One-day business trips. Per diem or compensation

What are daily payments

When considering the question of how to pay for daily travel expenses in 2021, it is necessary to understand the concept of daily payments.
The process of their accrual and payment is regulated in Russia by the Labor Code. In accordance with this document, if a company employee is sent on a business trip, then the costs of living outside his permanent place of residence must be compensated by the employer in full. But not above the established level. Payments of this nature are called daily allowances. In recent years, no fundamental changes have occurred in the procedure for calculating daily allowances.

It is important to know that each organization has the right to independently establish the amount of daily payments that it considers appropriate for its employee. This amount of payments is necessarily fixed in the Regulations on Business Travel.

Regarding daily payments, it should be said about some features of their calculation:

• At the state level, a maximum daily allowance is established, which is not subject to personal income tax. About what is the current daily allowance in the state if a person goes on a business trip within the country or abroad.
• An enterprise, in case of establishing daily payments in an amount that exceeds the maximum value in the country, is obliged to withhold personal income tax from it;
• Daily payments do not include compensation for accommodation and travel.

Important changes in 2021

In 2021, the administration of insurance premiums was transferred from extra-budgetary funds to the tax authorities. In this regard, important changes have occurred in relation to daily allowances.

The amount of these payments is determined by each business entity independently and is enshrined in its regulations. But when calculating personal income tax, daily allowances were not taxed only within the limits of current norms. This rule did not apply to insurance premiums.

If a business trip is for 1 day, daily allowance must also be paid, and this rule applies to compensation for these expenses.

Attention! From 2021, if the daily allowance for a business trip is more than 700 rubles (in Russia) or 2,500 rubles (foreign business trips), then the accountant must calculate not only personal income tax, but also insurance payments for pension, medical and social insurance from the excess of these amounts.

Only insurance premiums for injuries are not subject to excess daily allowance. The old rules apply here.

Features of calculating daily allowances

The most important question that interests many: how are whole days of a business trip calculated, if very often the day of departure and arrival in time does not allow this day to be counted as a whole day. But there are established regulations that allow such days, regardless of when the transport arrived, to be paid in full. Of course, a controversial question arises as to whether the transport arrives at 1 am, what to do in this case? All the same, the employee is paid for this day and travel allowances. And, most importantly, the employee has every right not to go to work on this day.

Thus, it turns out that the daily payments include:

• All days that were used by an employee of the enterprise did not travel to the place of business trip and back to his permanent place of residence. Moreover, if for some reason the transport was delayed or there were other valid reasons that delayed the employee, the company is obliged to take this fact into account and pay money for the period of delay;
• All weekends and holidays that the employee was absent from his permanent place of residence due to a business trip;
• The time when an employee was unable to perform his direct duties due to illness, but continued to remain outside his place of residence.

One-day business trip: to pay or not

A situation may arise when an employee is sent on a business trip for one day. Should he be paid per diem in this case? Let's be honest, the opinions of different representatives of regulatory authorities vary. For example, representatives of the tax service believe that such daily allowances are not necessary, but representatives of the Ministry think completely differently. Nowhere is it prohibited to accrue daily payments to an employee even on a one-day business trip. And this is quite logical.

Under current legislation, there are no restrictions on how long a business trip can last. Therefore, the business trip can be one day. Compensation for travel and accommodation in such a task will be carried out without problems, but payment of daily allowances can lead to problems. Therefore, it was decided that the daily allowance should be replaced with other payments.

The amount of daily payments in case of a one-day business trip is calculated as follows:

1. In the case of a trip abroad - 50% of the established maximum for foreign business trips, that is, in 2021 1250 rubles (2500/2 = 1250);
2. In case of a trip within Russia, the size is set independently, there are no restrictions or recommendations.

Another controversial situation is the taxation of daily allowances for one-day business trips. For some reason, it was previously assumed that a one-day payment of this nature would in any case be subject to personal income tax withholding. Now the situation has changed and a one-day business trip may not be taxable, although here the opinions of government officials differ.

Opinions regarding whether to withhold personal income tax for a one-day business trip or not:

• Treasury clarification: It all depends on whether all expenses are confirmed or not. For example, if all expenses are documented, then the payment can be exempt from income tax in full, regardless of its size. But if the expenses do not have documentary evidence, then taxation is not carried out only within the established limits - 700 rubles and 2500, respectively;
• Clarification from YOU: one-day daily allowances, by definition, cannot be called that way, since they do not have that nature. But at the same time, such expenses can be compensated, only according to a different definition: for example, compensation for food, etc. And in this case, regardless of the size of the payment, it will not be taxed.

Thus, the payment of daily allowances for business trips in 2021, in accordance with the law, must comply with both the legislative framework of the state and the internal documents of the enterprise. It has the authority to independently determine the amount of such compensation. The main thing is to ask the employee to document such payments. Then there may be no claims from regulatory authorities.

A business trip for one day assumes that the employee can return to his home on the day of the business trip. In accordance with this, compensations due to employees during a one-day business trip are also distinguished. In the article, we will consider whether an employee is entitled to daily allowance for a one-day business trip, as well as the procedure for registering a business trip for one day.

Daily allowance in 2021

Daily allowances for business trips in 2021 are determined by each business entity independently. The existing limits defined in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation remain in force with regard to personal income tax and salary contributions.

Currently, the following daily allowance rates exist:

• For business trips within the country - in the amount of 700 rubles. per day for each employee;
• For trips abroad - in the amount of 2500 rubles. per day per employee.

If local standards are higher than these limits, then the company must, as a tax agent, transfer personal income tax and calculate and pay contributions for compulsory insurance in accordance with current rates.

Important! For accounting purposes, the standards established by the enterprise independently in its regulations apply. So, for example, the amount of daily allowance for a business trip can be established in such a LNA as the “Regulations on Business Travel”, broken down by position.

When calculating the amount of daily allowance, the number of days of the period during which the employee was on a business trip matters. Its beginning is considered to be the day the traveler departs.

Currently, to confirm this period, it is not necessary to issue a travel certificate; it is enough to look at the date on the relevant document (for example, on a train, plane, bus ticket).

If on the basis of this form it is possible to determine the time of departure, then even if the person left at the end of the day (before 24-00 hours), then they are fully taken into account. The day of completion of a business trip is determined in a similar manner. If an employee returns on the basis of a ticket at 0-01 o’clock, then these will already be the following days, and the employee is entitled to daily allowance for the entire such day.

Attention! Also, we must not forget that business trips may include weekends and holidays. They are also included in the business trip, as well as days of forced downtime and periods of incapacity during the trip.

Management, on the basis of a written order, has the right to recall its employee from a business trip. In this case, it must reflect the reason for this in the order. The business trip includes only the days the employee is actually on the trip. If he was previously given amounts that he did not spend due to the revocation, he must return them.

When the administration decides on a new business trip, all forms must be completed anew.

Daily allowance for a business trip for one day

When an employee is sent on a business trip for two days or longer, he must pay not only for travel to and from his destination, but also for accommodation. In addition, the employee is paid a daily allowance, depending on the number of days of travel (168 Labor Code of the Russian Federation). As for daily allowances for one-day business trips, everything will depend on where exactly the employer sent the employee. There are business trips in Russia and abroad.

If an employee is sent across Russia on a business trip for one day, then the payment of daily allowances is not provided (Regulation). At the same time, the company itself has the right to decide whether to pay compensation to the employee instead of daily allowance or not (168 Labor Code of the Russian Federation). In this case, the employer should provide for such compensation in the organization’s local document. Such a document can be an employment or collective agreement. You can also arrange it in another way. For example, issue an order to pay the employee compensation for travel expenses instead of daily allowance. Both in the order and in the employment or collective agreement, the employer must specify the amount of such payments.

Daily allowances in 2021 in Russia

Daily allowances for business trips will continue to apply in 2021 despite repeated attempts to exclude this item from expenses when taxing profits. This is mainly due to an attempt to increase tax revenues to the budget.

Let us recall that legislators wanted to remove expenses in the form of daily allowances, replacing them with a strictly defined list of travel expenses, which would necessarily have to have documentary evidence. For the enterprise, this threatened to increase the tax burden.

Currently, the amount of daily allowance is determined by each business entity independently. That is, enterprises are allowed to set the daily allowance in fixed amounts.

At the same time, no restrictions were adopted according to these standards at the regional level. The draft laws also considered such an innovation to establish standards depending on the destination of the business trip (region).

Attention! Daily allowances for business trips in 2018 are determined based on the number of days of travel, determined on the basis of supporting documents and standards approved by the enterprise for these expenses per day per employee.

Personal income tax and insurance premiums on daily allowances

If an employee sent on a one-day business trip confirms all his expenses, then personal income tax does not need to be withheld from the funds that were paid to him. If the employee is unable to confirm his expenses, then the payment is exempt from taxation only up to 700 rubles for business trips in Russia and 2,500 rubles for business trips abroad (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia No. 03-04-07/6189 dated March 26, 2013).

As the Ministry of Finance explains, those funds that are paid for a one-day business trip are not per diem. They represent other expenses associated with business travel. They are also included in expenses subject to exemption from personal income tax, due to the fact that these payments are directly related to the employee’s performance of his official duties.

However, if the employee cannot provide documentary evidence of the costs of such payments, then they are recognized as income. In this case, personal income tax is assessed only on the amount paid in excess of 700 rubles when traveling within the Russian Federation and in excess of 2,500 rubles when traveling abroad. As for insurance premiums, the logic is the same. Those payments that the employee can confirm are not subject to contributions, since they represent compensation for expenses incurred by the employee.

Business trip online

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