Payments to shift workers for observation days: how to calculate personal income tax and insurance premiums

Working hours and payments while on watch

Working conditions on a rotational basis are separately identified within the framework of labor relations carried out in remote places or areas with special natural conditions (Article 297 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The mobile type of work is used to cover the shortage of labor resources. The remote nature is recognized when the work is located at a significant distance from the place of residence of the employees or the location of the enterprise.

Employee benefits for rotational work differ from those for traditional shift work. Features of compensation for special conditions:

• The work schedule is permanent, agreed upon by the parties to the contract. A shift is not recognized as time spent on a business trip issued in connection with the fulfillment of a one-time order from the manager.
• Employees on duty outside their place of residence are not entitled to daily payments.
• Employees are not paid field pay or additional payments for the mobile nature of their work.

Instead of amounts compensating for a special labor regime, individuals receive from employers an allowance for working on a shift basis. The bonus is paid in lieu of daily allowance for each calendar day of work, downtime, breaks between shifts and periods of travel.

When is the premium paid?

Payments to workers employed on a rotational basis are made in three cases:

1. When they are directly at the place of work.
2. When they move from the collection point for shift personnel directly to the place where the work will be carried out.
3. When they come back.

Please note: the premium is paid for calendar days, not working days. Therefore, even if the work was not actually carried out, the employee still has the right to receive money.

People from different cities and even regions can be busy on shifts, so the road itself is divided into two parts - from the employee’s home to the assembly point and from the point to the workplace. In Soviet times, there was a rule according to which the shift worker was paid for the entire journey. Now the employer is obliged to pay money only for the second part of the journey. However, there is no prohibition on reimbursement of expenses, and an employer who has the financial capacity can also pay for travel from home. However, the rules on allowance for shifts will not apply to these payments. In particular, they may be subject to mandatory insurance contributions and personal income tax.

Since the bonus is not a payment, regional coefficients cannot be calculated on it (for example, for work in the Far North). However, “northern” ones are calculated on the basic salary of a shift worker. It’s just that in this particular case, the employee will separately receive compensation for work on shift, and separately, an increased salary, due to a special coefficient.

Allowance for special work regime

A shift is understood as a period covering the time of performing remote work and the break between shifts. The duration of the shift period should not exceed more than a month, or, less often, have a duration of no more than 3 months (Article 299 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Employees are awarded a special bonus for each day of the periods:

1. Movements from the assembly point to the watch point.
2. Performing work at a remote site, including breaks in accordance with the schedule.
3. While on the road from the place of duty to the territorial unit of residence or location of the employer.
4. Downtime in work or travel due to weather conditions or the fault of the carrier.

The amount of the bonus depends on the category of complexity or responsibility of the work. One work team may contain positions with different amounts of allowances. For positions with the same responsibilities, additional payments are equal.

The minimum or maximum amount of the premium paid by commercial structures is not limited by the rules. When determining the size, employers are guided by the economic feasibility of costs.

Payment amount

The bonus for shift work is paid in the amount established by:

• normative act - in cases where the shift is applied in organizations belonging to state (including regional) or municipal property. The level of the act corresponds to the level of the organization: for federal organizations, Government Decree No. 51 of 2005 applies, for regional and municipal organizations - the corresponding acts adopted by local authorities;
• internal rules of the organization - for commercial or non-profit organizations that are not state or municipal.

Typically, the amount of the premium is determined in one of two ways:

1. As a percentage of salary or salary.
2. In the form of a fixed amount (similar to daily allowances).

As of 2021, the second method of surcharges is used much less frequently. The first can be calculated by taking into account both days and hours, if the enterprise uses an hourly rate.

A clear amount of the bonus is established on a nationwide scale only for employees employed in federal bodies or institutions. According to the above resolution, it is:

• 75% of the salary for the position - for those who work in the Far North or in areas that have equal status;
• 50% – for Siberia or the Far East;
• 30% – if the work takes place in any other region of our country.

The amount of allowance for watchkeeping conditions

Collective and labor agreement documents establish the amount and conditions for the provision of bonuses (Article 302 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The mandatory condition for establishing the amount of additional payment applies to commercial enterprises. When determining the value, the opinion of the representative body of employees of the enterprise is taken into account. The size of the allowance for budget financing enterprises is determined by legislative acts.

Compensation for expenses during watchkeeping in the form of an allowance is paid only to persons admitted by law to a special labor regime. Restrictions apply to minors, pregnant women, single mothers with young children and persons for whom the climate of the area is contraindicated for health reasons. Payments of allowances to persons with watch-keeping restrictions are illegal. Some features of the calculation of the premium have been established.

An example of calculating the amount of the premium. The company has rotation workers on its staff. Internal documents determine the amount of the bonus to be 50% of the salary. Employee M. with a salary of 25,000 rubles in the month of April worked 20 days on a rotation basis, including travel time. When calculating remuneration, the bonus for the shift in April was calculated: N = 25,000 / 30 x 20 x 50% = 8,333.3 rubles.

Possible allowances

Shift allowance is compensation (similar to daily allowance) that shift workers receive for specific working conditions.

Let's figure out what legislative document establishes the amount of the shift allowance. The formation and accrual of this compensation are regulated by regulations of the Government of the Russian Federation and government bodies at various levels.

RF PP No. 51 of 02/03/2005 establishes a premium for federal-level enterprises. Compensation is calculated as a percentage of salary. For example, in the northern regions they compensate 75% of the salary, in Siberia and the Far Eastern region - 50%, in other regions (at enterprises with shift shifts) a similar bonus is 30%.

The additional payment is made based on each day of actual stay at the workplace (in this case, shift), as well as travel time there and back.

Some organizations pay a fixed bonus. Regardless of the type of compensation (fixed or as a percentage), the accrued amount must be reflected in local documents - a collective agreement, regulations on remuneration, regulations on additional payments and allowances.

Expenses covered by the allowance

The list of reimbursable expenses is stipulated in the internal documents of enterprises. Persons do not have to provide reporting documents to the manager regarding expenses incurred. Costs associated with performing shift duties include:

• The cost of travel to the place of performance of duties and back, to the locality of residence, baggage fees.
• Target fees, commission fees, travel expenses to the station or airport.
• Amounts paid for obtaining a passport, visa, customs fees.
• Expenses for renting a room in a hotel or hostel. The employer is obliged to create rotational camps for employees to live. In the presence of specially equipped places, the cost of renting housing is not compensated.
• Other similar expenses associated with a special labor regime.

Important! The bonus is not considered part of the salary, but is recognized as a compensation payment in accordance with the terms of Art. 164 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Taxation

We looked at how the salary of a shift worker is calculated and what a shift bonus is; taxation in 2020 is the next question.

Being essentially a compensation payment, additional payment to an employee working on a shift shift is not subject to personal income tax (clause 3 of Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) or insurance contributions (clause 2 of clause 1 of Article 422 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Compensation is not included in the list of payments - exceptions that are not subject to contributions for accidents and occupational diseases, which means that such contributions are charged on this allowance in accordance with current legislation (125-FZ).

Separately, it is worth mentioning the taxation of alimony for a shift worker. The calculation of alimony for shift work and its taxation are carried out according to the general rule (RF PP No. 841 of July 18, 1996, Art. 101 Federal Law-229 of October 2, 2007), however, shift compensation, which is included in the total amount of accrued remuneration for labor, is subject to taxation also not subject.

Withholding of personal income tax from the amounts of the bonus received

The Ministry of Finance clarified the procedure for taxation of payments to rotational workers in letter No. 03-04-05/7999 dated 02/09/2021.

According to the explanations of specialists from the Ministry of Finance, bonus payments to shift workers are recognized as compensation provided for special working conditions. Amounts are exempt from income tax on the basis of the provisions of paragraph 3 of Art. 217 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. To apply the exemption, you must have the following grounds:

• Non-taxable amounts for commercial enterprises must be established by regulations or internal documents of the enterprise. The amounts are confirmed by the representative or trade union body of the employees.
• Payments to rotational workers from state funding are established by budget standards at the appropriate level.

Employers use the allowance to cover expenses, but must not make payments beyond the cap. According to experts from the Ministry of Finance, the amount of the bonus should be comparable to the expenses of employees during the shift period

Deputy Director of the Department V.A. Prokaev (letter dated July 13, 2021 No. 03-04-06/49149).

A significant excess of the amount over costs may lead to additional attention to the accounting of the enterprise and the adoption of a decision by the inspectors of the Federal Tax Service on additional assessment of income tax.

Taxation of premiums on insurance premiums

Benefits paid to employees are subject to insurance premiums. The exception is the amount of compensation in the form of bonuses provided to rotational workers. Tax-exempt payments are made upon reimbursement of expenses arising in connection with the performance of labor duties (clause 2 of Article 422 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The amounts provided to individuals to compensate for expenses and listed in clause 3 of Art. 217 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The condition for tax exemption is the determination of the amount of payment in contracts or other internal documents of the enterprise.

Mistakes made when taxing allowances

Error No. 1. The amount of the bonus constitutes a significant part of the payments to rotational workers. The position of adding bonuses to wages with the inclusion of amounts in the composition of average earnings is erroneous. Compensation for expenses for the conditions of watchkeeping is compensation and is not taken into account when calculating bulletins, vacation pay and other payments based on average earnings.

Mistake No. 2. Employers have the right to hire persons with foreign citizenship. When concluding a contract for work under shift conditions, it is necessary to take into account the requirements for the location of persons. Temporarily staying or residing foreigners have the right to work in the region where the patent, permit or other document was issued. The restriction does not apply to the performance of an official assignment as part of a business trip of a foreign national.

Exceptions are highly qualified specialists who have the right to work in several documented regions, and citizens of the EAEU who work legally without obtaining a permit.

Answers to common questions

Question No. 1. Are northern coefficients taken into account when calculating the premium?

The northern coefficient is not calculated on the amount of the watchkeeping allowance. The increasing factor is applied separately from the amount of additional compensation.

Question No. 2. Can an employer apply a rotational labor method to a group of people, a team, or has the right to draw up an agreement with one person?

The legislation does not establish a requirement to create a team to apply a rotational work method. Sending one specialist to work on a shift basis is not considered a business trip. A remote work agreement can be concluded with one employee.

Who is not entitled to a supplement?

In order for a bonus to be paid for a rotational work method, it is necessary that the employee be allowed to work using this method.
The law clearly states that some workers cannot be involved in this type of work. Restrictions apply:

1. Minors.
2. Pregnant women.
3. Women who have children under three years of age. At the same time, the law does not provide for such restrictions for men, and even single fathers.
4. Workers for whom this type of work or stay in a particular area is not recommended for medical reasons. That is why, before involving an employee on a shift, he must undergo a medical examination.

Questions about who exactly is allowed on shift should be resolved at least 2 months before departure. The schedule is approved and communicated to all employees whom it concerns, against signature.