The correctness and timeliness of payroll calculation is a matter of interest not only to the accounting department, but also to the employee himself. There are different types of payments, such as advance payment, vacation payment, compensation payments, and any of them has its own rules and approved standards.
What is an advance
Part of the remuneration that employees receive during the billing month is usually called an advance.
If we turn to the laws in the field of labor relations (Labor Code of the Russian Federation), then this point is not clearly stipulated at the legislative level. However, normative acts regulate the procedure for paying salaries. Law of 03.07.2016 No. 272-FZ introduced significant changes to Art. 136. The new version of this article establishes that employees must receive remuneration at least once every two weeks and no later than 15 calendar days from the end of the billing period.
Russian laws and regulations oblige all employers in the country to pay staff twice a month, therefore the practice of collecting partial (advance) and final payments is commonplace in modern enterprises.
Accrual of advance payment for wages is calculated on the basis of data on hours of work during the current month. Money is paid in the middle of the month or at another date determined by the company.
It is clear that fully calculating the salary for a month is more difficult than charging an advance. Therefore, in practice, the organization first determines the date of payment of salaries. In accordance with Art. 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, it should be installed in the period from 1 to 15 of the next month. Which particular day to choose in this period depends on the organization of accounting in the company. The better organized the exchange of information, the sooner employees will be able to receive wages.
After determining the date of payment of salaries for the company you need to add 14 days (15 days). This sets the date of the advance payment in accordance with the requirements of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
For example, if the deadline for paying salaries is 4, then the advance payment must be issued no later than 19, if 8, then no later than 23, etc.
What happens if I give an advance earlier than 15 days? For example, on the 19th day from the date of salary payment on the 5th day? In this case, the limit of 15 days established by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation will be exceeded, which is a violation of the law. The organization may be held liable for a violation of the payment procedure.
Calculation Procedure
Consider how the advance is calculated in accordance with the current rules.
The Ministry of Labor indicates in its letters that the advance payment should be determined in conjunction with the management of the company and the union in the preparation of the collective contract.
The Ministry of Labor notes that a small amount of advance payments is required to correspond to expenses at the tariff rate that applies to actual hours worked.
You can calculate the amount of the advance payment for wages by various methods, for example, as a percentage of the salary fund, in the form of a fixed amount or for the time worked.
The latter option is more reasonable and comfortable for both parties, as it takes into account how each employee worked for the period. There is no overpayment if the employee has not been at the workplace for a period.
Calculation method: required indicators
How is the advance calculated? The applied calculation technique will be discussed below.
When calculating advance payments, the accountant does not have final information about the work of the company and each employee for the initial part of the month due to the fact that this information can only be prepared based on the results of the worked month.
As a result, the calculation may turn out to be erroneous, correctable during the final payroll calculation.
An accountant can apply the following documents and data for calculations:
- the salary for the past months if the employee has been working in the organization for a long time;
- tariff schedule with increments and allowances;
- staffing table;
- Orders for vacation, reception and movement of employees.
When calculating the advance payment, the total number of working days during the calculation period and those days that were practically worked out during the calculation are taken into account.
New calculation rules in 2017-2018
The new rules for calculating an advance payment in 2017, which were provided for in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, affected only the dates in the main. And when determining the amount of the advance payment, one should proceed from the time that was practically worked out in half a month.
In addition, officials advise that when calculating an advance payment, only those salary components that are specifically tied to working time (salary, combination costs, etc.) are taken into account. Regarding payments, the amount of which can be determined only by the end of the month (for example, premiums for the implementation of the plan), they, according to the Ministry of Labor, should not be used in calculating the advance payment.
Example 1. The number of working days is 20, the salary of the engineer I. I. Anisimov is 25,000 rubles. In the first half, Anisimov I.I. worked 9 days. How the advance is calculated is presented below:
A = 25000 rub. / 20 days × 9 days = 11250 rubles.
To calculate the amount of the advance, the new advance payment formula takes into account the real time spent on labor from the first to the fifteenth day of the current month.
This calculation method is extremely labor intensive. In practice, it increases the work of accounting services that are associated with the calculation of payments. Therefore, in practice, when determining how the advance is calculated from wages, a certain percentage of the amount of wages is usually set.
The Ministry of Health and Social Development in its letter dated February 25, 2009 No. 22-2-709 advises to issue salaries and advance payments in comparable amounts. Since the advance tax on individuals is not usually withheld, in order to ensure the comparability of payments, the best solution would be to install an advance of 40-45% of the salary.
Example 2. How to calculate an advance to an employee? Salary I.I. Anisimova - 25,000 rubles. The company set an advance payment of 40%. Personal income tax for I. Anisimov is not used. Advance calculation:
A = 25000 rub. × 40% = 10,000 rubles.
A salary of:
H = 25,000 rub. - 25,000 rubles. × 13% - 10,000 rubles. = 11 750 rub.
Of course, the employee can skip part of the billing month at the workplace (due to illness, due to vacation, etc.). In this case, it is better to determine the advance, starting from the time of work.
Minimum size
In practice, the majority of companies pay amounts in the form of half a monthly salary, taking into account salaries (tariff scales), monthly benefits.
When calculating the advance payment of premiums, sickness benefits, allowances and other amounts are not taken into account. When calculating the minimum value, the monthly amounts are initially reduced by the number of tax payments withheld, and forty percent are already taken from the remaining amount.
Nuances
The main aspect that should be taken into account when calculating the advance payment is that it is designated in the legislative documents as remuneration for the first half of the month, in other words, when calculating it, the same rules must be observed as when calculating the salary.
Differences between prepayments and basic salaries are as follows:
- when calculating the advance payment, they do not take into account the amount of bonuses, allowances, social benefits;
- lack of deduction of income tax from an employee and other types of deductions from salary ;
- do not include the amount of payment of vacation, sickness allowance, per diem, etc.
As a result, the calculation of the advance payment must be approached as carefully as in the case of payroll.
Do I have to pay personal income tax
When remunerating, the employer is a tax agent withholding income tax from employee income. Wages become income based on the conviction of taxation on the last day of the current month (clause 2 of Article 223 of the Tax Code). However, at the time of the advance payment, the employee’s income for this time has not yet been received and, at the same time, there is no reason to pay income tax on employees.
But if the date of receipt of the advance payment is set on the final day of the month, the tax authorities may recognize this payment as income for the past period. In this case, the company will have to calculate personal income tax twice a month.
If time is not fully worked out
It is not uncommon for employees to work not all month, but only part.
The prerequisites for this are extremely diverse, for example:
- the exit is not from the very beginning of the month;
- dismissal;
- disability certificate;
- vacation (regular, educational, without maintenance);
- partial or incomplete work.
To understand how to calculate the advance payment, you need to refer to the law. The requirements of the Ministry of Labor are that the employer must pay an advance on wages for real hours worked, so it is charged even if the first half of the month has 1 working day.
To calculate part-time salaries for employees, you need to know the number of working days.
Calculation example. Worker with a salary of 45,000 rubles. he worked for 5 days and went on sick leave, which by the time the advance payment was not yet transferred to accounting.
To calculate, you need to know the total number of working days per month, of which only 3 days are taken into account.
An example of how a down payment is calculated:
- 45000/20 = 2250 rubles - the average daily salary;
- 2250 x 5 = 11250 rubles - salary for hours worked;
- 11250 x 13% = 1463 - income tax on accrued salaries;
- 11250 - 1463 = 9787 rubles - salary net of income tax.
What about a vacation?
How to calculate the advance payment in case of vacation? Let's consider this question in more detail.
There are rules for calculating an advance payment in cases where an employee does not work for an incomplete reporting period. The most important prerequisite for absence is a vacation, regardless of its type (paid or at its own expense).
An example of how an advance is calculated after a vacation. So, if the weekend ended on the 12th, and the employee began work on the 13th, the administration must pay him a salary within 3 working days (13, 14 and 15).
If the leave ends on the 15th, and the employee comes to work on the 16th, the accounting department has the right not to give him an advance, since there was practically no time in the first half of the month. In this case, the employee cannot appeal against the decision of the administration.
Features on business trips
How is the salary advance calculated on a business trip? Consider the answer below.
From time to time, an inexperienced accountant finds it difficult to give advance payments to people on a business trip. In this case, the employee does his job duties, being in another territory, in connection with which there should be no issues with the calculation of the advance payment.
If the accountant does not have information that the employee for some reason does not go to work (for example, is ill), then all days are considered workers, but his salary is not charged at the tariff rate, but based on the average income for 12 months with bonuses, sick leave and vacation pay.
In this case, the advance is completely debited to the first part of the calculation period when calculating the number of working days, but it is not taken into account for wages, but for average earnings.
It often happens that in this case, the employee loses his salary. The administration can issue an order for compensation for losses, and when calculating the final wage for the employee, the amounts will be recounted.
Features of the advance payment for sick leave
If an employee is absent for a month due to an illness, then an advance is accrued to him only on the days of work, and the allowance is accrued on the number of days indicated in the list of sick leave.
An example of how the advance amount is calculated: a disability certificate is issued from September 1 to September 8, 2018. On September 11, the employee went to work due to the fact that on September 9 and 10 he left for the weekend.
When calculating advance payments, accounting will only take into account working days from September 11 to September 15, i.e. 5 working days. Payment of benefits within 6 business days will be included in the final payment for the month.
The calculation, as calculated by the RFP and the advance, will be as follows.
The salary of 45,000 rubles is divided by the number of working days in a month, and the average daily salary comes out:
45000/21 = 2143 rubles per day.
The result is multiplied by the days worked:
2143 x 5 = 10,715 rubles.
Calculation of the amount related to personal income tax:
10715 x 13% = 1393 rubles.
How to calculate the advance payable:
10715 - 1393 = 9322 rubles.
Total: the employee is paid an advance in the amount of 9322 rubles.
Payment order
In accordance with the amendments to Article 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, 2 terms for the payment of salaries are provided:
- from the 1st to the 15th day when payment is made for the second half of the spent month;
- from the 15th to the 31st day - the days of receiving the salary for the first part of the month, which involves an advance.
A specific payment date is indicated in one of the main documents that govern the relationship between employees and the employer:
- inner order rules;
- labor or collective agreement.
The definition of “advance payment” is not used in the rules, both payments are called earnings.
Conclusion
The conditions of advance payment and salary in coordination with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation are established in such a way that payments to employees are made at least once every two weeks. The procedure for calculating an advance payment is not defined exactly by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
Government bodies advise to pay an advance, starting from the real time worked spent on the first half of the month. And also, according to the executives, the advance payment and settlement per month should be comparable in size.