If an employee of an enterprise does not want absences from work due to illness to be counted as absenteeism, he must contact a medical institution and draw up a certificate of incapacity for work, and then submit it to the employer’s accounting department. Based on the sick leave, the employer pays the employee benefits for the period of incapacity for work (after which it receives compensation from the Social Insurance Fund), the accountant calculates the payments, and the HR department employee puts the appropriate marks on the working time sheet. It rarely happens that an employee began to get sick, for example, in October, and closed his sick leave in October. More often, the certificate of incapacity for work is closed in the next month, and in this case we are talking about rolling sick leave. We suggest you understand how it is calculated and paid.
How does a rolling sick leave differ from a regular sick leave certificate?
Regular and rolling sick leave are issued for the same purpose and are essentially the same document, however, there are differences between them:
| Regular sick leave | Rolling sick leave |
| Opens and closes within the same month. For example, an employee went on sick leave on October 4, and returned to the workplace on October 19 (accordingly, the certificate of incapacity for work was opened on October 4, and closed on the 19th). | Opens one month and closes the next. For example, an employee fell ill and went to the clinic for sick leave on July 20, and began his work duties on August 4. As a rule, a rolling sick leave is one that is open in December and closed in January. But sometimes a certificate of incapacity for work, opened and closed in other months, is called rolling. |
In what cases is a rolling sick leave issued?
If an employee contacts a medical organization, this does not mean that he will automatically receive a certificate of incapacity for work - he must undergo an examination to confirm the fact of the disease. If the doctor does not find any signs of illness, a sick leave certificate is not issued, since there is no reason for this.
The same applies to workers who end up in a clinic due to alcohol, drug or toxic intoxication.
A rolling sick leave certificate will be issued if:
- an employee of the enterprise is ill or injured;
- the citizen is in quarantine;
- a child, spouse or close relative of an employee falls ill and needs to be cared for;
- a woman complains of deteriorating health during pregnancy;
- The employee is going to give birth to a baby soon.
Who has the right to issue a rolling sick leave certificate?
As in the case of an ordinary sick leave, a rolling sick leave can only be issued by medical institutions that have issued a license to provide the relevant services:
- state clinics at the employee’s place of registration;
- private paid clinics with certificates and licenses;
- foreign medical centers of the countries in which the employee was on vacation or a business trip (such a sick leave, legalized or apostilled, is transferred with a translation into Russian to the domestic clinic for consideration by a medical commission, which in return will issue a document of the Russian standard).
How does the date of payment of sick leave affect personal income tax reporting?
The conflict between calculating personal income tax when calculating temporary disability benefits and clarifying the tax when withholding it creates difficulties for accountants in understanding the results of calculating personal income tax and generating 6-personal income tax reports. It becomes even more difficult if there are grounds for recalculating sick leave.
This is important to know: How long can you stay on sick leave with your child?
Chapter 4 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ
“On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity”
regulates the procedure for assigning, calculating and paying benefits for temporary disability.
For how long can a rolling sick leave certificate be issued?
The legislation establishes the minimum and maximum period for which sick leave can be issued:
| Minimum period of sick leave | Maximum duration of sick leave |
| 3 days If the employee recovered earlier, he has the right to report to the workplace on the 2nd day of validity of the certificate of incapacity for work. | 30 days If an employee needs more time to recover, a medical commission meets to decide whether to extend the certificate of incapacity for work or close it. |
Calculation of sick leave benefits
To determine the amount of sick leave for an employee, the accountant must have the following data:
- about the amount of average daily earnings;
- on the duration of the insurance period (cumulative periods during which contributions to the Pension Fund were made);
- number of days on sick leave (indicated on the certificate of incapacity for work).
The following features are also taken into account:
- if the work experience is less than 2 years, the employee must bring to the accounting department a certificate of employment for earlier periods from previous employers (if he was officially employed);
- if the employee’s work experience is less than six months, the benefit is calculated based on the current minimum wage;
- if the employee’s work experience is less than 5 years, from 5 to 8 years, more than 8 years, the benefit for each day of sick leave is 60%, 80% and 100% of the average daily earnings, respectively.
How does payment work?
After recovery, the sick leave is transferred to the accounting department. But no later than six months from the date of termination of the sick leave. Otherwise, benefits will not be accrued.
In accordance with Federal Law No. 255 of 03/09/16, after submitting a certificate of incapacity for work, benefits are accrued within 10 days and issued together with the next salary or advance payment.
Benefit payment calculation
To calculate the payment amount you need to know:
- How many days did the sick leave officially last?
- Official work experience.
- Average wage for one day.
Benefit amount
The amount of the benefit directly depends on the length of service, as well as on the salary of the last two years:
- If the experience is less than 2 years, then provide a certificate from a previous job for correct calculation.
- If the work experience is more than 8 years, then the amount of benefits for one day of sick leave is equal to the average income per day.
- From 5 to 8 years - 80% of average income.
- Up to 5 years - 60% of average income.
- Up to 6 months - payments are calculated according to the minimum wage.
The calculation of rolling sick leave is made using the same formula as for regular sick leave.
The average salary per day is calculated as follows: the annual salary for the two previous years is divided by 730 days. Then it is multiplied by the number of days of sick leave and by a coefficient (0.8; 0.6 or according to the minimum wage).
Let's look at an example
Employee A.A. Petrov provided sick leave, which was opened on December 25, 2021, and closed on January 10, 2021. On January 11, the employee began his official duties. Thus, he was sick for 7 days in December and 10 in January - a total of 17 days.
The amount of his income for the previous 2 years:
- For 2015 - 300 thousand rubles.
- For 2021 - 350 thousand rubles.
Total 650 thousand rubles for two years.
So, the total payment for 17 days of sick leave will be 889 * 17 = 15,113 rubles.
Important! The employee will not receive the entire amount: taxes will be deducted.
Difficulties associated with paying for transitional sick leave
It is necessary to take into account some features related to the payment of transitional sick leave:
- If a rolling sick leave is opened in December and closed in January, it is drawn up on at least 2 forms, one of which relates to the previous year, and the other to the next.
- If 2 sick leave forms are presented to the accountant separately, benefits will be accrued for each of the sick leave certificates separately.
- If an accountant receives 2 sick leave forms from an employee at once, a single payment is made over the next 10 days.
Corporate income tax
For profit tax purposes, the employer's expenses for paying benefits for the first 3 days of the employee's incapacity for work are classified as other expenses related to production and (or) sales (clause 48.1, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
It should also be taken into account that only documented costs can be taken into account in expenses (clause 1 of Article 252, Article 313 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Accordingly, until the employee receives a certificate of incapacity for work and benefits are calculated, the organization cannot recognize the corresponding amount as expenses.
Thus, we believe that in the case under consideration, expenses in the form of benefits for the first three days of the employee’s illness should be recognized in tax accounting in the period of its appointment (accrual), that is, in October.
We also recommend that you read the following materials:
— Encyclopedia of solutions. Accounting for the employer's expenses for the payment of temporary disability benefits for the first days of illness;
— Encyclopedia of solutions. Employer's expenses for temporary disability benefits for the first days of illness (for profit tax purposes);
— Encyclopedia of solutions. Taxation of benefits paid at the place of work.
Answer prepared by: Expert of the Legal Consulting Service GARANT, Candidate of Economic Sciences Ignatiev Dmitry
This is important to know: How sick leave is paid at an enterprise and what the payments depend on
The answer has passed quality control
The material was prepared on the basis of individual written consultation provided as part of the Legal Consulting service.
Typical mistakes:
Error:
The employee independently calculated the amount of sick leave benefits for the rolling sick leave, but received a smaller amount. An employee files a complaint against the employer.
A comment:
The amount of sick leave benefits calculated according to the general rule is not paid to the employee in full - taxes are deducted from the benefit amount.
Error:
The employee submitted to the accounting department a rolling sick leave consisting of one form, while the rolling sick leave was issued for December-January.
A comment:
If the rolling sick leave was issued for a period of illness that began in December and ended in January, the document is drawn up on two forms, each of which is subject to payment.
Is the following BL considered one insured event with the primary document?
An insured event is an event upon the occurrence of which the insurer must fulfill its obligations towards the insured person. One disease can be issued with several sick leave certificates.
This is important to know: Are holidays paid on sick leave?
But this does not mean that there are several insurance cases.
If the BC is a continuation of a previously issued sheet, the primary document and its subsequent parts are considered one insured event. When a new slip is issued, the previous one is processed for the issuance of benefits. If a citizen continues to be ill, a corresponding note is made on the first sheet.
How many days in this case are at the expense of the employer and who pays the second part of the personal income tax?
The answer to this question depends on the order in which the documents were issued. As a continuation in case of long-term illness or independently from each other for different insurance cases. The billing period is determined based on the date of the first sick leave.
If two primary sheets are presented, then this will already be two insured events. You must pay for the first three days of each. Thus, the document issued as a continuation is paid entirely from the Social Insurance Fund.
Answers to common questions about rolling sick leave
Question #1:
An employee fell ill while on vacation. Will vacation be extended if the employee has taken out sick leave?
Answer:
If we are talking about annual paid leave, then such leave will be extended by the number of days during which the employee was sick. If the employee was on vacation at his own expense, such vacation will not be extended.
Question #2:
Will annual leave be extended if an employee takes sick leave during a vacation due to the illness of a child requiring care?
Answer:
No, the vacation is extended only if the sick leave is issued due to illness or injury of the employee of the enterprise.
Rules for paying long sick leave in 2021
The duration of payment of benefits in case of illness or injury of the employee himself is not limited by time. That is, the employer pays for all days of incapacity for work, regardless of how long the certificate was issued and how many sick days the employee had during the year (Part 1, Article 6 of Law No. 255-FZ).
This is important to know: Until what age of a child are parents given sick leave?
From July 1, 2017, legislation introduced the possibility of issuing sick leave not only as a paper document, but also with the written consent of the patient - in electronic form with the affixing of an enhanced qualified electronic signature of the health worker and the medical organization (Law dated May 1, 2017 No. 86-FZ).
At the same time, the form of sick leave in 2021 remained the same (approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated April 26, 2011 No. 347n):
Thus, medical institutions, employers and the Social Insurance Fund are switching to electronic document management for sick leave. However, the procedure for payment remains the same.
