Amount of travel allowance per day. Minimum and maximum daily allowances for business trips

08.08.2017, 17:02

A decision was made to send the employee on a business trip. The HR specialist was given the task to formalize everything correctly. Among other questions, you need to find out what period of payment of daily allowances for business trips is established by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Let us help the HR manager find the answer to this question.

You need to give money in advance

The fact that any business trip is associated with expenses for the organization ( individual entrepreneur) is an axiom. When sending an employee on a business trip, he must be reimbursed for:

travel expenses;
housing rental costs;
daily allowance – additional expenses associated with living outside your permanent place of residence;
other expenses incurred on a business trip in agreement with the administration.

Daily allowance is a compensation payment to an employee related to his stay outside his place of permanent residence. After all, an employee on a business trip must somehow eat and satisfy other daily needs. Since the business trip occurs at the initiative of the employer, it is fair that he pays these expenses.

Daily allowance is paid in advance

As for the specific period for payment of daily allowances for business trips in 2017, it is not established by the Labor Code and other legal acts regulating the labor sphere. Therefore, determining the payment period remains at the discretion of the organization.

Also, the payment period can be established in a collective agreement concluded with employees (Article 168 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

In accordance with Article 166 Labor Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), a business trip is recognized as a trip by an employee by order of the employer to certain period to carry out an official assignment outside the place of permanent work. At the same time, business trips of employees whose permanent work is carried out on the road or is of a traveling nature are not recognized as business trips.

If sent on a business trip, the employer is obliged to compensate the employee for:

travel expenses;
expenses for renting residential premises;
additional expenses associated with living outside the place of permanent residence (per diem);
other expenses incurred by the employee with the permission or knowledge of the employer (Article 168 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Organizations have the right to independently, by their local regulations (for example, an order), establish specific amounts for reimbursement of travel expenses and, with documentary evidence of such expenses, reduce the taxable base for income tax.

TRAVEL COSTS

Travel expenses to the place of business trip within Russian Federation and back to the place of permanent work (including the insurance premium for compulsory personal insurance of passengers in transport, payment for services for issuing travel documents, expenses for the use of bedding on trains) - in the amount of actual expenses confirmed by travel documents, but not higher than:

Such restrictions on travel expenses are established by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 2, 2002 No. 729 “On the amount of reimbursement of expenses associated with business trips on the territory of the Russian Federation to employees of organizations financed from the Federal budget.”

When sending a posted employee abroad, one should be guided by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 20, 2002 No. 911 “On guarantees and compensation for employees sent to work in representative offices of the Russian Federation abroad.”

Thus, employees sent abroad are reimbursed for travel expenses confirmed by appropriate travel tickets, but not higher than:

by rail - in a compartment carriage of a fast branded train;
by water transport - in the cabin of the V group of a sea vessel of regular transport lines and lines with comprehensive service passengers, in a category II cabin on a river vessel of all lines of communication, in a category I cabin on a ferry boat;
by air - in the economy class cabin;
by road - in a public vehicle (except taxis).

In the absence of travel documents confirming the expenses incurred - in the amount of the minimum cost of travel:

by rail - in a reserved seat carriage of a passenger train;
by water transport - in the cabin of group X of a sea vessel of regular transport lines and lines with comprehensive passenger services, in the cabin of category III of a river vessel of all lines of communication;
by road - in a public bus.

A posted employee, in addition to the specified expenses, is reimbursed for:

expenses for travel to the airport or train station at places of departure, destination or transfers;
expenses for transportation of no more than 80 kilograms of luggage (regardless of the amount of luggage allowed for free transportation with a ticket for the type of transport the employee is traveling with);
expenses in connection with the rental of residential premises in the event of a forced delay along the route (according to established standards).

These expenses are reimbursed only upon presentation of supporting documents (invoices, receipts, travel tickets, etc.).

COSTS OF RENTING RESIDENTIAL PREMISES

Living expenses are reimbursed to the employee in the amount of actual expenses incurred from the day of his arrival at the place of business trip and until the day of departure to the place of permanent work according to the submitted documents.

Documents confirming the costs of renting residential premises are:

act, invoice, cash receipt order, cash register receipt;
hotel account in form No. 3-G, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 13, 1993 No. 121.

If an employee is sent on a business trip abroad, then the document confirming living expenses is the so-called invoice (from the English “invoice” - invoice, invoice), which is issued by foreign hotels. Moreover, such an account, which is drawn up on foreign language, must be translated line by line into Russian in accordance with paragraph 9 of the Regulations on maintaining accounting and financial statements in the Russian Federation.

If documents confirming payment of expenses for renting residential premises are not provided, the amounts of such payment are exempt from taxation within the limits established in accordance with current legislation. Currently, in accordance with Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated October 2, 2002 No. 729 “On the amount of reimbursement of expenses associated with business trips on the territory of the Russian Federation to employees of organizations financed from the federal budget,” such expenses are reimbursed in the amount of 12 rubles per day (hereinafter referred to as Resolution No. 729).

DAILY ALLOWANCE Daily allowance is paid to a posted employee for each day he is on a business trip. According to Article 168 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, their size is determined by the employer independently. However, for tax purposes, daily allowances are taken into account in the amounts provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

On January 1, 2008, a new legislative norm appeared in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), establishing the amount of daily non-taxable personal income tax. Such changes were made to paragraph 10 of paragraph 3 of Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation from the specified date Federal law dated July 24, 2007 No. 216-FZ “On amendments to part two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and some other legislative acts of the Russian Federation.”

According to these changes, daily allowances are exempt from personal income tax in the amount of 700 rubles for each day of a business trip in the Russian Federation and 2,500 rubles for each day of a business trip abroad.

Daily allowances that exceed the legally established norm are also included in the employee’s income, subject to personal income tax in accordance with Article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation on tax rate 13%.

For calculating the standard for unified social tax and profit, nothing has changed yet, since the legislation has not approved new standards for business trips. Resolution No. 729 is still in force, according to which the standard for a business trip within the Russian Federation is 100 rubles per day.

Example.

Let's assume that an organization sends an employee on a business trip for 5 days. The employee was paid a daily allowance in the amount of 4,000 rubles, at the rate of 800 rubles for each day he was on a business trip.

In order to determine the tax base for income tax, an organization recognizes income and expenses on an accrual basis.

In the example under consideration, daily allowances, in accordance with the norms of the accounting standard PBU 10/99, form expenses for ordinary activities of the organization and are included in the cost products sold(works, services).

Expenses for ordinary activities are recognized in the reporting period in which they occur, regardless of the time of actual payment of funds or other form of implementation.

Under the accrual method, the date of travel expenses is the date of approval of the advance report.

In accounting, business trip expenses are reflected in account 26 “General business expenses”, 44 “Commercial expenses” in correspondence with account 71 “Settlements with accountable persons”.

For the purpose of calculating the taxable base for income tax, daily allowances are accepted within the limits established by the Government of the Russian Federation and are classified as other expenses associated with production and sales.

The daily allowance rate is established by Resolution No. 93 and is 100 rubles.

Since in the example under consideration, the employee is sent on a business trip for 5 days, then when calculating the tax base for income tax, per diem in the amount of 500 rubles (100 rubles x 5 days) is taken into account as part of other expenses associated with production and sales.

The amount of daily allowance in excess of the norm is not taken into account when determining the taxable base for income tax on the basis of Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, when an employer compensates an employee for business trip expenses, income subject to personal income tax does not include daily allowances paid within the limits established in accordance with current legislation.

Daily allowances in excess of the norm are included in the employee’s income and are subject to personal income tax.

The organization in which this employee works acts as a tax agent for personal income tax. Let us recall that personal income tax payers are employees of the organization, that is, individuals, and the organization is obliged to calculate and withhold from income individual tax amount and transfer it to the budget. The organization must do this when paying the next wages to this employee.

These transactions will be reflected in accounting as follows:

Here it would be useful to recall the requirements of PBU 18/02 regarding the separate reflection in analytical accounting of amounts of excess daily allowance.

The excess of actually incurred expenses in the form of daily allowances taken into account when calculating accounting profit over expenses accepted for calculating taxable profit leads to the formation of a permanent difference, with the occurrence of which (4,000 rubles – 500 rubles = 3,500 rubles) a permanent tax liability is recognized in the accounting records of the organization ( 3500 rubles x 24% = 840 rubles). A permanent tax liability is the amount of tax that leads to an increase in tax payments for income tax in the reporting period. This amount is reflected in accounting as follows:

Account correspondence		Amount, rubles
Debit	Credit	Amount, rubles
99 “Profits and losses” subaccount “Permanent tax liability”	68 “Calculations for taxes and fees” subaccount “Calculations for income tax”		The amount of permanent tax liability is reflected
On the date of payment of wages in the organization
70 “Settlements with personnel for wages”	68 “Calculations for taxes and fees” subaccount “Calculations for personal income tax”		Personal income tax is withheld from the amount of daily allowance exceeding the norm of 65 (4000 rubles - 3500 rubles) x 13%

End of the example.

OTHER COSTS

Other expenses for business trips in Russia include:

- expenses for payment of communication services;
- additional services related to rental housing (including room reservation);
- expenses for obtaining and registering a foreign passport;
- visa costs;
- fees for airport services;
- commission fees;
- costs associated with the exchange of cash or a check at a bank for cash foreign currency;
- other expenses.

Author: Audit specialists - consulting group BKR-Intercom-Audit

When an organization sends an employee on a business trip, it is obliged to calculate and pay him per diem. They are paid immediately before the employee’s departure, together with other travel allowances.

Daily allowance for a business trip

The calculation of the daily allowance depends on the duration of the planned trip, as well as the route specified in the relevant order. After the employee returns from a business trip, the accountant recalculates the daily allowance, taking into account some of the circumstances of the trip. If necessary, the daily allowance amount is adjusted.

Important! If the employer does not give the employee daily allowance before the trip, then after the trip the payment must be made taking into account interest!

We will analyze step by step the registration of an employee for a business trip.

Number of business trip days

Travel allowances must include:

All travel days, including travel to and from the destination;
Business trip days, even if some of the days during this time are weekends and holidays;
Days of delay, if it was forced;

The day of departure is considered the date on which the employee leaves on a business trip from the locality in which he works. The day of return is determined by analogy, that is, it is the date of the employee’s arrival in the locality where he works. Moreover, it does not matter what time the employee arrived. The departure and return dates are taken as indicated on the employee’s tickets. For example, the date and time of train departure is November 10, 23.59. Despite the fact that there is only 1 minute left until the next day, the daily allowance for November 10 must be paid in 100% of the amount.

Important! A delay in a business trip must be supported by documents, otherwise it will not be possible to take such expenses into account when calculating income tax.

More details with an example

Petrova O.P. works as an accountant in Moscow. She is sent on a business trip by plane, which is scheduled to depart from the airport on November 10 at 0.50 am. On average, you can get to the airport in 50 minutes, but in order to check in for the flight, Petrova will have to leave at least 1.5 hours before the plane, and It's already November 9th. Accordingly, November 9 is accepted as the first day of the business trip and the daily allowance for it is calculated in full.

The same principle should be applied to the time the employee returns. Even if the return arrival time is 00.01 and the employee goes to work on the same day, the daily allowance for that day is paid.

Days abroad. Separately, we should highlight the definition of business trip days that an employee spends abroad. Such business trips are usually paid at a higher rate. Such days are determined from the moment the employee crossed the border of the Russian Federation. When returning, the day of entry is no longer included in the calculation. According to it, calculations are made based on the daily allowance paid for business trips within the Russian Federation. The date of both departure and arrival is determined both by the mark in the international passport and by the travel document.
Calculation of daily allowances. The amount of daily allowance established in the organization is multiplied by the number of days that we determined above. If the employee was also on a business trip abroad, then the amount of daily allowance established by the organization must be multiplied by the days of the business trip outside the Russian Federation. The results obtained are added up and the total payment amount is obtained.

Important! The organization determines the daily allowance amount independently! The main thing is to approve the amounts in the company’s internal documents. An example of such a document is a regulation on business trips.

Important! If an employee is sent on a business trip abroad, then the daily allowance can be given to him in rubles or foreign currency.

One-day business trips. Separately, it is worth considering one-day business trips within the Russian Federation and beyond. When traveling within the Russian Federation, limited to one day, when the employee can return home every day, the payment of daily allowances is not required. This follows from Regulation No. 749. However, according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, all travel expenses of an employee must be reimbursed and the duration of business trips does not affect this. In this regard, the reimbursement procedure must be approved in the organization’s documents, and expenses incurred by employees on business trips must be documented.

Calculation of taxes and insurance premiums from daily allowances

Daily allowance as part of expenses

Let's look at how daily payments are taken into account as part of income tax expenses and when calculating the simplified tax system.

An example of calculating daily allowance for a business trip abroad

Petrov O.P. sent on a business trip to Minsk for 4 calendar days, from November 13 to 16. The following daily allowances for business trips are provided:

For foreign business trips – 45 euros;
For business trips within the Russian Federation – 950 rubles per day.

Before Petrova’s departure, she was paid an amount of 4,500 rubles. Upon arrival, Petrova provided documents from which it follows that Petrova left for Minsk on November 12, and crossed the border on November 13. Returning, Petrova crossed the border on November 15, and returned on November 16.

Petrova's daily allowance is as follows:

After the advance report was provided to Petrova, the amount of daily payments was recalculated for her.

Legislative framework

Legislative act	Content
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 749 of October 13, 2018	“On the peculiarities of sending employees on business trips”
Chapter 24 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation	“Guarantees when sending employees on business trips, other business trips and moving to work in another area”
Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation	“Other expenses associated with production and (or) sales”
Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation	"Income not subject to taxation"

Answers to common questions

Answer: The calculation of compensation is carried out in the same way as the calculation for delayed wages. Interest is calculated based on the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for each day that the employer is late in payment, that is, at a rate not lower than 1/150.

Question No. 2: Can the daily allowance for a business trip in Russia be less than 700 rubles?

Answer: Of course. The amount of 700 rubles does not limit the amount of the daily payment, but the limit above which contributions will need to be added to the daily allowance and personal income tax must be paid. You have the right to set absolutely any amount of daily allowance.

Question No. 3: What to do if an employee cannot provide a travel ticket from a business trip?

Answer: In this case, you can take those documents that can confirm the business trip, for example, confirming rental housing, memo from the place where the employee was sent or with a waybill.

As before, this year the employer, when reimbursing an employee for travel expenses incurred by him, is obliged to pay him a daily allowance (additional expenses associated with being away from his place of permanent residence). No new rules regarding daily subsistence allowances for business trips have been introduced in 2016.

Per diem as part of travel expenses

Part 1 art. 168 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation determines the range of expenses of a posted worker that are subject to reimbursement by the employer. It includes:

travel costs to and from the business trip;
payment for renting residential premises (hotel, private housing, etc.);
the daily allowance itself is additional expenses associated with living outside the place of permanent residence;
other expenses incurred by the employee with the permission or knowledge of the employer.

That is, per diem is a part of travel expenses that has its own characteristics.

The composition of travel expenses may change in the near future. The government plans to exclude from it daily allowances for business trips within the Russian Federation, leaving them only for foreign business trips.

What is included in daily travel expenses

The law does not regulate what an employee’s daily allowance can be spent on.

Based on clause 10 of the Regulations on the specifics of sending employees on business trips, approved. By Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 13, 2008 N 749, daily allowances are paid to the employee in order to compensate him for the inconvenience of being away from his place of residence. This mainly refers to the cost of food on a business trip incurred by the employee. But these may also be other expenses that the employee, at his own discretion, considers necessary to create a comfortable stay outside the home.

The employee does not have to account for this type of travel expenses. This means collecting and presenting to the employer receipts from catering establishments, etc. not required. And the employer is deprived of the right to control the appropriateness of these expenses.

That is why the law does not specify what exactly is included in the concept of “daily allowance for a business trip.”

Daily allowance for business trips

For commercial organizations, the amount of daily allowance is not established by law. The procedure for paying travel expenses, including daily allowances and their amount, should be determined by a collective agreement or local normative act organizations (Article 167 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Usually this is a travel regulation or an order of the same name.

However, tax legislation (paragraph 12, clause 3, article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) determines the maximum amount of daily allowance not subject to personal income tax: 700 rubles. for business trips around Russia, 2500 rubles. when traveling abroad. If these amounts are exceeded, the employer is obliged to withhold personal income tax from the employee.

For this reason, many organizations set exactly these amounts as daily allowances in their local regulations on business trips, although deviating from them in any direction will not be a violation of the law.

The amount of daily allowance for business trips in 2016 did not change compared to previous periods.

Payment of daily expenses for business trips

The legislation does not determine the exact timing of payment of an advance payment for a business trip. There is only one condition - this advance must be paid before the start of the trip.

You need to know that the employee has the right to refuse a business trip due to non-payment of the advance; this refusal will not be considered a violation of labor discipline.

It is advisable to specify the procedure and terms for payment of daily allowances for business trips (as well as travel expenses in general) in the local regulations on business trips.

Payment of these amounts to the employee can be made either in cash at the organization’s cash desk or by transferring funds to the employee’s bank salary card. An indication of this also needs to be enshrined in the organization’s travel regulations.

Thus, the payment of daily allowances for business trips in 2016 is no different.

When a company employee goes on a business trip, he receives compensation for travel expenses - accommodation and travel costs, communications, visas and other expenses. At the same time, during a business trip, he continues to receive a salary: it is calculated based on average earnings. Also, even before the trip, the employee receives a daily allowance (Part 1 of Article 168 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) for each day of the business trip.

Determination of daily allowance

The official interpretation of the concept of “daily allowance” is in the ruling of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 26, 2005 No. CAS 05-151. Daily allowance — cash necessary for the performance of work and residence of the employee at the place where the official assignment is carried out.

According to the Supreme Court, an employee is entitled to daily allowance when performing a task not at his permanent place of work and when he is forced to live outside his permanent place of residence.

In practice, an employee often receives a daily allowance only if the business trip lasted more than a day and he spent the night away from home. However, the Supreme Court decision dated September 11, 2012 No. 4357/12 states that the amount of time on a business trip is not related to the calculation of daily allowances. The court allowed enterprises to pay funds to an employee if he went on a business trip for less than a day, since this is reimbursement of his expenses, and not a benefit. In addition, according to Regulation No. 749, daily allowances do not depend on the expenses of a posted employee for housing and travel.

To confirm your daily allowance expenses, prepare your daily allowance calculation using an accounting certificate.

Per diem in a new way

There is no limit on daily allowance; companies can set any amount, stipulating it in internal documents. Small businesses often limit their daily allowance to 700 rubles, because this amount is not subject to personal income tax (clause 3 of Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If the daily allowance is more, then personal income tax will have to be withheld from the excess amount. For foreign business trips, the tax-free daily allowance limit is 2,500 rubles.

Since 2017, daily allowances in excess of the limits are subject to insurance contributions. But there is no need to pay “injury” contributions from the daily allowance.

Example. The employee was on a business trip for 3 days and received a daily allowance of 1,000 rubles. During the days of his business trip he received 3,000 rubles. Only 3 * 700 = 2,100 rubles are not subject to contributions and personal income tax, and from the difference 3,000 - 2,100 = 900 rubles, you need to withhold personal income tax and pay insurance premiums.