disputes, if the employee’s guilt in causing damage, failure to perform duties, or downtime has been established;
• a court ruling established that the employee’s wages were paid in excess due to his failure to fulfill his official duties;
• by decision of the employer, the unearned advance payment transferred towards future wages is withheld;
• by order of the employer, unspent and (or) unconfirmed advances for travel expenses, accountable amounts, and similar payments are withheld;
• compensation to the employer for material damage by financially responsible persons, etc.

There are many reasons for unnecessary wage garnishments. Let's look at some situations in more detail.

3. Voluntary - any type of deduction from earnings made at the employee’s own request, be it the transfer of additional insurance contributions to the funded part of a labor pension, trade union dues or amounts of voluntary donations.

The main difference from other types is the presence of a statement from the employee, which indicates the conditions, amounts and purposes of the withheld amounts. An approximate sample can be downloaded at the end of the article.

4. Special or individual - this is a separate type of penalties that are provided for by local regulations of employers. For example, a company has introduced a penalty for being late. Please note that such penalties are not provided for in current legislation. Officials consider such deductions illegal. However, some employers continue to introduce a system of fines into the wage system.

Limitations on deductions from accrued salary

Deductions from wages of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation are regulated by Articles 137 and 138. They list the main types of deductions from a person’s income that can be made by an organization. It is unacceptable to produce them at your own discretion, without taking into account the restrictions of the law. For such actions the company is held accountable. The issue of deductions is regulated by the following regulations:

• Article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
• Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
• Section 5 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation.
• Federal Law No. 229 of October 2, 2007
• Federal Law “119 of July 21, 1997
• Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 841 of July 18, 1996.
• Letter of Rostrud No. 7156-6-1 dated 09.26.2012, No. 1557-6 dated 09.08.2006
• Letters of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 04-04-06/84 dated March 6, 2001
• Regional regulations.

If it is necessary to withhold a certain amount from an employee’s income, the employer takes into account other regulations and orders of local authorities. It operates only within the framework of the law. In Art. 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation lists the following possible penalties from an employee’s income:

• Reimbursement of advance payments provided to a person against future accruals that the employee did not have time to work out.
• Excessive amount paid when an employee is found guilty of failure to comply with labor standards or idle time, after consideration of disputes in court.
• Repayment of an advance issued for a business trip or performance of an official assignment that was not used for its intended purpose.
• Damage caused to a company as a result of intentional actions, or to property for which financial liability is provided.
• Refund of wages paid by the employer as a result of an accounting error.
• Upon dismissal before the end of the reporting period, for which the required contributions for annual leave were paid. If there is a good reason for leaving, the employer may not deduct them.

Deductions from wages under Article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation are made only if the citizen does not object, does not plan to challenge the amount or basis for collection, and one month of voluntary return of the amount has not expired.

Attention! If the conditions are not met, then the employer does not have the right to pay wages in a reduced form. You should go to court to resolve the dispute.

Types of deductions

A certain percentage is withheld from the accrued amount to pay off the employee’s obligations to the state (penalties, taxes), or other individuals (alimony, court-ordered compensation), or the company (overpaid funds). There are not only penalties prescribed by Article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, but also a number of others. They are divided into several varieties. What types of deductions exist today:

1. Required. This includes tax on income received by an individual and penalties provided for by executive documents. These are agreements on alimony signed by a notary, certificates issued by a commission considering labor disputes, judicial acts, orders of bailiffs (FSSP bodies). The company responsible for issuing wages to a citizen, having received a writ of execution, is obliged, within three days from the date of transfer of funds to the employee, to transfer the due amount to the account of the claimant.
2. At the initiative of the employer. Deductions are made to pay off debts to the employer. All grounds are listed in Art. 137 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
3. According to the employee. You can pay alimony based on a resolution on a voluntary basis. A citizen should only contact the accounting department. Such deductions are made for any purpose. This could be life insurance (which is important for people in many professions), a pension account, repayment of a mortgage loan, union dues, charity, and more.

It is important to know! Unlike the first two varieties, the company has the right not to make deductions aimed at paying off a loan or debt to third parties at the request of the employer. If the manager gives approval, there are no restrictions on the amount, which means the entire salary can be sent for a specific purpose.

General rules and restrictions

The responsibility to withhold funds from citizens' earnings is assigned to persons who accrue and pay income. For the most part, this function is performed by employers.

Withhold money from earnings based on key principles:

1. Calculate personal income tax taking into account the requirements of fiscal legislation. Consider the taxpayer’s right to benefits, refunds, tax deductions and concessions.
2. Income tax calculated on material benefits or income in kind cannot exceed 50% of earnings. This opinion was expressed by the Federal Tax Service in Letter No. BS-4-11 dated October 26, 2016/ [email protected]
3. Calculate the amount to be collected (except for tax) from the amount of salary minus personal income tax. That is, income tax is withheld first. And only then are all other types of enforcement proceedings applied to the amount received.
4. The maximum amount of recovery under writs of execution in terms of alimony, compensation for harm to health or damage in connection with the death of the breadwinner is 70%.
5. The maximum amount of penalties for writs of execution on other grounds is set at 50% of income.
6. When withholding at the request of the employee, no maximum restrictions are established. Any amount specified in the application may be collected. Such standards were outlined by Rostrud in Letter No. PG/7156-6-1 dated September 26, 2012.
7. The maximum amount of any other penalties is 20%.

Example. An accounting error was made regarding the employee (a shortage was identified, the advance was overpaid, the report was not confirmed). The employer can withhold no more than 20% of the salary per month until the debt is fully repaid. However, if enforcement proceedings are already in force against this employee, for example, 25% for alimony, then it is unlawful to withhold the overpayment. Maximum withholding limits are not cumulative.

Retention limits

To protect not only the interests of the “injured” party, but also the employee himself, Russian legislation provides for a percentage limitation on deductions from wages.

Article 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for three maximum percentage restrictions on salary deductions:

1. 20% is the standard maximum deduction that is charged in most cases, with the exception of alimony obligations or damage caused by criminal acts.
2. 50% - deductions made to pay off financial obligations for alimony payments. Exceptions are cases when there is arrears in alimony payments.
3. 70% is the maximum amount of deductions from wages. Deductible for damage caused to another person as a result of illegal actions and in case of compensation for damage resulting in the death of a person (loss of a breadwinner).

It is prohibited to collect from an employee an amount exceeding the specified percentage. It is possible to reduce an employee’s interest rate, but interested parties can appeal this.

Collection procedure: table

What is the correct way and in what order to collect amounts from the earnings of subordinates? The table will help you figure it out:

If several sheets have been initiated against one individual, follow the rules:

• the requirements of each subsequent queue are satisfied only after the requirements of the previous queue are satisfied in full;
• within one queue (including in the presence of several writs of execution), claims are satisfied in proportion to the amount due to each claimant.

IMPORTANT!

No taxes, fees or contributions need to be withheld from amounts due to the claimant, unless otherwise provided by the requirements of the writs of execution.

Maximum percentage of deductions

To make it more clear, we have made a small table about the total amount of deductions made without the employee’s consent:
Table of the amount of deductions of an employee’s salary by the employer

It is worth considering that the table shows the maximum allowable amounts of deductions.

Let's look at a specific example of how the withholding of funds from wages for alimony :

From the Family Code we know that:

• for the maintenance of one child - 25% of the income of the employee paying child support;
• for the maintenance of two children - 33% of the income of the employee paying alimony is relied upon;
• for the maintenance of three or more children - 50% of the income of the employee paying child support is required.

Our situation is as follows: the salary of an employee who needs to pay alimony is 18,000 rubles. a plus is a salary increase of 20% (3,600 rubles). The employee worked a full calendar month. The employee's income tax is withheld at a rate of 13%. The employee is obligated to pay alimony for his minor son in the amount of 25% of income. The bailiffs sent a corresponding executive order to an enterprise with a debt amount of 73,240 rubles, it contains a clause stating that in order to pay off the debt, at least 50% of the employee’s income must be withheld.

Based on the fact that the employee has debt, the deduction for the current month will be calculated at 50% of his total income :

• 18,000 rub. + 3600 rub. = 21,600 rub. – income including allowance;
• 21,600 rub. – 2808 rubles (21,600 rubles x 13%) = 18,792 rubles. – total income minus personal income tax;
• RUB 18,792 x 50% = 9396 rub. – the amount of alimony to be withheld for the current month, where RUB 4,698. This is alimony for a minor son and an equivalent amount to pay off the debt.

The organization’s accountant must make such a calculation until the debt is fully repaid, after which an amount in favor of alimony equal to 4,698 rubles will be withheld.

Retain without fail

These types of deductions include all amounts withheld by the employer from the earnings of a subordinate on the basis of legislation. That is, part of the earnings was withheld by force of law.

Personal income tax

The employer in this case acts as a tax agent and withholds the calculated income tax in the amount provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. For Russian citizens (residents of the Russian Federation) the tax rate is 13%.

Example 1.

Let's look at an example of how income tax is withheld from wages.

In September 2021, the following were accrued in favor of Ivan Petrovich Berezkin:

• salary in the amount of 50,000 rubles;
• disability benefits - 17,500 rubles;
• vacation pay - 45,000 rubles;
• financial assistance - 4000 rubles.

Berezkin does not have the right to tax deductions from wages.

Personal income tax calculation:

1. For salary: 50,000 × 13% = 6,500 rubles.
2. For sick leave: 17,500 × 13% = 2,275 rubles.
3. For vacation pay: 45,000 × 13% = 5850 rubles.
4. Financial assistance up to 4000 rubles. inclusive of personal income tax. Read more: “Is material assistance subject to personal income tax?”

In total, from Berezkin’s total income of 116,500 rubles (50,000 + 17,500 + 45,000 + 4000), 14,625 rubles will be withheld.

IMPORTANT!

Insurance contributions are not deducted from wages. The rule applies to all types of standard insurance coverage for citizens (OPS, OPS, VNiM and NS and PZ). Voluntary contributions, on the contrary, are deducted directly from the salary and other income of a specialist.

Deductions under a writ of execution from wages

Let us note that in terms of seizures under writs of execution we are talking not only about the collection of alimony in favor of minor children or elderly parents, but also about collections in favor of paying off overdue accounts payable (for example, proceedings on a mortgage or consumer loan), payment of administrative fines and other forms deductions under a writ of execution from wages in favor of legal entities and (or) individuals.

IMPORTANT!

In accordance with Art. 138 Labor Code of the Russian Federation, art. 99 of Law No. 229-FZ, deductions under writs of execution in terms of alimony, compensation for harm to the life and health of citizens, compensation for loss of a breadwinner cannot exceed 70% of total income. Research for other types of writs of execution - no more than 50% (writ of execution for repayment of debt under an agreement, loan, compensation for moral damage). Other types of deductions cannot exceed 20% of earnings (for example, compensation for shortfalls, correction of accounting errors, etc.).

Example 2. Writ of execution, alimony.

Let's look at a similar example of how to withhold alimony from your salary.

At the end of August 2021, the employer received three writs of execution against employee Kreditovaya Irina Pavlovna. The total debt amounted to 410,000 rubles, including in favor of:

• enforcement proceedings of Bank of Russia OJSC - 210,000 rubles;
• enforcement case of OJSC "Credit to everyone" - 120,000 rubles;
• executive papers of JSC "Loans bystry" - 80,000 rubles.

According to the terms of the writ of execution, deductions should be made monthly until the loan debt to the bank is fully repaid, but not more than 50% of the amount of income per month.

Earnings for September amounted to 46,500 rubles.

IMPORTANT!

The calculation of the amount of how much to withhold under writs of execution is made after calculating personal income tax! There is no need to issue additional orders or obtain the employee’s consent.

Calculation of deductions:

46,500 – (personal income tax 46,500 × 13%) = 40,455 rubles.

Amount of deductions: 40,455 × 50% = 20,227.50 rubles.

We distribute the amount between banks as a percentage of the total amount of debt:

1. Writ of execution of OJSC Bank of Russia: 20,227.5 × (210,000 / 410,000 × 100%) = 20,227.5 × 51.2% = 10,356.48 rubles.
2. Executive documentation of Credit to Everyone OJSC: 20,227.5 × (120,000 / 410,000 × 100%) = 20,227.5 × 29.3% = 5926.66 rubles.
3. Implementation requirements of JSC Loans bystro: 20,275.5 × (80,000 / 410,000 × 100%) = 20,227.5 × 19.5% = 3944.36 rubles.

Next, the employer will repay debts to banking organizations until the resulting debt in enforcement cases is fully repaid.

Alimony by agreement

The provision of minor children is not always paid by parents according to writs of execution. In some situations, the employer withholds money from the employee's earnings under a notarial agreement. This agreement is concluded between the parents of a minor child in the presence of a notary. It specifies the amounts, frequency of payments, as well as other conditions.

How to withhold alimony from your salary, example 3.

Sergey Nikiforovich Ivanov entered into a notarial agreement with his wife Ivanova Marya Yakovlevna to pay alimony for their minor children Alena and Peter. The amount of monthly payments in favor of children is 35% of S.N. Ivanov’s income.

Official salary of Ivanov S.N. — 100,000 rubles, worked for a full month.

Calculation:

100,000 – personal income tax 13% = 87,000 rubles.

87,000 × 35% = 30,450 rub. - transferred alimony in favor of minor children.

Let us note that it is possible to withhold alimony in favor of an employee’s minor children on the basis of his application, and not only by agreement or enforcement proceedings.

Application for deduction from wages (sample)

How to calculate personal income tax and from what amount to withhold it

So, an application has been received from the employee, which means that when paying him a salary, the accountant has the right to withhold part of the money to pay for goods, work, or the employee will receive less than accrued. The question arises: on what amount should personal income tax be calculated?

The answer is contained in paragraph 2 of paragraph 1 of Article 210 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. This provision states that deductions made from the taxpayer’s income by order do not reduce the tax base for personal income tax. Let's explain with an example. If from the salary accrued to the employee in the amount of 20,000 rubles. the cost of a gym membership will be deducted, personal income tax still needs to be calculated from the full salary (in this case, 20,000 rubles). The retained cost of the subscription is also considered income actually received by the employee, because he disposed of it by asking it to be credited to the employer’s account. This conclusion follows from paragraph 1 of Article 210 and subparagraph 1 of paragraph 1 of Article 223 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

We also add that for the purpose of determining the date of actual receipt of income, in this case there is no need to divide the payment into two parts (salary and payment for a gym membership). After all, from the point of view of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employee receives wages and at the same time manages them, giving a part to the employer. This means that the date of actual receipt of income for personal income tax purposes in the case under consideration for the entire amount (including the withheld part of the salary) is determined according to the rules of paragraph 2 of Article 223 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as the last day of the month for which the salary was accrued.

Finally, we must remember that the amount of calculated personal income tax (and it will be calculated, as we found out, from the full salary) must be withheld from the funds paid to the employee. And here another difficulty may await the accountant: what to do if the personal income tax amount is greater than or equal to the remaining part of the salary?

Let us say right away that neither the Tax Code of the Russian Federation nor the Labor Code of the Russian Federation prohibits in this case the withholding of the entire amount paid to the employee (that is, the entire salary remaining after withholding for payment of goods, work or services) for personal income tax. Let us recall that, as a general rule, the amount of all deductions for each payment of wages cannot exceed 20 percent (Article 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). However, a limit of 20 percent of the amount paid applies to wages remaining after personal income tax withholding (letter of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated November 16, 2011 No. 22-2-4852). This means that before the personal income tax amount is withheld, the 20 percent limit does not apply.

The provision of paragraph 4 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, which establishes a 50 percent limit on the withholding of personal income tax, is also not applicable here. The fact is that this restriction applies only to tax calculated on income in kind or in the form of financial benefits. And in our case we are talking about income in cash in the form of wages.

Calculate your salary, contributions and personal income tax for free in the web service

Voluntary contributions

Some amounts may be withheld from employees on a voluntary basis. For example, trade union dues that an employee decided to transfer to a trade union organization. Or voluntary contributions for insurance coverage of citizens. The most common option is to pay contributions to form the funded part of the pension to non-state pension funds.

The group also includes amounts withheld from an employee in order to repay loans, credits and credits previously issued by the enterprise. For example, a specialist received an interest-free loan from an employer. It is repaid through deductions from accrued wages in a fixed amount.

Withholding of any amounts based on a written statement by the employee, as well as by agreement between the employee and his employer, also falls into the group of voluntary penalties.

What is salary deduction?

To understand what the concept of “withholding part of wages” includes, it is necessary to clarify what wages are.

Wages are the amount of money established by Article 139 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which is paid to the employee for the performance of his labor duties, in accordance with the employment contract, local acts of the organization, including acts on bonuses, compensation or other monetary incentives.

Withholding part of the salary, in turn, is a sum of money that reduces the amount of payment due to the employee for his work on a legal basis (for example, a direct indication of the law or a court decision).

The withheld amounts of money are subject to transfer in favor of the state or in favor of persons whose rights were violated by this employee.

How to recover accountable amounts

Overpayment of an advance on travel expenses or on accountable money is a common situation. It is almost impossible to plan future expenses down to the penny, so unspent accountable funds are constantly encountered in the work of an accountant.

In fact, the employee must return the money himself. But this is ideal. If a subordinate does not want to return the accountable money on his own, the employer can withhold the overpayment from his earnings.

IMPORTANT!

You can deduct from your salary not only the amount of overpayment, but also the debt on an unapproved advance report. For example, if the employer did not approve the advance report due to the lack of supporting documentation.

The action plan is outlined in the Letter of Rostrud dated 08/09/2007 No. 3044-6-0. To make deductions from wages of accountable amounts:

• within one month from the date of expiration of the period for compensation of the resulting overpayment, issue an order to withhold money from the employee’s salary.

IMPORTANT!

If the deadline is missed, then it is unlawful to collect accountable amounts from earnings. In such a situation, the overpayment can only be reimbursed through the court.

• After issuing a deduction order, familiarize the debtor with the order against signature. The employee must state in the order that he agrees with the collections from the salary. Otherwise you will have to go to court.

Accountable money that is not returned to the employer is not the employee’s income and is not subject to personal income tax, since it is a debt to the employer.

If the employee does not repay the debt on accountable money within a month from the date of expiration of the period established for their return, charge insurance premiums on the unreturned amount. The premiums can then be offset if the employee does not repay the money. Or return it if the accountant provides supporting documents (Letters from the Social Insurance Fund dated April 14, 2015 No. 02-09-11/06-5250, Ministry of Labor dated December 12, 2014 No. 17-3/B-609).

Employee-initiated retention

In practice, it happens that the employee himself asks the organization to withhold money from his salary and use it to pay off loans, goods, works and services. Let us say right away that it is not forbidden to meet an employee and withhold money from his salary. Moreover, there are no limits on the amount of deduction in this case. After all, the organization, in fact, only transfers money at the request of the employee himself, who has the right to dispose of it as he wants (letter of Rostrud dated September 16, 2012 No. PR/7156-6-1).

How to keep records

Account for deductions from wages using the following standard entries:

Limits in amount, reasons

In the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Article 138), the limit on deductions from salary is reflected as a percentage of its total amount:

• up to 20% is the limit according to the basic rule;
• up to 50% - in certain cases established by federal legislation;
• up to 70% - applies to individual claims (for child support, when assigning correctional labor, compensation for harm and damage).

In addition, the law establishes a list of payments that are not subject to the withholding rule (benefits, financial assistance, travel allowances, etc.).

The general conditions for making deductions from salary in favor of the employer are:

• deadlines for withholding wages: the procedure must be carried out no later than 1 month from the date of completion of the period established for the return of the advance/incorrectly calculated amounts/debt repayment;
• the employee does not dispute the reasons and amount of the withholding.

Such grounds are established by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in accordance with ILO Convention No. 95.

It follows from the second condition that the employee must be notified of the reasons and amounts of deductions. If he does not agree to this, he can file appropriate objections and contact human rights authorities. Thus, in these cases, the law does not require the worker to submit an application for deduction from wages.

At the same time, Rostrud takes a different point of view: it believes that the second condition should be expressed in the employee’s written consent to this procedure. Is this correct from the point of view of the law, what would such a procedure look like and what do the judiciary think about this? We will deal with these issues in subsequent sections.

Special types of deductions

Some employers provide a bonus labor system to motivate employees. For example, a guaranteed salary is only a small part of earnings, the rest of the amount is determined based on the specialist’s performance indicators.

The system of fines for employees is becoming increasingly popular (example: wages in large corporations, supermarket chains, holding companies, etc.). This remuneration system is aimed at motivating specialists to achieve their goals. In other words, if the employee did not fulfill the plan or committed any misconduct, the employer has the right to punish the specialist with a ruble.

However, according to the labor inspectorate, such a system is considered illegal, since collecting a fine from an employee is equivalent to non-payment of part of the salary, even if the punishment itself is supported by an order and other documents. For this, the employer can be punished under Art. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offences.