A clear answer to the question about the need and even the possibility of concluding an employment contract and, as a consequence, payment wages the head of the organization, who is its sole owner, is not contained in the current Russian legislation. An employment contract is concluded between two parties - the employee and the employer. By latest version Rostruda (Letter dated 03/06/2013 No. 177-6-1), the head who is sole founder Society cannot enter into an agreement with itself. In this situation, the owner must, by his decision, assume the duties of a director. And if there is no employment contract, there is no salary. The Ministry of Finance also agreed with this position in Letter dated October 17, 2014 No. 03-11-11/52558. Accordingly, to the question whether it is possible for the general director not to pay a salary if he is the sole owner of the company, the answer is positive. However, these clarifications are not normative legal acts, therefore they are not mandatory for use by courts. Yes, and official bodies may change their position, which may also be fraught with penalties for the organization.

Director without salary - how to register

If your manager is confirmed in his decision to work without salary, counting only on profit, then he needs, by his decision as the sole founder, to assign himself the responsibilities of the sole executive body - director, without indicating the size monetary reward. In this case, an employment contract is not concluded, and there is no need to keep a time sheet for the boss either. When calculating the average headcount, the owners of the organization who do not receive salaries are not taken into account. Therefore, if there are no other employees in the organization, “0” is entered in the certificate submitted to Rosstat. The average headcount, if only the director is unpaid, is calculated according to established rules, without taking into account the “unpaid” manager.

What to pay attention to

There is no judicial practice regarding whether the director of an LLC may not receive a salary while being the sole founder of the company. Apparently because no one sues themselves. However, almost all courts agree that such a director has every right to both conclude an employment contract and pay for his work. Therefore, most owners, when they take the helm of their company, still prefer to receive a salary for it.

But for various reasons, there are periods when organizations, especially small ones, are forced to suspend work. We have already written that for hired workers this situation means forced downtime. What to do with the manager? There is no activity - the director’s salary is not paid? The answer to this question should also be sought in labor legislation. And the head of the company, working under an employment contract, also has the right to apply for downtime. In this case, you cannot simply stop paying salaries. But you can take a vacation without pay. And do this for any period and an unlimited number of times, naturally, indicating in the order the terms of such leave.

Well, when the company begins to generate income, the owner who manages it will be able to compensate for his work at the expense of profit. According to the law, LLC has the right to make a decision quarterly, once every six months or a year on the distribution of net profit among the members of the Company. And if there is only one participant, then he makes the decision on the distribution of profits alone.

In many enterprises, organizations, even in schools, people, first of all, think about what fabulous money directors receive; the thought does not occur to them about what degree of responsibility lies with the people holding this position.

A director is usually called the manager of a company, organization, or enterprise. Typically, this is the highest position that can be held in a given organization. It is this person who will monitor the development and selection of personnel, decide financial matters, determine the direction in which the company will move. As practice shows, the director is not always the highest level of the company - very often this position is filled by a hired person who is offered a considerable salary for the fact that he shows noticeable effort during the work performed.

How much a director earns is a controversial issue, since the amounts here are quite variable. Usually his salary is also influenced by the powers that are given to him. The higher the degree of responsibility of a given person, the greater the amount of work he has to perform, the more payment he should receive.

What criteria must a person meet to become a director? Before you consider what a director’s salary is, you need to understand what skills you can’t do in such a position without. What should a manager know?

1. A person must fully understand the existing legislation; this issue concerns tax, economic, and labor law.
2. He must know absolutely all the rules of law that relate to the field of activity in which he is involved.
3. He should have extensive information about work in the selected segment, as well as related industries.
4. He must skillfully and effectively use various methods of managing hired personnel, as well as conduct business activities efficiently.

Considering what the minimum salary of a general director is, you can indicate the following amounts - the minimum payment is 50,000 rubles, but it can reach up to half a million. It all depends on what kind of organization is being considered, what responsibilities lie with this person.

In some positions, salaries may vary significantly. For example, if we are talking about considering the payments of the director of a small enterprise or organization that is located somewhere in the outback of Russia, then the salary amount here can be only a few tens of thousands of rubles.

Director salaries may vary depending on where he works.

If we are talking about a large enterprise that has considerable amounts of funds in circulation, then the director’s salary can look really huge.

The data that was announced by deputy Valery Rashkin amazed many. He pointed out what kind of income some company executives receive, and many were really surprised by such figures.

1. Igor Sechin, who heads the Rosneft company, estimates his work for one day at approximately 4.5 million rubles. Accordingly, he receives about 100 million per month.
2. The head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, receives approximately 2.2 million rubles per day.
3. The head of the Russian Railways company, Vladimir Yakunin, can easily count on a daily income of 1.3 million rubles.

As you can see, the maximum amount indicated above is noticeably exceeded here, and the numbers are really quite large. Converting daily income into annual income, one can truly be amazed at the magnitude of the amount. However, we should not forget what responsibility lies with these people.

As a rule, the indicators of how much deputies, officials and directors of companies of this kind receive do not differ much. Of course, such payments cannot be compared with the salary the director of Pyaterochka receives, since usually one or more supermarkets can be managed by one person. And food products and household chemicals cannot be compared with the turnover and the amounts of money that directors of oil companies receive.

The highest paid company executives

Having heard what amounts some people in our country receive, I want to know if there is anyone comparable to them or at least approaching their level. Many people are interested in how much the director of an LLC earns and what salary he receives.

Let's look at the lists that are given in Forbes. It lists the highest paid directors who live in Russia:

1. The above-mentioned Igor Sechin takes pride of place; in total, he receives more than $50 million per year.
2. Kostin Andrey. He is the president of VTB Bank. His income is estimated at around $35 million a year.
3. Miller Alexey. President of the Open joint stock company Gazprom, with about $25 million.
4. Akimov Andrey. The president of Gazprombank receives at least 15 million a year.
5. Grif Herman. President of Sberbank, receiving at least 15 million a year.

Next on the list are Mikhail Kuzovlev, Dmitry Razumov, Ivan Streshinsky, Vladimir Yakunin, Mikhail Zadornov. They all take leadership positions, payments for which amount to about $15 million per year.

A director who has a truly high salary

The amounts are quite impressive; for many people they seem exorbitant, but for these specialists this is far from the limit. It’s ridiculous to compare the cost of living with the amount that is in the hands of these people. At the same time, it is necessary to understand what organizational and management skills people who occupy these positions should have.

These are truly unique specialists, of whom there are not so many in the world. Naturally, the work and effort that they put into their work should pay off handsomely.

Rating of offers for positions of heads of companies in Moscow

If you think that getting a coveted position where you can earn considerable money is unrealistic, then you are mistaken. For example, below we can indicate a rating of very interesting offers and positions where you can earn considerable amounts of money.

Economists often hold director positions

There is no general director profession as such - most often it is occupied by economists, managers, higher education. The salary of the general director is quite high, and this is mostly due not only to the knowledge that was acquired at the university, but also to skills, work experience, the ability to manage people and motivate staff.

All this is obtained only through work, in practice, but not by studying textbooks.

1. You can count on a payment of up to 500,000 rubles if you are considering a vacancy as the head of a real estate agency.
2. The head of a large company in Moscow can receive up to 450,000 rubles.
3. 350,000 rubles per month - approximately this is the salary of the head of the late collection department.
4. The commercial head of an organization can receive up to 400,000 rubles.
5. 300,000 rubles is the maximum amount that the head of procurement can receive.
6. 300,000 rubles – the payment to the head of the company’s marketing department stops at this amount.
7. 300,000 rubles - how much does a product manager in a Fashion company earn?

Rating of proposals for the position of heads in Kazan

To compare with the capital, you can consider what offers for the same organizations are in Kazan. For example:

1. The head of the ATP can receive up to 125,000 rubles. As you can see, even the head of an educational organization can earn more than this specialist.
2. 100,000 rubles is the limit that the head of a 1C project can receive.
3. 120,000 rubles is the maximum amount that a deputy branch manager can receive.
4. 90,000 rubles - how much does a regional manager in the pharmaceutical field earn?
5. 100,000 rubles - the manager of a branch of a leasing company can count on this payment.

As you can see, the salaries of Moscow and Kazan are difficult to compare, since they are really very different. However, it is also worth remembering that prices for the same products and things in these cities can vary greatly.

Certain managers hold director positions for years

The position of head of a company is very rarely available here, since by default there are already certain managers who have held these positions for years.

In this case, the director earns a lot, but it is clear that he is not going to simply transfer his position to someone else.

How much do managers earn on average across the country?

It will be quite difficult to talk about this indicator, because the average indicator is displayed as an arithmetic mean. It’s not entirely logical to do this if there are people who receive 100,000 rubles a month, and individuals who receive millions. Based on the proposals that exist now in Russia, the minimum amount of payments to a manager starts at 60,000 rubles.

Each manager receives a salary corresponding to where he is located

When considering the offers of applicants, you can focus on the average of 73,000 rubles. Of course, it is worth considering what field of activity a person is involved in. For example, it is stupid to talk about what the salary of a school director is and compare it with the payment of the head of Gazprom.

For example, the director of a Moscow school can expect to receive up to 220,000 rubles. The average payment of directors in Russia reaches 75,000 rubles. If we are talking about a school director, then usually people holding such positions do not receive more than 40,000 rubles. This may take into account both the base salary and incentive compensation, which includes work over shifts, as well as payments for work on holidays and weekends.

How much do managers earn in the regions?

This question is more relevant on this topic, since not all residents of the country live in the capital of Russia. Here, earnings will directly depend on what kind of work experience one has in the field of management, in what region the person works, in what field he is involved. For example, in the regions, the amount that a school director receives is much less than the payments to his colleague located in the capital of the country.

To get hired as a manager financial organization, you need to focus on the following indicators:

1. Availability of higher education.
2. Perfect knowledge of accounting and tax legislation.
3. Practical skills in management, accounting and tax accounting.
4. Working with financial methods economic activity.
5. The minimum experience as a head of the economic department must be 2 years.
6. The applicant must have experience in tax audits in the regions.

As for the salary that is offered to people who want to get this position, in Moscow it is about 100,000 rubles, in St. Petersburg - 90,000 rubles, in Kazan - 60,000 rubles, in Nizhny Novgorod– 55,000 rubles. Residents of Rostov-on-Don and Perm can expect to receive 60,000 rubles; residents of Omsk, Samara, and Chelyabinsk receive approximately the same amount.

As a rule, the lowest amounts of income will be in those regions where industry and related sectors are quite poorly developed. In particular, this issue will concern the republics North Caucasus.

IN different regions different salaries

From the information given above, we can conclude that it is quite possible to get a position where you can earn up to half a million a month, but you will have to spend a lot of time and effort in order to get this position. Just dry knowledge and theory will not be enough here. It is necessary to practice a lot of skills and abilities in order to effectively manage a company, achieve its goals, and develop strategically correctly.

In fact, not every person can become the head of a company, because not everyone is given this kind of mentality, the ability to motivate, develop, think strategically, and consider all actions and their consequences in advance. However, if these qualities exist, they are innate or developed over time, then there is a high probability that you will achieve considerable heights in a leadership position in your chosen field.

Therefore, wanting to receive significant amounts of money, you regularly monitor offers from well-known companies that periodically move their employees around the company and make managerial positions vacant. Perhaps one of them will become yours, and you will be able to experience for yourself what it means to receive significant amounts of money, and at the same time make a significant contribution to the development of an enterprise or organization.

Video review on the topic of salaries of directors by profession

If the general director is the sole founder of the organization, then the “labor relationship” with him as an employee is formalized not by an employment contract, but by the decision of the sole participant in the company. This position is expressed in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 15, 2016 No. 03-11-11/14234.

The authors of the letter refer to the following labor legislation. it is stipulated that employment contract involves two parties: the employee and the employer. An employee is an individual who has entered into an employment relationship with an employer, and an employer is an individual or legal entity(organization) that has entered into an employment relationship with the employee (). If one of the parties to the employment contract is absent, it cannot be concluded. Therefore, if the head of the organization is its sole founder (that is, one of the parties to the employment contract is absent), then he cannot conclude an employment contract with himself.

The Ministry of Finance believes that when deciding on the formalization of labor relations in the described situation, one should be guided by the determination of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated 06/05/09 No. 6362/09. And it states: by virtue of Federal Law No. 14-FZ dated 02/08/98 (on LLC), the appointment of a person to the position of director is formalized by the decision of the sole founder of the company. Consequently, the “employment relationship” with the director as an employee is formalized not by an employment contract, but by the decision of a single participant. The same conclusion was repeated by experts from the Ministry of Finance. In the same letter, officials added that the general director, who is the sole founder of the LLC, has the right, by his decision, to establish the procedure for calculating dividends (for example, quarterly), subjecting them to personal income tax in the general manner.

At the same time, we note that labor relations cannot arise without concluding an employment contract. After all, it directly states: for an employment relationship to arise, it is necessary to conclude an employment contract. Let us also recall that specialists from the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia classify the head - the sole founder of the organization - as persons working under an employment contract (order dated 06/08/10 No. 428n). For more information on the problem of concluding an employment contract in the described situation, see below.

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Is it possible not to pay the director's salary?

Source: BukhOnline

Very often, when starting a business, the founder of the company thinks exclusively about breaking even, making a profit and other macro indicators. To achieve them, he is ready to refuse to receive wages, assuming that this will save not only the company’s money, but also the accountant’s time, and at the same time reduce the tax burden. There is certainly logic in this behavior. Why divert already small resources while the company is not yet on its feet and receive a small salary? After all, you can “unwind” and get yours in the future, both in the form of a large salary and in the form of dividends. But does such a decision comply with the law? Let's try to figure it out.

5 options not to pay the director's salary

Often in small companies The director is ready to work without a salary to save money. But inspectors often disagree free work they are trying to charge additional personal income tax and insurance premiums. There are 5 options to avoid paying the director's salary, but not all of them are safe.

1. Send your manager on vacation at your own expense

The organization should not be left without a leader, so his responsibilities must be transferred to someone. If there is no one to delegate the powers of the general director and he plans to sign the papers himself, then he will have to formalize exits from vacation and pay for them. Moreover, you need to pay every day when the director went out to “work”, and not the hours of work.

If the director signs the papers without returning from vacation, this will lead to disputes with Rostrud.

If the company does not work, then you can send the director on vacation at his own expense, but in this case he should not sign the papers on his own behalf. In the vacation application/order, the director will indicate a valid reason for vacation - family or personal circumstances. There is no need to write that he is going on vacation because there are no orders or demand for products. Otherwise, during the inspection, labor inspectors will reclassify the leave as idle time and oblige the company to pay for the time of forced rest based on 2/3 of the salary. It will not be possible to cancel the decision even in court (appeal ruling of the Court of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District dated September 16, 2013 in case No. 33-611).

2. Receive a written salary waiver from the director

This is risky; labor inspectors consider such a refusal to be unlawful, because according to Article 133 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, one cannot work for free. The employer is obliged to pay employees.

If the inspectors find a statement denying earnings, they will consider that there was an employment relationship. And the tax authorities will additionally charge personal income tax and insurance premiums from the minimum wage.

True, there are chances in court to cancel the amounts. In similar disputes with funds (resolutions of the Arbitration Court of the Ural District dated October 24, 2016 No. F09-9195/16 in case No. A34-8837/2015, FAS East Siberian District dated September 23, 2010 No. A58-5012/09). The following arguments helped to win: the director wrote a statement refusing to earn money; in the accounting sheet working hours were not taken into account; The contribution base is actual, not estimated payments. Since there were no accruals, it means there is no base for contributions.

3. Conclude an agreement on free services with the director

This cannot be done. Such actions contradict the Labor Code, since labor relations are always compensated (Article 15 of the Labor Code). If labor inspectors prove that the gratuitous contract conceals labor relations, the organization will be charged with non-payment of wages by 50 thousand rubles. (Part 6 of Article 5.27 of the Administrative Code).

An agreement for free services of a director is possible only if an employment contract has already been drawn up with him and this does not contradict the charter of the company. For example, the CEO can advise the company on legal issues for free. This is not prohibited. In the contract, state that it is free of charge. Otherwise, the contract will be reclassified as a paid contract and the services will have to be paid at the market price (clause 3 of Article 423 and clause 3 of Article 424 of the Civil Code).

4. Pay the director only for hours worked

This can be done from any date. To do this, it is enough to sign an additional agreement to the employment contract and issue an order (Part 1 of Article 93 of the Labor Code). In the order, indicate the start date of the part-time regime, the length of the day, salary and the period for which you are introducing it.

However, this method also has disadvantages. In particular, it is necessary to ensure that the director does not sign legally significant documents (agreements, powers of attorney, declarations, bank documents, orders, instructions, etc.) on days when he is not supposed to perform his functions. Otherwise, problems are possible both with counterparties, who may try to prove that the contract was not concluded, and with regulatory authorities, who will insist that the terms of reduced working hours are fictitious.

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What threatens violators of non-payment of salaries to the director?

The most interesting thing is that a manager who decides, despite the requirements of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, not to receive wages, will be the first to suffer from such a decision. The fact is that non-payment of wages is a violation of labor laws. And for this, it provides for the imposition of a fine not only on the organization (30-50 thousand rubles), but also on the official (1-5 thousand rubles). In addition, if the violation is repeated, the court, at the request of the labor inspectorate, may even decide to disqualify the manager!

So, not receiving your own salary can be very, very expensive not only for the company, but also directly for the manager who refused the salary.

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The director, who is the sole founder and employee of the organization, should not pay himself a salary?

General manager is the sole founder of the organization and its only employee. Should he pay his own salary and pay personal income tax and insurance premiums? The Ministry of Finance responded negatively in letter dated October 17, 2014 No. 03-11-11/52558.

The rationale is this. According to the Labor Code, under wages refers to the remuneration for labor that is paid to the employee in accordance with the concluded employment contract. it is stipulated that an employment contract involves two parties: the employee and the employer. An employee is an individual who has entered into an employment relationship with an employer, and an employer is an individual or legal entity (organization) who has entered into an employment relationship with an employee (). If one of the parties to the employment contract is absent, it cannot be concluded. Consequently, the head of the organization, who is its sole founder and member of the organization, cannot calculate and pay wages to himself.

There is also the opposite position. The letter of the Ministry of Health and Social Development dated 06/08/10 No. 428n states that the manager is classified as a person working under an employment contract, even if he is the sole founder of the organization. The courts also pointed out that the coincidence of the same person as the employee and the employer’s representative is not an obstacle to concluding an employment contract (see, for example, resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the West Siberian District dated July 29, 2009 No. Ф04-4242/2009(10610-А27-25 ), determination of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated 03.06.09 No. 6597/09).

And since there is an employment relationship, it means there must be a salary with all the ensuing consequences: personal income tax, insurance premiums, taking them into account when calculating taxes. Therefore, if you are not afraid to argue with the tax authorities, pay your salary and transfer personal income tax from it to the budget. And if the inspectors don’t like the fact that you take into account the accrued salary, for example, when calculating income tax or the simplified tax system, then by “removing” it from the base, they will lose personal income tax - in this situation, you can safely return it from the budget.

Quite often, in a newly created LLC organization, a situation arises when the sole founder is also the general director, because By law, any LLC is required to have an executive management body. Usually, such a company has no turnover, no employees, there is nothing except one person, and you want to save on payroll taxes. A logical question arises: is it worth calculating the salary of the general director (hereinafter - salary), i.e. to yourself? In this article, let's try to understand this issue, a dispute over which tax authorities have been going on for the second decade. We will also analyze the nuances in which cases taxes on salary can be reasonably reduced.

Who is the CEO?

First you need to understand the status of the leader. There are 2 options: 1) the general director is a hired manager and 2) the general director, who is both a leader and a founder. In the first case, the CEO and founder are 2 different people. The general director is a hired manager, and if an official employment contract has been concluded with him, then Labor Code(Article 22 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) he is the same employee as the rest in this organization, be it a personnel officer or an accountant. The salary amount for full-time employment must be no less than the minimum salary established in each individual region. For example, in Moscow today the minimum salary is 16,500 rubles (according to the additional agreement between the Moscow government, the Moscow Association of Trade Unions and the Moscow Association of Employers dated May 26, 2015 No. 77-783-1) . Maximum size remuneration is not limited (Article 145 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Everything is simple here: if an employment contract has been concluded with the general director, then according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, salary must be paid in any case. By the way, if there are several founders in an LLC (two or more), then in this case questions usually do not arise either - the general director must be paid salary according to an official employment contract.

But in a situation where the general director is also the sole founder of the company, everything is much more complicated. And this has been the subject of conversation more than once.

History of events and positions

It all started in 2002, when the Labor Code of the Russian Federation clearly stated the obligation to conclude a written employment contract with all employees, without exception, who work in the company.

Then in 2006, Rostrud expressed the opposite opinion. By virtue of Art. 273 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a single founder cannot be recognized as an employee of his company; subsequently, the Ministry of Health and Social Development joined this point of view. Letter No. 2262-6-1 dated December 28, 2006 states that the specifics of regulating the work of the head of an organization are provided for in Chapter. 43 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In accordance with Art. 273 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the provisions of this chapter do not apply to the head of the organization if he is the only participant (founder) of the organization. Including the provisions of Article 275 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation on the conclusion of an employment contract with the head of the organization.

Then, in 2010, the ministry again changed its mind and in letter dated 06/08/10 No. 428n stated: in any case, an employment contract is concluded with the director, even if he is the sole founder of the organization. The Ministry of Health and Social Development justified its new approach by the fact that only in this way can the manager be provided with social and labor guarantees.

And again the opinion changed. In a letter dated 03/06/13 No. 177-6-1, Rostrud wrote that there is no need to conclude an agreement, and this is indicated in Article 273 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, because You cannot make a contract with yourself.

But the final chord in this story was made by the Ministry of Finance of Russia, where in a letter dated 02.19.15 No. 03-11-06/2/7790 it indicated that there is no need to conclude an employment contract with the founding manager. Again there is a link to Art. 273 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which states the impossibility of concluding an agreement with oneself. And if there is no employment contract, then there is no reason to pay a salary to the general director.

To pay or not to pay?

This is where we stopped for today, but is the end finally set? What should you do - conclude or not conclude an agreement? In our opinion, in order to avoid unnecessary troubles, it is best to hire the general director by assigning him the minimum wage or sending him on vacation, which will be discussed later. Why is this so?

Despite the encouraging letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 02/19/15 No. 03-11-06/2/7790 and the latest position of Rostrud in the letter dated 03/06/13 No. 177-6-1 about the unnecessaryness of concluding an agreement with the general director, it is worth understanding that the letters of the Ministry of Finance , like Rostrud, provide only advisory, explanatory character. There is the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, which must be followed. Currently, Rostrud is checking for compliance with labor legislation, and it seems that today there should be fines from Rostrud. However, Rostrud's opinion may change in the future. Judicial practice is based on the mandatory conclusion of a contract, although there is little of it today. Based on all this, the owner and at the same time the general director should be careful: forewarned is forearmed! He risks that in the absence of an employment contract he will have to prove it, waste time and nerves, and the tax office may not fine you, but will charge additional taxes for all unpaid taxes.

Next, let's talk about the case when you decided to conclude an agreement with the general director (Article 16 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) in order to reduce risk and difficulties. If there is an agreement, then you need to pay wages. Below we will give ways to justify underestimating taxes when paying salary to the general director. All of them are official and absolutely working.

Legal ways to reduce the salary accrued to the general director

As we found out, if you register the general director according to labor legislation, then he must be paid a salary. And in this case, the general director is one of the organization’s employees along with everyone else. According to Art. 133 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the monthly salary of an employee who has fully worked the standard working hours during this period and fulfilled labor standards (labor duties) cannot be lower than the minimum wage established in the region.

Method No. 1 – leave without pay. The General Director himself issues an order not to accrue his salary without support due to family circumstances; an application is also required. “Family circumstances” can be different, for example, the wife gave birth to a child. This method contains some risks associated with dissatisfied exclamations from regulatory authorities: “How can the general director carry out his functions and sign documents while on vacation?” But the legislation of the Russian Federation does not clearly state that the powers of a manager terminate during the vacation period. According to the organization's charter, the general director is the executive body who is the representative of the organization and represents its interests in relation to third parties, signs documents and powers of attorney, including while on vacation. In our practice, this method is used most often.

Method No. 2 – payment for downtime. Downtime occurs when a company’s activities are not carried out or it has suspended its activities for a while, for example, the company is selecting premises for an office or making repairs to it. Based on Art. 157 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, labor during downtime is not paid in full, but based on two-thirds of the salary. It is not the CEO’s fault for downtime, and in this way his salary can be reduced by a third. It is advisable to issue an order to pay for downtime; there is no need to prepare separate documents.

Method No. 3 – incomplete production. To reduce the salary of the general director, you need to conclude an employment contract for part-time, part-time work, i.e. 0.5 of the minimum wage. Partial working week and part-time work are regulated in Art. 93 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In this case, the CEO will work 4 hours instead of 8 hours a day, 20 instead of 40 hours a week. In case of incomplete production, the director (let’s say in Moscow) will receive a half-time salary = (0.5 * 16500) = 8250 rubles. per month. It is necessary to draw up an additional agreement to the employment contract, which approves the new work schedule. This method is inconvenient because the general director will need to monitor his working hours and not sign documents outside of working hours, so as not to become an object for control by the tax authorities.

Method No. 4 – dividends instead of salaries. A method that is often practiced is that you pay yourself dividends from profits instead of a salary. But if you are just starting out, then you do not have profits with which to pay dividends, so this method is suitable for those who more or less have some kind of turnover. If you decide to work using this method, then you must comply with the basic requirements: payments must be made no more than once a quarter, at the expense of net profit after paying all taxes, based on the decision of the business owner. This method is good, but you need to be careful not to pay dividends every month, otherwise any inspection by regulatory authorities may see the salary here and may add additional insurance premiums.

If at the beginning of the organization’s activities all profits are directed to its development, then dividends may not be paid.

Let's summarize. If you are the general director and sole founder of your own LLC, then 2 options are possible. The first is that you officially hire yourself, i.e. you enter into an employment contract (Articles 16, 22 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), and pay yourself a salary in accordance with Art. 133 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In order to reduce your insurance premiums, you can go one of the four ways described above: assign yourself leave without pay, use downtime, enter into an additional agreement for part-time work, or pay dividends instead of salary. All these methods are used frequently and do not cause suspicion among regulatory authorities if everything is done correctly. The second option is more risky - you do not pay yourself a salary and during the audit you refer to Art. 273 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which indicates the impossibility of concluding an agreement with oneself. Also, do not forget about the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 02/19/15 No. 03-11-06/2/7790 and Rostrud dated 03/06/13 No. 177-6-1. This method is more risky, because... Judicial practice interprets Art. differently. 273 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Also, do not forget that letters and explanations from the Russian Ministry of Finance are only advisory in nature and do not constitute law. Therefore, you must understand that you are deliberately taking a risk in the future by saving on insurance premiums and not paying the CEO's salary in the present. Today it works. But who knows how the mood of officials will change in a year...