What's new in payroll in 2021 was provided for in 2021
An important role in changes in wage calculation in 2021 is played by the established minimum wage.
This figure is revised annually, in general cases upward. For 2021, the federal minimum wage is set at 12,130 rubles. Regional authorities have the right to approve their own sizes, but they are not lower than the federal value. Thus, each individual, within the framework of an employment contract, provided that the monthly working hours are fully worked out, cannot receive a monthly salary of less than 12,130 rubles. This figure will also be needed to calculate and pay benefits for temporary disability, maternity and others.
As for insurance premiums calculated from wages, the values of the maximum bases for 2021 have been updated:
- for contributions to VNiM - 912,000 rubles, if this threshold is exceeded, contributions stop accruing;
- for contributions to compulsory pension insurance - 1,292,000 rubles; if this limit is exceeded during the year, in the remaining months, contributions to pension insurance are calculated based on a rate of 10% instead of the standard 22%.
For 2021, salary indexation is provided for most categories of public sector employees: employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, military personnel, medical workers, and teachers.
What is salary
Basic concepts and definitions regarding wages are set out in Chapters 20 and 21 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. According to Article 129 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation
,
wages - remuneration for work depending on the qualifications of the employee, complexity, quantity, quality and conditions of the work performed, as well as compensation payments (additional payments and allowances of a compensatory nature, including for work in conditions deviating from normal, work in special climatic conditions and in territories exposed to radioactive contamination, and other compensation payments) and incentive payments (additional payments and incentive allowances, bonuses and other incentive payments).
Labor Code of the Russian Federation / Article 129
The state provides guarantees for the remuneration of workers, which include:
- Establishing a minimum wage (minimum wage
): wages should not be lower than the minimum wage, otherwise the enterprise or individual entrepreneur is guaranteed inspections and fines. - Measures to ensure an increase in the level of real wages. The main one is its indexation
, which should be carried out once a year and depends on the increase in consumer prices for goods and services (Article 134 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). - Terms and order of salary payment.
The timing of payment of wages must be fixed in the employment contract by specific dates with clear wording. The interval between payment of the first and second parts of the salary should not exceed 15 days. For exceeding the interval between them, the company faces a fine of 50,000 rubles. - Responsibility of employers for violation of the requirements established by labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law norms, collective agreements, and agreements.
- Restriction on remuneration in kind. Thus, the share of wages paid in non-monetary form cannot exceed 20 percent of the accrued monthly wage.
- Limitation of the list of grounds and amounts of deductions from wages by order of the employer, as well as the amount of taxation of income from wages. For example, when withholding under several executive documents, the employee must in any case be retained 50 percent of the salary.
State guarantees for the payment of wages to employees are the main points that the employer needs to pay attention to, since most complaints and inspections regarding the calculation and payment of wages are carried out precisely on them.
What salary calculation changes have been planned since March 18, 2020
Initially, a nationwide vote for the bill on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation was planned for April 22, 2021. Wednesday, April 22, was supposed to be a non-working day so that everyone could come and express their opinion on amending the basic law or vote against it.
The president was supposed to sign the decree declaring this date a day off on March 18, the day of Crimea’s annexation to Russia. In this case, it would turn out that April 22, 2021 is a paid day off. The payment procedure would depend on what system the employee works on - salary or another. The norm of working days according to the production calendar would be reduced; employers would have to pay employees for this day at double the rate.
In the final version, the president signed the decree on March 17, but the fight against the coronavirus epidemic in Russia that unfolded at the end of March made adjustments and instead of one day off, the country first received a week, and then a whole month of non-working days. How these changes affected wages will be discussed in the next section.
