In 2017, policyholders (employers) retained the right to reimburse benefits for temporary disability, maternity benefits, and benefits associated with the birth of children from the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation. That is, the policyholder has the right to reduce the accrued amount of insurance premiums for compulsory social insurance by the amount of expenses incurred by him for the payment of benefits (clause 2 of Article 431 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The automatic offset of benefits against the payment of contributions to the Social Insurance Fund also follows from the form for calculating insurance premiums, which policyholders, in accordance with clause 7 of Article 431 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, submit no later than the 30th day of the month following the billing (reporting) period to the tax authority at the location of the organization. The calculation form was approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated October 10, 2016 N ММВ-7-11/551@.

In Section 1 “Summary data on the obligations of the payer of insurance premiums” you cannot simultaneously fill out:

• line 110 “Amount of insurance premiums payable for the billing (reporting) period”,
• line 120 “The amount of excess expenses over calculated insurance premiums for the billing (reporting) period.”

One of the lines is filled in.

Line 110, if accrued insurance premiums exceed the amount of accrued benefits, and line 120, if the amount of accrued insurance premiums is less than the amount of accrued benefits.

If the amount of accrued benefits exceeds the amount of accrued insurance contributions to the Social Insurance Fund for a specific month of the billing period (line 120 of Section 1 of the calculation of insurance premiums is completed), then the policyholder has two options for reimbursement of benefits.

Option 1:
The amount of excess benefits over the amount of contributions to the Social Insurance Fund accrued for the same month can be offset by the policyholder against the payment of contributions to the Social Insurance Fund in the following months (clause 9 of Article 431 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Letter of the Social Insurance Fund dated August 17, 2016 N 02-09-11/ 04-03-17282, Federal Tax Service dated 02/14/2017 N BS-4-11/2748@).

Note! You can offset accrued benefits within the billing period (calendar year) against upcoming payments.

Option 2:
Request the missing funds from the Social Insurance Fund, that is, return them to the organization’s account. This option is usually used by policyholders who, at the end of the billing period, do not have enough accrued insurance contributions to the Social Insurance Fund to reimburse benefits.

Changes in benefit payments in 2017

Since 2017, the procedure for returning missing funds for payment of benefits has been updated. This is due to the fact that tax authorities administer the receipt of insurance contributions to the Social Insurance Fund, and Social Insurance Fund employees verify the correctness of the declared expenses by conducting an audit (desk or on-site). After control activities are carried out, the results are sent to the tax authority. If the result is positive, the tax authority transfers the declared amounts to the account of the policyholder (employer).

The procedure for applying for missing funds to pay benefits by the Social Insurance Fund remains the same (valid until 2017). The Ministry of Labor has updated only the list of documents submitted by enterprises to receive money for the payment of insurance coverage or benefits at the expense of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation.

Documents for reimbursement of benefits from the Social Insurance Fund in 2017

The order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated December 4, 2009 N 951n “On approval of the list of documents that must be submitted by the insurer for the territorial body of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation to make a decision on the allocation of the necessary funds for the payment of insurance coverage” clarifications have been made. In particular, the policyholder must provide the following documents to return funds from the Social Insurance Fund:

• written statement;
• certificate - calculation;
• copies of documents confirming the validity and correctness of compulsory social insurance expenses.

Letter No. 02-09-11/04-03-27029 of the Federal Insurance Service of the Russian Federation dated December 7, 2016, brought to the attention of policyholders the application forms and certificates of calculation, which must be submitted by the policyholder for the territorial body of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation to make a decision on the allocation of the necessary funds for the payment of insurance coverage.

If a company wants to receive a refund without waiting for the end of the reporting period, then it must submit an interim certificate of calculation.

When filling out a calculation certificate, the accountant must compare the data reflected in the calculation certificate and the information that will be submitted to the tax office. The fact is that the verification of the policyholder’s expenses for the payment of insurance coverage will occur as follows:

• the tax authority, having received a single quarterly calculation from the policyholder, will transfer the relevant information to the Social Insurance Fund;
• FSS employees will verify the accuracy of the declared expenses by conducting an audit (office or on-site);
• the results of the audit will be sent by the FSS to the tax authority.

If the result of the audit turns out to be negative (the policyholder does not confirm the expenses), the tax authority will send him a demand for payment of the missing contributions. If the result of the audit is positive, the expenses will be accepted and the tax authority will offset or return the difference between contributions and expenses.

The credit procedure for reimbursement of benefits from the Social Insurance Fund at the expense of accrued insurance contributions does not apply to organizations that are located in the regions participating in the implementation of the pilot project, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 21, 2011 N 294. Participants in the pilot project do not accrue or pay benefits to their employees. Their calculation and payment is handled directly by the territorial body of the Social Insurance Fund. And the policyholder (employer) transfers the accrued insurance premiums in full to the budget.

The Social Insurance Fund did not accept benefits for credit - what to do in this case? In the article below we will tell you why the Social Insurance Fund may not accept your social expenses for offset, whether it is possible to argue with a government agency and how to reflect in accounting and reporting the amounts not offset by the department.

Why didn’t the FSS accept benefits for credit?

Expenses for paying for certificates of incapacity for work, maternity and child benefits, as well as other measures of social support for employees are compensated by the employer from the Social Insurance Fund: either social payments are counted towards contributions for temporary disability and maternity (VNiM), or are reimbursed to the policyholder's bank account.

To accept social expenses for offset or reimbursement, the Social Insurance Fund must check them. According to sub. 4 paragraphs 1 art. 4.2 and clause 4 of Art. 4.7 of the Law “On Compulsory Social Insurance in Case of VNiM” dated December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ, social insurance has the right not to count the costs of paying state social insurance benefits if they are incurred:

• on the basis of documents that were incorrectly executed or issued in violation of the law;
• in violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation on social insurance;
• no supporting documents at all.

The FSS may accuse the organization of creating artificial conditions for reimbursement or offset of budget funds. We have examined such cases in this article.

The FSS also refuses compensation or credit if it believes that the sick leave certificate is fake.

Read how an accountant should act if he suspects that the certificate of incapacity for work is fake.

So, the FSS has the authority to refuse to offset or reimburse social benefits to the policyholder. In this case, the organization can either argue with the fund in court or agree with the government agency. If it was not possible to reimburse social payments, then the accountant will have to make a number of adjustments to the accounting and reporting of expenses not accepted by the fund.

Algorithm for recording benefits not accepted by the Social Insurance Fund for credit

If the Social Insurance Fund did not accept the taxable benefit and refused to reimburse or offset social payments, then the accountant must proceed as follows:

1. Reverse the amount of unaccounted benefits in accounting.
2. Write off uncredited amounts as expenses or withhold them from the employee.
3. Calculating insurance premiums from uncredited social benefits is the safest way for the policyholder at the moment, recommended by the Federal Tax Service and the Ministry of Finance (letters dated September 22, 2017 No. ED-4-15/19093 and dated September 1, 2017 No. 03-15-07/56382, respectively) . But one can argue with this.
4. Pay additional contributions to the Federal Tax Service or the Social Insurance Fund (for periods before 2017) - if you reduce monthly social contributions to VNiM by the amount of benefits, then after the FSS refuses to offset the benefits, you need to pay additionally to the administrator of contributions to VNiM (until 2017 - FSS, from 2017 - Federal Tax Service) in the amount of social payments not accepted for offset
5. Accrue and withhold personal income tax from the employee - this paragraph does not apply to temporary disability benefits, from which personal income tax is already withheld. But with other types of social benefits the situation is more complicated. By analogy with the calculation of insurance premiums: if the Social Insurance Fund refuses to count the payment of benefits, then it ceases to be insurance coverage for compulsory social insurance. This means that it does not apply to payments from the amounts of which income tax is not withheld. Consequently, if an employee refuses to return a benefit that was not credited to the Social Insurance Fund, then such payment becomes his income, from which income tax must be withheld. However, the law does not contain a direct obligation to collect personal income tax on benefits not included in social insurance. But if you do not withhold personal income tax, but charge insurance contributions, this may raise questions among tax authorities, since there will be a difference between the base for calculating insurance contributions and the base for income tax.
6. Deal with a possible overpayment of personal income tax - if an employee has returned benefits that were previously subject to income tax, then he will have an overpayment. You must inform the employee about it (clause 1 of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), and then this overpayment either be offset against future personal income tax payments, or returned to the employee based on an application exclusively to his bank account.
7. Transfer contributions and personal income tax* to the budget.
8. Calculate penalties for contributions and income tax* and also transfer to the state. At the moment social payments are recognized as non-refundable, the organization has arrears in insurance contributions and personal income tax*. And penalties are calculated for the period from the day following the established date for the transfer of insurance premiums for the month in which the benefit was paid until the day preceding the day of repayment of arrears on contributions or income tax.

1. Adjust reporting - you need to make corrections to accounting and tax reporting, including personnel reports: 2-NDFL**, 6-NDFL** (for periods from 2016), 4-FSS, RSV-1 (for periods before 2017), ERSV (for periods starting from 2017).

* If income tax has not been withheld previously and you decide to withhold it anyway.

**Adjusted if you chose to withhold income tax on amounts previously not subject to it.

Let's take a closer look at each stage.

Accounting for benefits not accepted for credit by the Social Insurance Fund: the employee returned the benefit

Accounting for social benefits not offset or reimbursed by social insurance depends on whether the employee returned the benefit, and whether it was initially subject to income tax.

For uncredited benefits - in accounting, the accountant reverses the entries for the accrual of the amounts of these payments. The accounting date will correspond to the date of the fund’s decision not to accept expenses. Then social expenses not confirmed by the fund can be withheld from the employee, but only in 2 cases:

• provision by the employee of knowingly incorrect information for calculating benefits (fake sick leave, certificate of earnings for the last 2 years with inflated amounts of the employee’s income);
• Accountant making a counting error.

According to Part 4 of Art. 137 Labor Code of the Russian Federation, Part 4, Art. 15 of Law 255-FZ, Part 1, Art. 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, such amounts can be withheld from the employee’s labor income, but not more than 20% of earnings for each month. In other situations, the return of excess social benefits is made by the employee voluntarily.

If an employee returns benefits voluntarily or social benefits are withheld from his salary, then the accounting records will be as follows:

Accounting for benefits not accepted for credit by the Social Insurance Fund: the employee did not return the benefit

The benefit cannot be recovered from the employee if the failure to offset social benefits arose due to an accountant’s incorrect interpretation of the law when calculating the amount of the benefit (Part 4, Article 15 of Law 255-FZ). In addition, the manager has the right to decide not to collect benefits regardless of the reason for the failure (Article 240 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

If the employee does not return social benefits, then make the following entries:

Withhold personal income tax from the employee if he has not returned the amounts of incorrectly paid benefits, the tax was not withheld earlier and you decide that it is safer to withhold it. If the employee has already quit, inform the Federal Tax Service about the impossibility of withholding income tax.

In tax accounting, benefits not accepted by the Social Insurance Fund for credit are not included in the calculation of income tax, so a permanent difference arises and a permanent tax liability arises.

Read about fixing the differences between accounting and tax accounting.

Simplificationists also do not take into account benefits that are not included in social insurance in expenses.

How to reflect a contribution taxable benefit not credited to the Social Insurance Fund: tax agent reporting

If the fund refused to count or reimburse the benefit, then it is necessary to make adjustments to a number of reporting documentation of the tax agent:

Read more about adjusting the quarterly personal income tax calculation.

How to reflect a contribution taxable benefit that has not been credited to the Social Insurance Fund: policyholder reporting

4-FSS

The procedure for correction depends on the year in which the uncredited benefit was paid. If this is 2016 or earlier, then first of all the data in table 2 is corrected: the policyholder excludes social payments not accepted by the fund from the corresponding rows and columns of the table. Accordingly, the indicators for the lines “Expenditures for the purposes of compulsory social insurance” and “Debt owed to the territorial body of the Social Insurance Fund at the end of the reporting (calculation) period” are reduced. And the accountant will record the amount of the benefit not accepted by social insurance in the same line 5 of Table 1.

As a general rule, the policyholder will also need to adjust lines 1-4 of Table 3 and lines 1-3 of Table 6 (in terms of the total amount of payments and rewards in favor of individuals and the distribution of these amounts into taxable and non-taxable insurance premiums). Lines 2 of Table 1 and Table 7 “Accrued for payment of insurance premiums” are adjusted for the amount of additionally accrued insurance premiums - if the arrears were discovered in the same year in which the benefits were initially paid. Accordingly, amendments are made to the lines recording the debt owed by the policyholder at the end of the reporting period.

If 4-FSS is adjusted for the periods of 2017, then there are no tables for calculating contributions and payments for VNiM. The basis for calculating contributions for injuries, the total amount of payments and rewards in favor of individuals, the amount of accrued contributions and the debt owed to the policyholder at the end of the period are subject to correction.

RSV-1

For periods before 2017, personalized information should be clarified using the SZV-KORR form (Resolution of the Pension Fund Board of January 11, 2017 No. 3p). In this form, you provide the employee’s personal data, corrected amounts of payments in his favor and calculated contribution amounts. In case of incomplete reflection of insurance premiums in the reporting for any reporting periods, the amounts of additional accruals are reflected on an accrual basis in the 120th line and in section 4 of the annual form RSV-1 on a separate line for each period.

ERSV

Policyholders submit new calculations for insurance premiums for periods starting from 2017. The general principle for adjusting the calculation in the event of a FSS refusal to reimburse or offset is the same as when correcting Form 4-FSS for 2016: it is necessary to exclude uncredited benefits from Appendix 3, as well as adjust the base for calculating each type of insurance premium and the total amount of payments and rewards in favor of individuals. The lines containing information on the amount of accrued insurance premiums and the amounts on lines 070 and 090 of Appendix 2 are also adjusted.

Read more about the procedure for clarifying personalized information in the ERSV.

Our checklist will help you understand all the intricacies of filling out and clarifying a single calculation of insurance premiums.

Results

The Social Insurance Fund often denies employers credit or reimbursement of social insurance payments. You can try to argue with the fund in court. If the refusal is final, then the employer will have to adjust accounting and reporting to the budget for the amount of uncredited benefits.

How to reimburse expenses from the Social Insurance Fund for temporary disability and maternity benefits starting from 2017? Has the procedure for such compensation changed? Should I submit documents to the Social Insurance Fund or the tax office? Is it really necessary to submit a new calculation certificate to the Social Insurance Fund starting from 2017? What should be included in such a certificate and is there a form for such a certificate? You can find answers to these questions and download a sample calculation certificate in this article.

Insurance premiums for disability and maternity since 2017

From 2017, pension, medical and insurance contributions for temporary disability and maternity will be administered by the tax authorities. The Federal Tax Service will need to submit reports on these types of insurance premiums as part of a single calculation approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated October 10, 2016 No. ММВ-7-11/551.

Insurance premiums for industrial accidents and occupational diseases (that is, “injury” contributions) will continue to be controlled by the Social Insurance Fund. For this type of insurance premiums, starting from 2017, the FSS divisions will need to submit a calculation using the new form 4-FSS, which was approved by Order of the FSS of the Russian Federation dated September 26, 2016 N 381. This calculation will only include information on contributions “for injuries.”

Reduction of insurance premiums for benefits in 2017

How to reimburse the costs of paying sickness benefits to employees in connection with maternity starting from 2017? These contributions are controlled by tax inspectors. Does this mean that you need to contact the Federal Tax Service for compensation? Let's look at these issues in more detail.

In 2017, as before, employers (organizations and individual entrepreneurs) have the right to reduce the monthly payment of insurance premiums for disability and maternity by the costs incurred to pay insurance coverage to employees. This is provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 431 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. So, in particular, the following can be included in expenses (Part 1, Article 1.4 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ):

• temporary disability benefits (from the fourth day of illness);
• maternity benefits;
• a one-time benefit for women who registered with medical organizations in the early stages of pregnancy;
• lump sum benefit for the birth of a child;
• monthly allowance for child care up to one and a half years;
• social benefit for funeral.

If the amount of accrued benefits does not exceed the amount of insurance contributions, then you will not need to contact the Social Insurance Fund in 2017. It will be enough to reduce the monthly payment by the amount of accrued benefits.

Read also Accounting for inventories

In this case, the costs of benefits to policyholders will need to be reflected in Appendix No. 3 to Section 1 of the unified calculation of insurance premiums in the form approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated October 10, 2016 No. ММВ-7-11/551.

Policyholders (organizations or individual entrepreneurs) will reduce insurance premiums for the benefits specified in this application. The total amounts of insurance premiums for temporary disability and maternity will need to be shown in section 1 of the uniform calculation form for insurance premiums, approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated October 10, 2016 No. ММВ-7-11/551.

Having received such a calculation, tax authorities will report data on the claimed compensation to the Federal Tax Service of Russia. And based on the results of the inspection, the FSS will decide whether to approve the offset or not. If the result is negative, the Federal Tax Service will send a demand to the policyholder to pay the missing contributions. If the result of the check is positive, the expenses will be accepted, and the Federal Tax Service, if necessary, will offset or return the difference between contributions and expenses. This procedure is provided for in Part. 1.1, 5.8 tbsp. 4.7 Federal Law dated December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ.

If the amount of benefits exceeds accrued contributions

In 2017, the amount of benefits paid for any month of the reporting period may be greater than the contributions to the Social Insurance Fund accrued for the same month. Then the policyholder has the right (clause 9 of Article 431 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

• or offset the excess against upcoming payments of contributions to the Social Insurance Fund within the billing period;
• or contact the FSS department for the allocation of the necessary funds to pay insurance coverage.

In order to receive money into your current (personal) account to reimburse (pay) expenses for benefits in 2017, you need to contact your branch of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia, and not the Federal Tax Service. This follows from paragraph 2 of Article 4.6 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ.

The list of documents that need to be submitted for reimbursement to the FSS branch of Russia was approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated December 4, 2009 No. 951n. However, keep in mind that on November 28, 2016, Order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated October 28, 2016 No. 585n came into force, which amended this list. Next, we list the documents that will need to be submitted taking into account the amendments made by the specified order of the Ministry of Labor.

Refunds for periods before 2017

If an organization or individual entrepreneur applies to the Social Insurance Fund in order to receive money into a current account for reimbursement of benefits and such compensation applies to periods before 2017, then the Social Insurance Fund division must submit:

Read also 5 myths about the FSS project “Direct payments” of social benefits

Refunds for periods after January 1, 2017

As we have already said, in connection with the entry into force of the Order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated October 28, 2016 No. 585n from 2017, the list of documents required for compensation has been adjusted. To receive compensation to the current account in the Social Insurance Fund, you will need to submit:

The FSS will send a copy of the decision to allocate funds to the policyholder to the tax authorities. Within three working days from the date of entry into force of the relevant decision (Part 4.1, Article 4.6 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ).

New certificate-calculation from 2017: form and sample

The certificate will replace the 4-FSS calculation

As you can see, in connection with the entry into force of Order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated October 28, 2016 No. 585n, from January 1, 2017, a new document will need to be submitted to the FSS divisions as part of the documents for reimbursement of expenses: a statement of calculation. It will need to show various information about insurance premiums. This certificate will replace the previously submitted calculation in Form 4-FSS, which was required to receive compensation.

Please tell me how to correctly fill out an application to the Social Insurance Fund for offset of social expenses. insurance (sick leave) and payment of insurance premiums.... The organization had minor payments for sick leave in the 1st quarter, we did not write an application for reimbursement of these funds from the Social Insurance Fund, we included expenses for sick leave in the reporting for the 1st quarter, how can we apply for a credit now? these expenses towards payment of contributions?

Based on the text of the question, the amount of benefits does not exceed the amount of insurance premiums. That is, in this situation, the organization should submit updated calculations and indicate in them a reduction in the next payment by the amount of hospital benefits.

The rationale for this position is given below in the Glavbukh System

Reduced insurance premiums

To do this, insurance contributions to the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia are reduced by the amount of benefits (except for benefits related to industrial accidents and occupational diseases) (Part 2 of Article 15 of Law No. 212-FZ of July 24, 2009 and Parts 1–2 of Art. 4.6 of the Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ).

There is an exception to this rule.

Participants of the Skolkovo project, in respect of which the tax inspectorate has confirmed compliance with the criteria given in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, do not reduce the amount of insurance contributions to the Social Insurance Fund of Russia by the amount of hospital benefits. This is due to the fact that for such organizations the zero rate of insurance contributions to the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia is maintained for 10 years from the date of receipt of the status of a participant in the Skolkovo project. This is stated in paragraph 2 of part 2 of Article 57 of the Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212-FZ and part 7 of Article 4.6 of the Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ. Therefore, in order to pay benefits to employees employed in these organizations, the Russian Social Insurance Fund will transfer funds to the current (personal) account of the organization ().

If an organization applies a general taxation system and pays UTII and pays benefits to employees simultaneously engaged in both types of activities, then the entire amount of benefits to be reimbursed should be included in the payment of insurance premiums accrued to the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia within the framework of the general taxation system. There is no need to distribute this part of the benefit between the general taxation system and UTII. This is due to the fact that for organizations that apply different taxation regimes, a general procedure for calculating and reimbursing hospital benefits is provided.

The amount of benefits exceeds the amount of contributions

If the amount of accrued sick leave benefits exceeds compulsory social insurance contributions, the organization can:

• apply for the allocation of funds necessary for the payment of sick leave benefits to the territorial branch of the Federal Social Insurance Fund of Russia at the place of your registration (Part 2 of Article 4.6 of the Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ);
• offset the excess against upcoming payments of contributions to the Social Insurance Fund of Russia within the billing period (Part 2.1 of Article 15 of the Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212-FZ). It should be noted that before the new version of the Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212-FZ came into force, the legality of such actions was confirmed by the FSS of Russia in a letter dated June 21, 2010 No. 02-03-13/08-4917.

The amount of benefits does not exceed the amount of contributions

If the amount of accrued sick leave benefits does not exceed contributions to the Social Insurance Fund of Russia, then an application to the fund will not be required. In this case, reduce the next payment by the amount of hospital benefits*.

An example of settlements with the Russian Social Insurance Fund if the amount of hospital benefits does not exceed contributions to the Russian Social Insurance Fund

In March 2013, the base for contributions to the Social Insurance Fund of Russia in the organization amounted to 200,000 rubles. The amount of the contribution accrued in March to the Russian Social Insurance Fund is 5,800 rubles. (RUB 200,000 ? 2.9%).

In March, the organization accrued sick leave benefits to its employee in the amount of 2,000 rubles. The accountant reduced contributions to the Russian Social Insurance Fund for March 2013 by this amount.

Thus, the amount of the monthly payment to the Social Insurance Fund of Russia for March 2013 amounted to 3,800 rubles. (5800 rub. – 2000 rub.).

Nina Kovyazina, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Human Resources of the Russian Ministry of Health

2. Situation:When do you need to submit updated calculations for insurance premiums?

You must submit updated calculations as errors in the calculations are identified. Calendar deadlines for their submission are not established by law*.

An updated calculation is submitted if the following is found in the initial submitted calculation*:

• that mistakes were made (both those leading to an underestimation of the amount of insurance premiums and those not);
• that any information is not reflected or is not reflected in full;
• that the calculation contains inaccurate information.

However, not in all these cases, submitting an updated calculation is the responsibility of the organization. The organization is obliged to submit an updated calculation only in cases where the amount of insurance premiums payable has been underestimated. In all other cases, submitting an updated calculation is the right and not the obligation of the organization*.

This follows from parts 1–2 of Article 17 of the Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212-FZ.

Lyubov Kotova, Deputy Director of the Department of Social Insurance Development of the Russian Ministry of Labor

Social insurance may refuse to reimburse a company or offset expenses if it considers that the policyholder has created artificial conditions for obtaining benefits, as well as if it discovers fake certificates of incapacity for work.

Expenses for sick leave, child benefits and maternity benefits are borne by the employer. Social Insurance compensates him for these expenses in two ways: it is included in the payment of insurance premiums for temporary disability and maternity, or it is reimbursed to the bank account of the employer-insurer.

In order to accept expenses for offset or reimbursement, the FSS conducts an inspection of them. Based on the provisions of sub. 4 paragraphs 1 art. 4.2 and clause 4 of Art. 4.7 of Federal Law No. 255-FZ of December 29, 2006, the Fund may not count these costs if:

• the documents were incorrectly drawn up or issued in violation of the law;
• there were violations of legal provisions on social insurance;
• The documents confirming the expenses were not provided by the policyholder at all.

For example, Social Insurance may refuse to reimburse a company or offset expenses if it considers that the policyholder has created artificial conditions for obtaining benefits, as well as if it discovers fake certificates of incapacity for work.

If the employer believes that the Fund officials are wrong, the decision can be challenged in court. If it is not possible to recover the costs, you will have to make adjustments to reporting and accounting. We will tell you how to do this in the next two articles.

What should be done in accounting to reflect benefits not credited to the Social Insurance Fund?

The algorithm for an accountant’s actions when the Social Insurance Fund refuses to offset and reimburse expenses for social benefits is as follows:

• Post uncredited amounts of benefits expenses in accounting using the red reversal method.
• Withhold uncredited amounts from the employee or write them off as expenses.
• Withhold insurance premiums from the uncredited amount. By the way, the Ministry of Labor considers this route the safest for the policyholder.
• For periods before 2017 - pay additional contributions to Social Security, after 2017 - to the Tax Service. This must be done if the policyholder reduces monthly premiums for sick leave and maternity benefits. The additional payment is the amount not offset.
• Accrue and withhold personal income tax from the employee. This does not apply only to sick leave benefits, from which income tax is already withheld. Things are different with other social benefits. If Social Insurance refuses to offset the benefit paid, then this benefit is no longer insurance coverage for compulsory social insurance. Consequently, it is excluded from payments not subject to personal income tax. It turns out that if an employee refuses to return the amount of benefits paid to him, which was not offset by Social Insurance, it becomes his income. And all income, as you know, is subject to personal income tax. There is no direct indication in the legislative provisions that income tax must be withheld from amounts not offset by Social Security. However, without doing this and charging insurance premiums, the policyholder will raise many questions from tax inspectors, since there will be a difference between the base for insurance premiums and the base for personal income tax.
• Find out whether there has been an overpayment of personal income tax. This circumstance will occur if the employee nevertheless returned the benefit paid to him, which was previously subject to personal income tax. The overpayment must be reported to the employee (clause 1 of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), and after that it can be offset against upcoming personal income tax payments or returned to the employee’s bank account based on his written application.
• Transfer insurance premiums and personal income tax to the state budget. The tax is transferred if it was not previously withheld, but the employer still decided to withhold it.
• Calculate penalties for contributions and personal income tax, and then also transfer them to the budget. If social security payments are recognized as non-refundable, the company has arrears in contributions and income tax. Penalties are calculated from the day following the date of transfer of contributions in the month of payment of the non-offset benefit until the day preceding the date of repayment of the debt on contributions or personal income tax.
• Make adjustments to the mandatory reporting of the policyholder: forms 2-NDFL and 6-NDFL are adjusted if the company decided to withhold personal income tax from previously tax-free amounts, as well as 4-FSS, RSV-1 (for periods before 2017) and DAM 2017 (for periods from 2017).

We will tell you exactly what changes need to be made to the reporting in the next article.