Cancellation of travel expenses

Rumors about the abolition of payment of travel expenses periodically stir public opinion. Let's figure it out. Is it possible to cancel travel expenses and how legitimate is this?

Since January 8, 2015, sending a subordinate employee on a business trip, the employer is not obliged to comply with the necessary procedure for issuing a travel document. In addition, the legislation abolished compulsory compilation of other documents - the service assignment and the report on the work performed returned from the trip of an employee.

Such changes are fixed in the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1595 of 29.12.14, which entered into force on the above date (in the people - the law on the abolition of business trips). The basis for sending an employee on a business trip is the decision of his employer. This document, as before, must record the timing of such a trip. But there is no need to draw up a service assignment.

Cancellation of travel documents: resolution and its consequences

The new rules read: it is possible and necessary to count the time (actual) periods during which the employee was on a business trip, upon the travel documents provided by him upon return.

In the event of his departure there by means of personal transport, the traveler must take care of the fact of the actual time spent at the place of destination when preparing the memo. He submits it with the application of documents that can confirm the movement on the specified transport (it can be a question of a traveling sheet, receipts, invoices and cash vouchers).

Returning from a business trip, in a three-day period, the traveler must present an advance report drawn up by him with the appendix of the documents on renting the premises and actually incurred expenses. Report on the work done is no longer required. But no cancellation of travel allowances is expected.

Innovations have caused some bewilderment among the employees of accounting services. The arising questions concerned possible problems with the official approval of travel expenses in the event of the refusal of the above-mentioned documents. It was also unclear what to do with the exemption from personal income tax.

So, in the light of all this, it is worthwhile to look at the problem more carefully and decide whether or not to continue issuing business permits. This issue is relevant for management and accounting services. Private employees have nothing to worry about - no one plans to cancel travel expenses (more precisely, their reimbursement to a specific employee).

A little about the essence of the matter

Any of the official trips is fraught with a multitude of expenses that require compensation. In order to take into account and carry out these anticipated payments, the accounting department requires their documentary confirmation. As already mentioned, earlier in the mandatory for the presentation of papers were traveling permits and job assignments together with reports on the work performed. But from the indicated date (January 8, 2015), the decision to cancel travel documents eliminated the need for their registration.

Thus, among those there was only an order directing the subordinate on a business trip. This document should specify the duration of the trip and its purpose.

How to manage travel documents

Their task now is to confirm the actual period of the employee's stay at the place of business trip. Present it on return. For example, if a business trip is associated with an air flight, the start and end dates will be established with the presentation of tickets for the aircraft.

When the employee sets off on his own car, returning, he makes an official note indicating the dates of departure and arrival. What in this case can confirm the information there? Such testimonies include gasoline checks from the gas station, receipts for payment for parking spaces, etc.

If suddenly any of these documents prove to be lost, cancellation of travel allowances is not absolutely necessary. The employer can make an additional request to the transport organization in order to confirm the fact of the trip. The travel document is no longer the determining factor.

We make out the expenses documented

According to part one of the 168th article of the LC RF, the list of expenses that the employer is obliged to reimburse to the seconded employee consists of expenses for travel, rent of housing and daily subsistence allowance. From the point of view of accounting, in case of successful confirmation by appropriate documents, travel expenses of personal income tax are not imposed. This norm is fixed in the 217th article of the Tax Code. In the absence of supporting documents, personal income tax will have to be assessed.

It does not contain a direct request for mandatory presentation of the said certificate. Even before the cancellation of travel documents in the event of disputes and litigation, the arbitration came to the conclusion that the absence of such does not entail automatic taxation. Especially now - the risk of personal income tax is completely absent.

About insurance contributions

A similar situation is with insurance premiums. The officially established expenses (per diem, rent and travel) are not subject to insurance contributions. Here, in the same way, an indispensable condition for presenting supporting documents is observed.

If by 2015 the certificate was considered as a compulsory supplement in the preparation of the advance report, in its absence, according to Rostrud's letter No. 17-4 / 1647 of 2013, insurance premiums were subject to accrual. Now, after the cancellation of travel documents, this ground is lost, and the advance report submitted without them is not considered a violation.

On income tax

According to the accounting standards, the composition of other expenses that occur in the production and sales process are those of the organization's costs that are associated with sending employees on business trips. This is done when calculating the income tax. The corresponding posting is made for the date on which the advance report was approved. As in the above cases - with documented costs. And the design must comply with the legislative standards of the Russian Federation.

The situation is similar to that described earlier for insurance premiums. Officially, it was previously believed that the absence of a travel authorization automatically excludes these costs from the composition of expenses. But in the current situation (the abolition of travel documents of "superfluous" nature), this approach is no longer the case.

Do not waste much!

The costs associated with official trips should be justified from an economic point of view. Their task is to bring profit to the organization. The purpose of the trip specified in the order, being connected with commercial activity, should mean economically justified business trip expenses.

Even before, tax officials often expressed the opinion that it was necessary to have an order for the corresponding direction in the employee's trip. The abolition of travel documents does not carry any potential problems in this regard, since their functions are similar.

Is it possible to continue the registration of travel documents?

In principle, this is not prohibited. Nowhere is legally mandated the cancellation of travel permits. If they are convenient to the employer with internal tasks for the purposes of internal accounting, he has every right to engage in further drafting. But you will not be able to attest a business trip thanks to just one certificate. Again - in itself, without the attached tickets, orders, etc., it can not in any way serve as a confirmation of travel expenses and the right to exemption from contributions and personal income tax.

How to fix a new form of travel documents

According to the general rules, the employer of a number of internal local acts determines all the points relating to the size and procedure for reimbursement of expenses for seconded employees. This right is vested in Article 168 of the LC RF. The standard course is to approve a document for this purpose, called the Travel Regulations. If, in connection with the innovations in the company decided to stop using certificates, this act will need to be changed accordingly, with the knowledge of the signature of all employees.

What changes do you need to make in the said normative act?

1. It no longer has to mention service assignments, and in connection with the cancellation of travel documents from the document, this concept should be removed.

2. There should be an item on the definition of the purpose and duration of the trip in the order.

3. A separate point should be the need to provide the employee with a service note with supporting documents in the case of a trip by private transport.

The information on retirement should be reflected in the journal of special form No. 739n, which was adopted on the order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development in September 2009. Such a magazine has a separate column, previously intended for entering the number of travel authorization and the period for which it was issued. Under new conditions, filling in such a box is not necessary. If there is a dash or nothing at all, it will not be considered a violation.

Is it possible to cancel travel subsistence allowance?

As you know, during the trip the employee is provided with an average salary, as well as daily, paid for each of the calendar days of the trip. The latter term means those additional costs that it incurs due to a stay outside a permanent place of residence.

It was expected that from January 1, 2016, payment of per diem will be canceled. But this event never happened. 168th article of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation recorded a compulsory compensation to the employee for additional expenses related to living outside his permanent residence expenses when sending him on a business trip. That is, the abolition of travel allowances would mean violation of labor legislation.

Their size is determined independently in each organization. This amount should be fixed in those regulatory local acts that relate to official travel (for example, in the Travel Regulations). According to the law, personal income tax is not subject to a maximum of 700 rubles. Within the territory of our country and 2500 rubles. When traveling abroad. This means that in the case of the establishment of a daily subsistence allowance, say, in 1000 rubles. NDFL will have to pay from the amount exceeding 700 rubles. - that is, 300 rubles.

For which days are the refunds due?

They are reimbursed for all business days, including holidays and weekends. This also includes those days that the employee is on the road or in a situation of forced stop. If the trip is one-day, then it is not necessary to pay per diem for Russia. However, no one forbids the employer to provide a local act similar compensation in this case.

The limit of such payments as such in the event that the organization is commercial, does not exist. Legally fixed only the above amounts (700 and 2500 rubles respectively), not subject to taxation. The calculation of the days for which this compensation was made to the employee is now done according to the general rule and in accordance with the memo.