Many people are familiar with the concept of white salary. Heard about black and gray. Some are not familiar with these phrases, but they certainly know about the existence of salaries "in envelopes." A similar color division of a salary has entered our life for quite some time. Therefore, I want to be well versed in such schemes in order to understand what and how it works.
general characteristics
White salary is the one that is paid officially. It is necessary to understand in more detail which components are included in it, and then to address issues related to unofficial payments. This unusual name has nothing to do with the color of notes or coins, it was given to the salary due to the fact that it passes, as it should be, according to all documents, it is official until the very last coin. The list of documents in which it is reflected:
- Regulation on remuneration;
- labor contract;
- The order of acceptance to work;
- other official documents.
While receiving a white salary, an employee has the opportunity to track how exactly all the accruals, allowances and deductions are made.
Legislative framework
It should be noted that in the laws there is not a word about white, gray or black salary. The employer establishes an officially defined wage, which must be agreed with the union of the enterprise and is prescribed in the documentation relating to the internal activities of the company, company or organization. The order in which wages will be paid, as well as the form and timing of payments at the enterprise, is usually set by the employer himself, as regulated by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. An employer must observe only two conditions:
- he does not have the right to pay wages smaller than the minimum wage;
- The frequency of salary payments should be once every half a month.
It should be noted that the official salary represents the income of an individual. The tax code of the Russian Federation requires that the amount of income tax, which is 13-30%, must be deducted from it. Only after the withdrawal of this payment from the salary, all other deductions are charged.
Composition of official wages
Depending on what form of remuneration is practiced at the enterprise, either for a particular position or profession, money is accrued for payment to the employee. Remuneration can take one of two forms: time or piecework.
Time payment
So, we can consider the case when the company works with a time wage system . In this case, the white salary consists of the salary established for a particular employee, bonuses. The salary is paid in full if the time standard calculated for the employee is fully worked out. The bonus can be considered as a percentage of salary or in the form of a fixed value. In each case, it all depends on the employer. In this form of mutual settlements, the time sheet is used as the main document .
Piece-work payment
In this case, the payroll is made in accordance with the standards that have been developed by the employee, this may be the provision of services or a unit of some product. Naturally, a similar form of remuneration can be used where the amount of work performed can be estimated in units or pieces. This principle can be applied to the payment of bonuses, that is, take into account whether the norm is met, whether there was a marriage, whether any special indicators were achieved during work, and others.
The composition of the salary
Typically, workers' salaries are made up of several positions:
- salary - takes into account the time that the employee actually worked out, or the rate that he fulfilled in the production process;
- premium;
- district coefficient, if used;
- allowance given for seniority, academic degree, honorary title and others. Very often, artists and teachers receive various allowances;
- vacation, if the employee goes on vacation;
- payment in accordance with the sick leave certificate - during the billing period, the employee must be on the sick leave certificate and have time to hand over the closed sick leave for accruals.
The organization may well have some other payments.
Payment Procedure
If a white salary is used, that is, it is accrued and paid, then the accounting department of the enterprise deducts all the required deductions, including income tax, takes into account bonuses received by the employee, benefits, surcharges, and also prepares the necessary documentation properly. The employee can see all the charges and deductions for each of the items on the pay sheet.
The enterprise management sets the terms of payments, and their frequency should be at least once every half a month. Managers choose the form of payment, it can be accrued through the cashier of the enterprise or transfer to a bank card used by the employee. The salary in the envelope is not carried out in such ways, but is issued to the employee personally.
In the event that the non-payment of wages is 15 days or more, the payees have the right, which is legally confirmed, to temporarily not fulfill their work duties, and not to visit their workplace until the full payment of the due part of the wage. In this case, the employer must pay for the days of downtime.
The employee has the right to quit of his own free will, if there is a fact of delays in wages. The head is obliged not only to sign the application, but also to pay in full with the employee on the day of his dismissal. Salary in an envelope does not provide such opportunities. However, this list of rights is not given to all categories of workers. Law enforcement officials and civil servants cannot apply such measures to an employer holding back wages in accordance with the law. All other categories can.
Unofficial salary
It is already clear that the official payment is called white, while the unofficial payment can be considered gray or black. It is customary to attribute to this type such forms of remuneration of employees that do not pass fully or partially according to the documentation of the enterprise. Often employees are paid salaries in envelopes. Responsibility for this will ultimately be borne by both parties, since both are violators of the laws. Cash in a thick white envelope is hidden from prying eyes, so all transactions are unofficial.
It should be understood what constitutes a salary in an envelope, what is included in it, how it is paid and due to what it exists.
What is a gray salary?
This phenomenon can be considered in a rather eloquent example. Imagine that an employee got a job in a certain company for some very insignificant position, which has a very small salary. The salary of this employee, as well as his functions, as a result does not correspond at all with the declared in the documentation. For this discrepancy in the work performed, the employer pays him a monthly supplement to the official salary, which is drawn up in accordance with all the rules, a certain amount (its size depends on the situation), without a statement or any other records, directly to your hands, that is, in cash. In this case, we are talking about the same "gray" salary.
A similar option is often practiced by employers in order to reduce tax payments. There are situations when an enterprise urgently needs a specialist with a well-defined qualification, but for him there is no position in the staff list. It is quite difficult to urgently enter the necessary position, and sometimes it is completely impossible. In this case, a “gray” salary is the only option. An employee is registered for any vacant position, and the functions he performs are exactly what is expected of him. Salary and taxes in this case will be very different from those that should actually be, since he receives the missing part of payments in the “envelope”.
Dividend payroll scheme
There is also such a gray salary payment scheme. Each employee of the enterprise has the opportunity to purchase a certain part or several shares of the company, which he is obliged to sell to the company in the event of dismissal. All this is spelled out in the employment contract. The official average salary of an employee, which often turns out to be minimal, is sent to him on a card or he receives it at the cash desk, and most of the money is given to him in the form of dividends. As a result of this, a gray salary is obtained, which is hiding under good cover.
The tax authorities usually check all the documents of joint stock meetings, in addition, the contents of employment contracts, the shares of each and the frequency of payments made at the enterprise. Dividends are traditionally paid not every month, but once a quarter. In addition, very often in the decisions of meetings of joint-stock companies you can find a lot of inaccuracies and errors that help in identifying the fact of paying gray salaries, make it possible to convict employers of illegal actions.
What is the advantage of gray salaries?
As a result of using such schemes, people's salaries become gray, which is beneficial not only to the employer himself, but also to the personnel who receive them. And there are quite a few reasons for this. Reducing the tax burden benefits both parties:
- the amount of income tax deducted from salary is reduced, which is associated with taxation of a smaller part of wages;
- The amount of alimony paid is also reduced, since only the official salary is used for the calculation. The size of the retained part usually does not exceed 20% of the total amount of earnings.
Everything allows us to say that black and white salaries are two sides of our current situation. Most employers find a balance between them by moving to gray salaries.
The essence of black wages
Often, employers are trying so hard to reduce tax payments that they hire employees without formalizing them. At the same time, there is no need to conclude an employment contract, make entries in the work book, even if it is located at the enterprise at the request of management. In this case, wages are paid exclusively in envelopes. The amount of payments can vary from minimum to quite high. For example, the minimum wage in Moscow now is 15,000 rubles.
The implementation of such financial transactions requires the employer to make certain efforts in the form of double-entry bookkeeping: unaccounted revenue goes into black salary. This option is considered convenient for entrepreneurs who deal with the sale of goods, transportation, that is, those areas of business in which there is a constant cash flow. In the future, she goes to pay salaries in envelopes.
Such a scheme also works in real estate offices. Only a few real estate agents can be officially registered, and the remaining eight to nine work without any registration and receive interest from the transaction. This salary is just black.
Another option may be the following: when a front company is opened, which closes immediately after making black payments, and the employer, it turns out, legally made a money transfer for the payment.
What is the danger of unofficial salary?
There are times when, for example, a documentary employee is paid a minimum wage in Moscow, and he agrees to accept the rest in an envelope.
In this case, he risks losing a number of payments, including:
- social and vacation pay;
- pension accrued in accordance with official contributions to the Pension Fund;
- other payments that are guaranteed by labor law with a salary received officially.
And for workers who receive full black salaries, the risk will be even greater. Such a person cannot count on a whole range of payments, including sick leave, vacation pay, maternity leave and others. And if for some reason the employer decides to dismiss the employee, then he can do it without paying him a severance pay, as well as a salary for the already worked period. Or just stop paying money to your employees at any time. For an employer who practices the payment of salaries in envelopes, it is not scary that in case of a dispute, employees will go to court. It is not only useless, but sometimes also dangerous.
How are black salary payments revealed?
Employees of the tax service quite easily detect the fact that the company has unaccounted for employees. To do this, it is necessary to calculate the number of employees in the workplace, and then compare the result with the numbers of the official staffing. It is clear that no one will work without payment, so we can draw conclusions about the fact of payment of black wages. To confirm this documented, it is enough to come with a check without warning, and to make the withdrawal of documentation and files in the enterprise, which is in charge of accounting. The salary in this case will be in full view, so it will be possible to find out all the circumstances as detailed as possible.
Judicial Proof
If wages are paid in black, then this is a serious offense. In the event that any disagreement arises between the employer and the employee, the latter believes that it is useless to go to court, since he will not be able to prove anything without official documents. However, even with such a salary payment scheme, it is difficult to prove, but possible. As evidence, you can use recordings on the recorder, advertisements in the newspaper by the employer, certificates of other employees, etc.
Problems due to gray salary
The most important drawback of this method of settlements for the employee is that he will not receive in full those payments that are guaranteed by the state, or will be left without money if for some reason the employer stops issuing salaries in an envelope. And it doesn’t matter what the average salary was. An employee who receives an informal salary is automatically criminally liable as a tax evader. This is especially true for significant amounts of non-payments.
For all of the above reasons, if you choose, the white salary is more interesting to you, either gray or black, think well about all the consequences of such a decision.