Modern realities are such that people are often confronted with the concept of salary in envelopes. Is it good or bad? Why do enterprises, state of emergency and all kinds of firms prefer such a pay scheme? Is it really as profitable as the applicants promise? Is it possible and worth fighting it? We will try to cover all these issues in the framework of this article. So, we suggest you sort out what the salary in envelopes is, what are its pros and cons, does the employee bear any responsibility in this state of affairs.
“Color” wages
As we know, according to the law, wages must be legal, which means that the employer fully pays all taxes related to it. But not all entrepreneurs want to work honestly, and even pay all fees in full. This is where the salary in envelopes comes from, it is also called sulfur. And the legal one is white. According to the law, remuneration must be official. Its size is set by the employer and recorded in documents. According to the labor code of the Russian Federation, the salary should not be less than the level established by law, and it should be paid twice a month (advance payment and actually the salary). It is recorded in all official documents and goes through accounting. Often, money is now transferred to bank cards of employees, which facilitates the payment process.
Why the employer benefits salary in envelopes
The tax code of the Russian Federation states that wages are taxed on personal income. All other deductions are made after the deduction of personal income tax. Also pay on white salary unified social tax (UST). It must be paid by the enterprise itself. Of course, this costs the organization a round sum, so it is not surprising that employers are trying to save on this tax. It’s very profitable to hide the real salary, since expenses are reduced to a large extent. But that is not all. Legal wages guarantee employees compliance with the requirements of the Labor Code (accrual of leave, sick leave, registration of benefits).
Gray pay
There is also such a thing as a gray salary, or semi-official. In this case, an oral agreement is concluded on its size. In fact, it is a combination of two components: white and black salaries. White passes under the employment contract and accounting, and black is the money that is issued in an envelope. Sometimes this situation is beneficial for the employees themselves, because the size of personal income tax and child support reduced from the accrued amount are reduced. However, one must not lose sight of the fact that sick leave, as a rule, are accrued on official salaries, unless otherwise agreed with the employer.
Social guarantees
Often, when applying for a job, job seekers are immediately told that sick leave, maternity leave, maternity leave, etc. will be credited only to the white part of the salary. And people are forced to agree with this. The amount of official wages is usually set at the level of "minimum" (the minimum level permitted by law). So you should consider whether this is good if you get paid in an envelope.
A separate story is sick leave. The Social Insurance Fund compensates enterprises for paying for the days when the employee was sick. The calculation of sick leave is based on white salary and insurance contributions withheld from it.With gray, the employer will have to pay part of the sick-list from his own pocket, because the social insurance fund does not compensate him for these expenses. Few will go for it. These nuances of payment should be remembered.
The size of official salaries affects length of service and the size of the future pension, which is calculated on the basis of contributions to the pension fund of the Russian Federation. Statistics show that gray wages are most common in trade and construction.
Salary in an envelope: where to complain to employees
People receiving a gray salary often don’t know where to complain, or simply don’t think about it. Solving this issue directly with the employer is not easy. It is easier for an organization to dismiss such an employee or offer to pay UST from their hard-earned so as not to incur additional costs. But then the amount paid to the person’s hands simply decreases.
It should also be remembered about situations where an employment contract is not concluded at all, and all earnings are issued by agreement in an envelope. This is black wages. In such cases, one does not have to talk about any social benefits and guarantees. Nevertheless, people sometimes prefer just such working conditions and wage options.
So where are we going? If you get paid in an envelope, you should be prepared to lose part of your sick leave, vacation pay, and pension.
Responsibility for illegal pay
According to the law of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, if the company has a salary in envelopes, the employer is responsible. If the tax inspectorate becomes aware of illegal pay, then a logical question arises about the sources of such payments. This already speaks of double-entry bookkeeping. According to experienced specialists, it is unrealistic to change something with a gray and black salary as long as fines are imposed only on the leadership. Personal income tax is withheld from the employee by the employer as tax agent. In the hands of people get money already taking into account tax withheld. But at the same time, they do not have the opportunity to verify the fact of payment of personal income tax by the employer. It turns out that the employee is not responsible, because he did not violate the law.
Now in the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation for violation of labor laws and labor protection fines are provided in the amount of from thousand to 5 thousand rubles for officials and individual entrepreneurs and from 30 thousand to 50 thousand for legal entities. Also, the work of individual entrepreneurs and legal entities can be suspended for up to 90 days.
The bill also proposes to supplement article 120 of the first part of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation with a provision providing for liability in the form of a fine of 20 thousand rubles for tax agents for paying income to individuals under labor or civil law contracts without reflecting this in accounting and tax accounting, as well as without registration contract.
What government agencies deal with shadow wages?
Report a violation - gray or black salary - few decide. This means going into conflict with the employer and possibly losing your job. And yet, if the salary is in an envelope, where to go?
If you wish, you can write a statement to the department of the state labor inspectorate, to the tax service, to the prosecutor's office. It is also possible to go to court with a claim, backed up by evidence.
In the case of a written appeal to the tax authorities, a decision may be made on a field audit of the enterprise in order to identify the facts set forth in the application. In the process, the seizure of documents of the employer, inspection of workrooms and offices, interrogation of witnesses can be carried out. Based on the results of the audit, the organization may be held liable for a tax violation. If, however, an act has been committed that is punishable in accordance with the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses or the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, then the case materials are transferred to law enforcement agencies.
The fight against illegal wages
Due to the strong spread of black salary payments, officials began to think about methods to counter such employers. After all, such a practice leads to a reduction in taxes paid to the budget. Several methods were developed for the legalization of wages, but none of them brought wages out of the shadows. Therefore, the work of the tax authorities to identify the facts of illegal salaries continues.
Today, many people dismiss it when they are reproached for tax evasion, referring to the fact that the fish, they say, rots from the head. And what is not such a rare occurrence - salary in an envelope. The responsibility of the employee, meanwhile, is no less, and he bears it primarily to himself. Indeed, in the future this person may be deprived of certain social guarantees.
Envelope salary: advantages and disadvantages
The situation in modern Russia on the labor market is such that applicants agree to work without thinking about whether they will be legally employed. There was a stereotype that black salary is beneficial for both workers and employers. But this is not at all true. A lot of controversy arises on this topic. White salary is also beneficial for employees when applying for loans. Most banks are willing to provide loans only to officially employed persons with officially confirmed income. Gray and black salaries promise every minute benefit to people, but at the same time future prospects are very illusive. You should not hope to comply with all labor laws with an illegal or semi-legal pay scheme. In this situation, the payment of alimony is problematic, since they are withheld from the white salary. “Well, so what?” The reader will ask. And the fact that even the best employer will not provide the defendant with a certificate of real gray wages. So, alimony will be charged from the amounts passed on accounting.
In our article, we examined the differences, advantages and disadvantages of legal and illegal wages. We hope that this information will be useful to you in your job search. We want to emphasize once again that salary in envelopes can deprive you of the opportunity to receive such social guarantees as vacation pay, sick leave, maternity ... Therefore, you should always be careful about making an employment decision for an employer who sins with gray and black salaries. And do not forget that you can still deal with dishonest organizations that do not want to legalize wages.
