Rumors about the cancellation of payment of travel expenses periodically excite public opinion. Let's figure it out. Is it really possible to cancel travel expenses and how legal is this?
From January 8, 2015, sending a subordinate employee on a business trip, the employer is not obliged to comply with the previously required procedure for processing a business trip certificate. In addition, the law abolished the compilation of other documents - a job assignment and a report on the work performed by an employee who returned from a business trip.
Such changes are recorded in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1595 dated 12/29/14, which entered into force on the above date (among the people - the law on the cancellation of business trips). The basis for sending an employee on a business trip is the decision of his employer. This document, as before, should fix the terms of such a trip. But the need for a job assignment is no longer.
Cancellation of travel certificates: decision and its consequences
The new rules read: to calculate the time (actual) in which the employee was on a business trip, it is possible and necessary according to the travel documents provided to them upon return.
In the case of his departure there by personal transport, indicating the actual period of stay at the destination, the traveler must attend to the compilation of a memo. He submits it with the application of documents capable of confirming movement on the specified transport (we can talk about a waybill, receipts, invoices and cash receipts).
Returning from a business trip, within three days, the business traveler must present an advance report drawn up by him with documents on the rental of the premises and the expenses actually incurred. A progress report is no longer required. But no cancellation of travel payments is expected.
The innovations caused some bewilderment among the employees of accounting services. The questions that arose concerned possible problems with the official approval of travel expenses in the event of the refusal of the above documents. It was also not clear what to do with the exemption from personal income tax.
So, in the light of all this, it is worth taking a closer look at the problem and deciding whether or not to continue writing travel certificates. This issue is relevant for management and accounting services. Ordinary employees have nothing to worry about - no one plans to cancel travel expenses (more precisely, reimburse them to a specific employee).
A little bit about the essence of the matter
Any of the business trips is fraught with a multitude of expenses requiring reimbursement. In order to take into account and make these estimated payments, accounting requires documentary evidence. As already mentioned, previously in the composition of the mandatory papers were business trip certificates and job assignments along with reports on the work performed. But from the indicated date (January 8, 2015), the decision to cancel travel certificates eliminated the need for their issuance.
Thus, among those there was only an order sending a subordinate on a business trip. This document must specify the duration of the trip and its purpose.
How to manage travel documents
Their task now is to confirm the actual term of the employee at the place of business trip. He must present those upon his return. For example, if a business trip is related to air travel, then the start and end dates will be set with the presentation of airline tickets.
When the employee sets off on his own car, returning, he draws up a memo indicating the dates of departure and arrival. What in this case can confirm the information indicated there? Such certificates will serve as checks for gasoline from a gas station, receipts for payment of parking spaces, etc.
If suddenly any of these documents are lost, the cancellation of travel payments is not necessary. The employer may make an additional request to the transport organization in order to confirm the fact of the trip. A travel certificate is no longer a determining factor.
We document expenses
According to the first part of the 168th article of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the list of expenses that the employer is obliged to reimburse for the seconded employee consists of the cost of travel, rental housing and per diem. From the point of view of accounting, in case of successful confirmation by relevant documents, it is not allowed to tax personal income tax on travel expenses. This norm is fixed in the 217th article of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In the absence of supporting documents, personal income tax will have to be charged.
The Tax Code does not contain a direct requirement for the obligatory presentation of the said certificate. Even before the cancellation of travel certificates in case of disputes and litigation, the arbitration court came to the conclusion that the absence of such does not entail automatic taxation. Especially now - the risk relative to personal income tax is completely absent.
About premiums
A similar situation is with insurance premiums. The officially established expenses (per diem, rental housing and travel) are not subject to insurance premiums. Here, in the same way, an indispensable condition for the presentation of supporting documents is observed.
If until 2015 the certificate was considered as a mandatory application in the preparation of the advance report, then in its absence, according to the letter of Rostrud No. 17-4 / 1647 of 2013, insurance premiums were subject to charge. Now, after the cancellation of travel certificates, this reason has been lost, and the expense report submitted without them is not considered a violation.
About income tax
According to accounting standards, those expenses related to sending employees on business trips are included in the composition of other expenses that occur during the production and sale process. This is done when calculating income tax. The corresponding posting is made on the date on which the expense report is approved. As in the above cases - at documented costs. Moreover, the design must comply with the legislative standards of the Russian Federation.
The situation is similar to that described previously for insurance premiums. Officially, it was previously believed that the absence of a travel certificate automatically excludes these costs from the cost structure. But in the current situation (the cancellation of travel documents of a "superfluous" nature), such an approach is no longer discussed.
Do not spend much!
Travel expenses should be economically justified. Their task is to bring profit to the organization. The purpose of the trip specified in the order, being related to commercial activities, should include economically justified travel expenses.
Even earlier, tax authorities often expressed the opinion that it was necessary to have an order on the appropriate direction of an employee’s trip. The cancellation of travel certificates does not pose any potential problems in this regard, since their functions are similar.
Is it possible to continue processing travel certificates?
In principle, this is not prohibited. Nowhere is the law mandated the abolition of travel certificates. If they, along with the job assignments, are convenient for the employer for internal accounting purposes, he has every right to engage in their further preparation. But to certify a business trip with just one certificate will no longer work. We repeat - in and of itself, without the attached tickets, orders, etc., it can in no way serve as confirmation of travel expenses and the right to exemption from contributions and personal income tax.
How a new form of travel documentation is recorded
According to the general rules, the employer determines all aspects related to the size and procedure for reimbursement of expenses to seconded employees by a series of internal local acts . This right is vested in his article No. 168 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The standard move is the approval for a similar purpose of a document called the Regulation on business trips. If, due to innovations, the company decided to stop using certificates, this act will need to be amended accordingly with familiarization signed by all employees.
What changes will be required to make the mentioned normative act?
1. It should no longer mention job assignments, and in connection with the cancellation of travel certificates from the document, this concept should be removed.
2. A clause on determining the purpose and duration of the trip in the order should be spelled out.
3. A separate paragraph should reinforce the need for the employee to provide an official note with supporting documents in the event of a trip by personal transport.
Information on the departure of a business traveler should be reflected in a special form journal No. 739n, which was adopted by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development in September 2009. Such a journal has a separate column, previously intended for entering the number of the travel certificate and the period for which it was issued. Under the new conditions, filling in such a column is not necessary. If there is a dash or nothing at all, this will not be considered a violation.
Is it possible to cancel travel allowance?
As you know, during a business trip, the employee is provided with average earnings, as well as per diem paid for each of the calendar days of the business trip. The latter concept means those additional expenses that he incurs due to being outside his permanent place of residence.
It was expected that from January 1, 2016, the per diem payment will be canceled. But this event never happened. The 168th article of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation recorded the mandatory reimbursement to the employee of additional expenses associated with living outside his permanent residence when sent on a business trip. That is, the abolition of travel per diem would mean a violation of labor law.
Their size is determined independently in each organization. This amount should be fixed in those normative local acts that relate to official travel (for example, in the Regulation on business trips). According to the law, the maximum personal size of 700 rubles is not subject to personal income tax. within the territory of our country and 2500 rubles. when traveling abroad. This means that if the daily subsistence allowance is established by, say, 1,000 rubles. Personal income tax will have to be paid from an amount exceeding 700 rubles. - that is, 300 rubles.
For which days a refund is due
Reimburse them for all days of a business trip, including holidays and weekends. This also includes those days that an employee is on the road or in a situation of a forced stop. If the trip is one-day, then Russia does not have to pay a per diem. However, no one forbids the employer with a local act to provide for similar compensation in this case.
The limit of such payments as such, if the organization is commercial, does not exist. Only the amounts indicated above (700 and 2,500 rubles, respectively), which are not taxable, are legislatively fixed. Counting the days for which this compensation is due to the employee is now done in accordance with the general rule and in accordance with the memo.