Any citizen who has worked at least once in his life or is just getting a job knows that wages can be of two types: white and black.

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If the first is official, then the second is illegal, and the employer who pays it is simply deceiving both the state and his employee. However, there is another type of salary - gray.

What it is?

Gray salary is payments that consist of two unequal parts:

1. The smaller of them is usually paid in the form of a white salary. This means that all necessary accruals are debited from it.
2. The majority is given to the employee in the form of cash, just like cash.

Basically, this way of earning money can be obtained by working for a representative of a medium or small business. This is a great way for them to evade paying part of their taxes.

Most often, you can get to such an employer when looking for work in such areas as:

• construction;
• various areas of trade;
• manufacturing industries.

Legislation

Taxes are withheld from wages in accordance with Article 226 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

In addition, there are several more articles that regulate the conditions for providing certain payments to an employee, which may be less when applying the gray scheme:

• Art. 144 Labor Code of the Russian Federation - vacation pay;
• Art. 183 Labor Code of the Russian Federation and Art. 14 of Federal Law No. 255 - sick pay;
• Art. 178 and 181.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation - severance pay;
• Art. 10 of Federal Law No. 176 - pension accruals.

In case of tax evasion, the head of the organization may fall under tax liability, which is specified in Article 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, or criminal liability, in accordance with Article 198 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Gray salary

Gray wages are a great way for an employer to provide employees with more income by evading some tax payments.

At first glance, this scheme is very convenient and beneficial for both parties. However, if you look at it more carefully, things become not so tempting.

Conditionally legal forms

Employers have the opportunity to provide employees with a gray salary, and at the same time not hide its amount from the state.

There are several conditionally legal schemes for this. However, it is worth noting that their use often leads not only to a reduction in deductions, but also to closer attention from the tax authorities.

The two most commonly used schemes are:

1. Dividends. Large enterprises, whose net profit is significant, can pay their employees earnings in the form of dividends. In this case, it will be possible to get rid of some types of taxes. But we must immediately make a reservation that not all employees can be provided with this form of income.
2. Compensation. Another popular method is to pay the bulk of your earnings in the form of compensation for withholding wages. But it is worth clarifying that, according to the law, the amount of such payments is not subject to taxes and is equal to 1/300 of the refinancing, or the employer can assign it independently. Unscrupulous managers take advantage of this by prescribing large amounts of compensation in local regulations and employment contracts.

But even when using such seemingly legal schemes, employees are still exposed to risks. To protect employees as much as possible, the employer can enter into a civil contract with them.

In this case, each employee is represented as an individual entrepreneur, as a result of which all his earnings are taxed according to a simplified scheme.

Advantages and disadvantages

As already mentioned, a gray salary has a number of disadvantages for the employee. And there are quite a few of them, and most are due to the fact that official or white earnings are minimal.

So, if an employee is paid gray wages, then:

• the amount of sick leave and dismissal payments is reduced, and vacation pay is also reduced;
• in the event of a conflict with superiors, the employee can receive minimal compensation;
• It may be difficult to obtain a loan or credit, since only the white part of earnings can be indicated in the data.

But the main disadvantage of such work will become noticeable with the arrival of retirement age. The fact is that there are practically no personal income tax deductions from the minimum wage.

As a result, the Pension Fund does not accumulate the amount necessary to provide a person with a pension.

Unlike employees, there is only one disadvantage for a manager, and that is the threat that his actions will be discovered and he will be punished.

But it’s still worth highlighting one plus for the employee. Due to the fact that practically no tax deductions are taken from the income, his final salary becomes slightly higher. But once again it is worth recalling that a small increase in earnings in the future will turn into deductions from your pension.

Consequences

Almost all the consequences that await an employee who receives a gray salary are noted as disadvantages in the previous paragraph.

It is also worth noting that when receiving undocumented earnings, an employee is practically not protected in any way. And if the employer refuses, he simply will not be able to prove his right to the unpaid amounts.

The employer will also face certain consequences if it is discovered that he used a gray scheme.

The least punishment will be administrative liability. In the worst case, it may turn out to be criminal, followed by imprisonment.

Where to contact?

If an employee decides to defend his rights, he should contact three services:

• labor inspection;
• tax service;
• prosecutor's office

However, it is necessary to provide your personal information, since anonymous messages rarely lead to the desired result and can lead to harmful consequences.

In addition, you need to prepare evidence in advance that will support the employee’s testimony.

Responsibility

When a gray scheme is revealed, all parties who took part in it in one way or another face a certain responsibility. At the same time, it will concern not only managers.

In many cases, employees who received gray wages also come under attack from the tax authorities.

Employer

According to the Tax Code, in 2020 the employer faces administrative liability in the form of a fine.

Its amount will be 20% of the total amount that the manager did not pay for taxes.

In addition, there are penalties for non-payment of insurance premiums, which can reach up to 10 thousand rubles.

But if it turns out that the total amount of unpaid taxes has grown to large amounts, then the company’s management, in accordance with Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, may be brought to criminal liability.

In this case, three scenarios are possible:

1. Imposition of a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles.
2. Appointment of arrest or forced labor.
3. Deprivation of liberty.

Employee

As for the employee, many believe that if a gray scheme is identified, he can “get away with it.”

However, do not forget that a citizen who receives income from which personal income tax was not withheld must independently declare his income. At the same time, he is obliged to pay at least 13% of their amount.

If this was not done, then the violator is given a fine of 5% of the amount of all unpaid taxes.

If an employee knowingly covered up for the employer or received particularly large sums in a shady way, then he faces criminal liability under Article 198 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

It may take the form of a fine ranging from 300 thousand to a million rubles. In extreme cases, the employee faces a prison sentence of one to three years.

What to do in case of non-payment?

If, upon receiving a gray salary, an employee suddenly notices that the amount of payments provided to him has been reduced to the amount of official earnings, then he can do the following:

1. Trying to wait until the salary increases, which is not the best idea.
2. Talk to your employer and try to normalize your earnings. This can be done by those who are satisfied with a gray salary.
3. File a complaint with the appropriate authorities.

The last option is the most correct, but at the same time the most difficult of those presented, due to the fact that it will be quite difficult for the employee to prove that he is right.

Where to complain?

Before applying anywhere, an employee must carefully study the Labor Code. From it you can deduct what payments are due in a particular case, and also indicate all possible types of white salaries.

After studying the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, an employee can file a complaint with the commission, which deals with resolving controversial situations in the labor sphere.

In addition, you can submit an application to the prosecutor's office or the State Labor Inspectorate.

In addition, the employee has the opportunity to file a claim in court.

How to prove?

It is extremely difficult to prove that an employer is using a gray payment scheme.

But if the employee still did not receive his salary, or other controversial situations arose, to prove the employer’s guilt you need to:

1. Determine whether there are witnesses.
2. Provide any recording or photograph that would allow you to prove the existence of a violation.
3. Provide financial statements of regularity of gray earnings.

The employee can also compare the level of his official earnings with those of other employers in the region. But it’s better to do this before employment. The employee also has the right to go to court.

Going to court

In order to go to court, an employee only needs to file a simple statement of claim. The document must indicate the claims, as well as the circumstances under which the employee was deceived.

Often in everyday life you can hear the following phrases: white salary, black salary. For most, the difference between these concepts is obvious. And everyone chooses for themselves how they will be rewarded for the work done. Let’s try to figure out what is attractive about both payment options.

Salary is

There are many definitions of wages, but the essence is the same. This is the remuneration of an employee, depending on his qualifications and his contribution to the common cause. The Government of the Russian Federation has established a minimum below which the employer does not have the right to pay an employee. In 2017, this amount was 7,800 rubles per month. Additionally, in each region there are regional salary increases, which slightly increase the cost of living.

Types of wages

Salaries can be divided into types:

• Nominal salary is the amount of money that is paid to an employee for his activities in the organization.
• The real wage is the amount of goods and services that can be purchased for a nominal wage.

The real salary directly depends on the nominal one, that is, the higher the remuneration a person receives at work, the higher his purchasing power, and accordingly, the higher the real salary. This indicator also depends on the tax contributions that citizens transfer to the state from their income. Accordingly, the higher they are, the lower the real salary. Prices for goods and services are also important for calculating this indicator. The higher they are, the lower the real wage.

There is another popular division of salaries into types:

• white;
• black;
• gray

This division is of an everyday nature. It is unlikely that you will come across paragraphs in economics textbooks with the title “White salary”. Therefore, let's understand the terms in more detail.

What is white salary

There are several signs of a white or official salary:

A little about taxes and contributions

It’s no secret that 13% of the total amount of payments to the employee is deducted from the employee’s official salary to the state fund. This is the so-called income tax. By law, these are all tax contributions that an employee must pay to the country's budget. Additionally, the employer transfers about 30% of the total amount of payments to the employee to extra-budgetary funds:

• Contributions to the pension fund - 22%.
• Contributions to the Social Insurance Fund - 2.9%.
• Contributions to the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund - 5.1%.

All deductions listed above are made every month and are reflected in all financial documents of the employer.

What is black wages

Black wages or wages in an envelope are usually paid in organizations that want to avoid unnecessary costs for their employees and reduce the cost of taxes and contributions. As a rule, in such companies no contracts are concluded between the employee and the employer. All agreements are only in words. Therefore, people who use such a remuneration scheme are not always trustworthy.

What is a gray salary

Many companies, even those that have been on the market for decades, use this scheme to minimize the amount of contributions to the state budget and extra-budgetary funds. The essence of the gray salary is that the employee’s minimum salary is specified in the contract. It is from him that all deductions will go to the tax office and for contributions to the Pension Fund, Social Insurance Fund, and Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. Considering the meager salaries, payments will also be minimal. This is the so-called official part of the salary. Additionally, the employee will receive the rest of the salary in the envelope, which will not be reflected in the accounting document.

Pros and cons of white salary

From the point of view of the law and common sense, the only option for an employee may be to receive an official salary. After all, the poles of a white salary are obvious:

• Security. This is one of the main factors. After all, all relations between an employee and an organization are enshrined in an employment contract, in which, according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, wages are included as a separate clause. Therefore, unauthorized decisions by the employer regarding the employee’s position at the enterprise or changes in wages will be impossible. Also, having a contract in hand, the employee will protect himself from situations where unofficial wages are not paid.
• Future development. As a rule, white wage schemes are used by companies that look confidently into the future and that care about attracting high-quality employees, providing them with comfortable working conditions. A company that rewards its employees with money in an envelope may in fact turn out to be a fly-by-night company.
• Lending. People who receive a white salary can borrow money at interest from the bank on more favorable terms than people whose income is unofficial. At the same time, they will not need to collect a pile of documents that would confirm their income. It is enough to bring only 2 certificates from work.
• Pension. Few people care about the payments that a person will receive after crossing the age of sixty. For many, retirement is a distant prospect. But it is from our income that the basic part of it is formed. Therefore, salary and pension are inextricably linked.
• Payment of sick leave, vacation pay, and maternity pay is also based on the employee’s official earnings.
• If an employment contract is terminated at the initiative of the employee or as a result of the liquidation of the enterprise, the employee must receive all payments due to him.

Every medal has two sides. Therefore, the white scheme also has a number of negative points:

Why do employers use color-coded pay schemes?

Many companies operating in Russia use a gray remuneration scheme in practice. The main reasons are as follows:

How can employees with gray and black salaries prove the receipt of funds?

Situations often occur when an employer, who pays salaries in envelopes, does not pay the employee for a long time or, upon dismissal, refuses to pay the money earned by the employee. This issue can be resolved, but the process will not be easy. There are three ways of development of events:

1. Write an application to the Rostrud inspectorate. In writing, it is necessary to indicate the amount that the employee received monthly, the time for which mandatory payments were delayed, and what rights were violated. After accepting the application, Rostrud initiates an inspection of the organization where the applicant worked. The procedure takes place without the participation of an employee, and its results will be reported after completion.
2. Contact the prosecutor's office. Since failure to pay wages or other income to an employee is a criminal offense. The statement also describes the situation between the employee and the employer. After this, an inspection of the enterprise is also organized.
3. Going to court. One of the effective ways to hold the employer accountable. But to prove the illegal behavior of the company owner will require a lot of evidence. These include: voice recordings, witness statements, information about posted vacancies of the enterprise, where the employee’s income will be recorded. A good proof of receipt of salary is a certificate of income of the employee for obtaining a loan, filled out by the employer in free form.

In order not to prove that you are right, and not to waste time and nerves, choose organizations that formalize relations in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The salary here is official.

28.04.16 178 443 50

Why worry if you pay in an envelope?

You got a new job. On payday, the accountant hands you an envelope.

You are in trouble: you are paid a dull salary, and you become an accomplice to the crime.

Kristina Frolova

What is a gray salary

Gray is a salary on which taxes are paid only partially. It consists of an official white part, from which contributions go to the state, and an unofficial part, from which taxes are not paid.

The scheme works like this: the employer enters into a contract with you and assigns you a tiny official salary. From this tiny salary he pays small taxes and contributions for you. He somehow cashes out the rest of his salary and gives it to you in an envelope, bypassing taxes, thereby saving money.

According to the documents, it looks like the employer has low-paid employees. It's not illegal, although it is suspicious. But in essence, this is a tax evasion scheme - at your expense.

Perhaps this is money from an underground brothel or drug den

No one knows where the employer takes gray money from: from his own pocket or from money purchased from cashers. It may well be that the money in the envelope is money from an underground brothel or drug den.

Your employer can stop paying you at any time. It will be difficult to get money in this situation. That is why you should know about all the negative consequences of a salary in an envelope.

Criminal liability

Taxes on employee salaries are paid by the employer. He is a tax agent. But the personal income tax payer is the employee himself. When you receive an unofficial portion of your salary, you are breaking the law. If the case goes to court, it will be difficult to prove your non-involvement in the employer’s financial fraud. The court may decide that you were in a criminal conspiracy.

Punishment for gray wages

According to Art. 122 Tax Code, the penalty for non-payment of taxes is 20 or 40% of the unpaid amount. 20% - if you did not pay taxes out of ignorance, 40% - if on purpose. If your official salary is 10,000 rubles, but you receive 100,000 in an envelope, for two years the 20% fine will be 62,400 rubles, and the 40% fine will be 124,800 rubles.

According to Art. 198 of the Criminal Code, you will pay more for non-payment of taxes from 100,000 to 300,000 rubles on top or give away your entire salary or other income for 1 or 2 years. Either you will be punished with forced labor, arrested or sent to prison for a year.

How to avoid: immediately write statements to the prosecutor's office and the tax office stating that the employer is evading taxes. This is enough for the authorities to begin an inspection. Write a complaint about the violation of your rights to the labor inspectorate.

Statements and complaints are proof that you did not want to receive a gray salary.

Funny vacation pay

When you get ready to go on vacation, be prepared for the fact that your vacation pay will be much less than your salary in the envelope. For reporting purposes, the accounting department will calculate vacation pay based on the official salary, not the actual salary.

You are flying to Crimea for 28 days from June 1st. Your official salary is 10,000 rubles, but you are paid 100,000. You were not sick, did not receive bonuses or allowances. During the entire 12 months before the vacation, we sat in the office from Monday to Friday.

3 days before the trip, you expect to receive the usual advance payment in an envelope - 45,000 rubles. Instead, you are given 9556 rubles 31 kopecks - this is the amount of vacation pay you are entitled to by law based on your official salary.

It may be different. Some employers pay gray holiday pay in full. Others may not pay any holiday pay at all - it may only be on paper. In any case, you must understand the risks.

But the size of the official salary does not affect obtaining a visa. The consulate can only find out whether you work in the place indicated in the application form. The consulate cannot verify your income.

How to avoid: Check with your colleagues in advance how vacation pay is paid. In other words, talk to your employer. Perhaps in this conversation you will find out that you are not entitled to any vacation pay at all and formally you have already taken your vacation a long time ago.

Meager severance pay

By law, if an employer, on its own initiative, fires you during staff reduction or liquidation of a company, it must pay you severance pay. Usually this is two average monthly earnings. If your official salary is 50 thousand, you did not receive additional bonuses, and the company lays you off, you will have to be paid about 100 thousand - this is the law.

It is not difficult to guess that severance pay is also calculated from the official salary.

You've been laid off. If your salary was actually 10,000 rubles, you would hardly be upset. But they pay you 100,000 in an envelope, and it would be a shame to lose it.

As a severance pay, instead of the gray 200,000 rubles, you are given two official average monthly earnings - about 20,322 rubles. You will have to live on them, although you are used to something else.

It can be worse: the employer may force you to write a statement “of your own free will” upon dismissal - then you will not be entitled to any payments. In a company that defiantly avoids taxes, this is also possible.

How to avoid: try to convince your employer to give you the full amount of your regular salary when you leave. But remember that if you ruin your relationship with him, you will definitely be paid only the amount specified in the contract.

Then all you can do is write a complaint to the labor inspectorate or the prosecutor's office. You will punish the employer, but you will not receive money from him, and, most likely, you will also pay a tax penalty. If the gray salary only came back to you when you were laid off, the chances of restoring justice are slim.

Micro-hospital

If you are sick and have sick leave, by law your employer must pay you benefits while you are being treated. The same goes for caring for a child or a sick relative. By law, the amount of this benefit is calculated based on your official salary.

The official salary is 10,000 rubles. If your salary has not changed for 2 years, the benefit amount will be 3945 rubles 54 kopecks. This is enough for two packages of homeopathic pellets.

How to avoid: the same as with vacation pay - check with your colleagues how sick leave is paid. Discuss all the formalities with the employer: maybe sick leave is not needed at all, and your illness will not affect your salary. Some employers only pay sick leave on paper.

Nanopension

You earn 100,000. You are on top, although this amount is not enough for everything. But how will you live in old age?

From an official salary of 10,000 rubles, your employer contributes 2,200 to your pension. If your 100,000 were not gray, he would contribute 22,000. The difference is noticeable.

Unfortunately, in any case there is no guarantee that you will have a decent pension. Even if your employer contributes 22,000 rubles a month, this does not mean that you will receive the same 22 thousand in 40 years. The state can use this money in some other way.

How to avoid: talking to your boss won't help. It is unlikely that your employer will raise your official salary. If employee salaries vary greatly in reporting, this will arouse suspicion from the tax office. She will start checking.

Refusal for a loan for a large amount

With an official salary of 10,000, you will not be able to count on a mortgage or a car loan, except perhaps for a consumer one. Even if the gray part of the salary is much more than the official one, you will have to forget about profitable interest.

When a bank gives you a loan, it must assess the risks: whether you can repay the loan from your salary and whether you can be fired without severance pay. Banks were not born yesterday and know what a gray salary is, so for many this way of receiving money will be a risk factor.

Some banks, on the contrary, do not see a risk in gray wages. “The main thing is that you have money,” such banks think. But just in case, they also increase the interest rate on the loan.

In each specific case, the employee decides for himself: to put up with the salary in an envelope or not. If you are about to buy an apartment or have a child, or you are going to live on retirement, it is better to find another job.

In the following articles we will talk about bonuses, allowances and overtime payments due to the employee.

conclusions

1. The employer does not pay taxes on gray wages.
2. The amount and terms of payment of gray wages are not officially fixed.
3. Paying and receiving gray wages is a criminal offense.
4. Vacation pay, sick leave and severance pay are calculated from the official part of the salary.
5. The future pension depends on the size of the official salary.
6. Banks will not approve a mortgage if your official salary is small.

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• 17.06.16

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  The company applied the simplified tax system with the object “income” and paid monthly dividends to the founder S., which at that time (2010-2011) were taxed at a rate of 9%. Based on the results of the on-site inspection, the Federal Tax Service assessed additional personal income tax, penalties and a fine to the company, indicating that these payments are not in essence dividends, and therefore are subject to personal income tax at a rate of 13%. The inspection found that these dividends were spent on payments to employees of unofficial... 7 5 824



• 09.12.15

  The number of Russians willing to work with a “gray” or “black” salary fell by 19% over 6 years. Today, 41% of Russians are ready to receive their salary in an envelope, a survey by the Superjob portal showed. A third (35%) do not agree with such a remuneration scheme, 24% found it difficult to answer. Men agree to work for a “black” salary almost 1.5 times more often than women: 48 and 34%, respectively. Slightly less likely than others are Russians aged 24-35 years old (39%),... 1 602

• 19.06.15

  The head of the Ministry of Labor believes that legal businesses should propose measures to combat the “gray” sector of the economy. 1 2 159



• 17.06.15

  They want to add an article to the Criminal Code for “illegal reduction of wages.” 7 3 401



• 24.04.15

  A new fine will be introduced for salaries in envelopes. 1 897



• 26.03.15

  Another 15-16% of citizens receive some part of their salary officially, and receive the rest illegally. 1 914



• 24.03.15

  The number of Russians willing to receive “gray” and “black” salaries has decreased by almost a quarter over the past six years and amounted to 44%, according to the results of a study by the Superjob portal. According to Rosstat, however, the number of people working in the shadow sector, on the contrary, is growing: in 2013, 14.1 million people were employed in it. 8 2 124

• 10.02.15

  The Supreme Council of the Republic of Khakassia introduced bill No. 717519-6 to the State Duma on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation in order to strengthen the responsibility of employers for concealing the tax base and the base for calculating insurance contributions to state extra-budgetary funds. It is planned to add clauses on liability for understatement by... 14 5 721



• 22.01.15

  The authorities of the Novosibirsk region are looking for new ways to combat shadow business: according to experts, due to “gray” salaries, the region’s budget annually loses over twelve billion rubles, and forty percent of the region’s economy evades taxation in one way or another. Governor Vladimir Gorodetsky signed a resolution on the creation of an interdepartmental commission on reducing informal employment and legalizing unofficial wages. 2 027



• 22.07.14

  President of "Opora Rossii" Alexander Brechalov sent letters to Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and presidential aide Andrei Belousov, in which he warned about the consequences of increasing the fiscal burden on small businesses. Vedomosti writes about this, citing copies of letters available to the editorial office. Opora was concerned about the plans of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Kremlin to increase the fiscal burden to ensure a balance between the federal and regional... 1 189

• 25.06.14

  In 2014, the Government named the fight against “gray” wages as one of the priority tasks in the field of taxation. Maxim Gladkikh-Rodionov, general director of the audit company “Confidence,” recalling the experience of past years, tried to understand how this initiative would be implemented. 2 359

• 18.06.14

  Having considered it in the first reading, the State Duma rejected bill No. 392583-6, previously introduced by the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia. The document proposed to establish the liability of tax agents for personal income tax for failure to reflect payments to individuals under employment or civil law contracts in tax and accounting records. The fine for this was supposed to be at least 20% of the personal income tax payable, but not less than 10 thousand rubles. The authors don't... 1 752



• 10.06.14

  The Tax Service automates the receipt of information on household deposits. 13 6 854



• 11.04.14

  According to a study by the Superjob portal, over the past five years the number of Russians willing to work informally has decreased by 12%. If in 2009, 60% of those who took part in the survey were ready to receive their salary in an envelope, then in 2014 only 48% were ready to receive their salary in an envelope. However, according to Rosstat statistics, 19% of Russians actually work in the shadows now. 814



• 04.04.14

  The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation proposes to increase the responsibility of the employer for paying employees “gray” salaries: if the enterprise does not provide the tax calculation of the amount of personal income tax on time or is unable to justify it, then this will result in the blocking of the current account and fines. The draft relevant amendments to the Tax Code have been published on the unified information disclosure portal. "Failure to submit (late submission) to the tax authority in... 1 3 493



• 27.02.14

  Kemerovo legislators yesterday passed in the first reading a bill establishing rewards for informants who reported cases of payment of “gray” salaries. Its author, Governor of Kuzbass Aman Tuleyev, proposed paying citizens 10% of the amount of taxes that the authorities manage to collect into the budget from violating companies. The State Duma doubts the effectiveness of the initiative, explaining that the law will be actively used “in corporate wars of business entities.” 1 1 924



• 26.02.14

  The Legislative Assembly of the Penza Region proposes to fine employers who pay “gray” wages. The corresponding bill was submitted to the State Duma on Tuesday. The bill proposes to supplement Article 120 of the Tax Code of Russia (gross violation of the rules for accounting for income and expenses and objects of taxation) with a clause providing for liability for payments of income to individuals without registration in the prescribed manner... 2 790



• 16.01.14

  If the salaries of employees seem too low to the inspectors, accountants and directors may be invited to the commission for explanations. In a letter from the Federal Tax Service for Moscow dated December 2, 2013 No. 13-11/124520@, officials told what earnings figures they are guided by. Tax officials compare company payments with the following information: the cost of living in Moscow and the average salary per employee by type of economic... 1 830



• 25.11.13

  The Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia introduced bill No. 392583-6 to the State Duma. The document proposes to establish the liability of tax agents for personal income tax for failure to reflect payments to individuals under employment or civil law contracts in tax and accounting records. It is proposed to set the fine for this at no less than 20% of the personal income tax payable, but not less than 10 thousand rubles. The authors did not specify whether this limitation applies to... 1 400



• 14.11.13

  A package of three pension bills has already been submitted to the State Duma, but the battles around the reform still do not subside. Everyone has their own complaints: citizens are afraid of cuts in payments, businesses are talking about an increase in the burden on wage funds, experts consider the law to be crude and are asking to extend the discussion for another year. One of the architects of the new pension formula, State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection ANDREY PUDOV, told RBC daily correspondent ALINA EVSTIGNEEVA why he himself is a “silent man” and what changes the pension package may undergo by the second reading in the State Duma. 7 1 739



• 14.11.13

  The volume of salaries “in envelopes” in 2012 reached a fantastic level of 9 trillion rubles. 2 2 366

• 08.10.13

  In early October, the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Sergei Morozov, proposed introducing criminal liability for the heads of companies that pay salaries “in envelopes.” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov then agreed with the need to strengthen responsibility, but suggested that it could remain administrative. 6 2 639

• 07.10.13

  Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov proposes to tighten the liability of employers who pay “gray” salaries to their employees, but we should not be talking about criminal, but about administrative liability. “I absolutely agree with increasing responsibility - maybe not criminal, but it is necessary to increase administrative responsibility and increase it in monetary terms,” Siluanov told reporters following the meeting... 1 2 103

• 06.08.13

  The average salary that companies indicate in job advertisements and the official salary amounts in reports to the employment service differ several times. This curious fact has become a “litmus test” that allows labor inspectors to accurately calculate which employer gives part of the money they earn to their employees in unaccounted cash. The problem of shadow wages, not subject to taxes and social contributions, is a problem not only for... 15 5 130

• 26.07.13

  The Central Bank will not allow citizens to accumulate a lot of debt. And the owners of luxury apartments, stuck in loans, will have to move to Khrushchev-era apartment buildings. The Bank of Russia intends to change legislation to curb the growth of unsecured consumer lending. One of the key ideas is to set a limit on the credit burden on households. Moreover, not only loans received from banks will be taken into account, but also loans from microfinance organizations. ... 1 1 286



• 19.07.13

  ACCOUNTING, TAXES A letter from the Federal Tax Service has been published, supplementing the list of transactions with a high tax risk Agency schemes have been officially outlawed Read more >> Chelyabinsk poultry houses have had their VAT wings clipped The Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court has closed an original and rather elegant VAT refund scheme that could be practiced by its defaulters Read more >> In Russia A standard chart of accounts will appear. But... 2 400



• 17.07.13

  It is necessary to instill in people intolerance towards such a phenomenon as “gray salaries”. This opinion was expressed to journalists by the head of the Ministry of Labor Maxim Topilin. “Those who pay “gray salaries” lead an immoral lifestyle, taking money out of the pockets of all of us,” M. Topilin noted. “But no one goes to demonstrations and says: “Let’s brand them with shame.” And then you say that our healthcare, kindergartens, schools are underfunded. And how do they... 31 3 433



• 10.07.13

  This conclusion was made by the Rabota.ru analytical center based on the results of its latest labor market study. A survey conducted by the center showed that more than three quarters of employees are registered in accordance with all the requirements of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. 76% of respondents answered affirmatively to the question “Are you officially registered?” Only 24% of respondents gave a negative answer. Thus, the majority of employees of Russian companies are by no means “in the shadows”. What can't... 13 3 049



• 27.03.13

  The share of Russians who agree to a “gray” salary is decreasing from year to year. These are the results of a survey conducted by the Research Center of the recruiting portal Superjob.ru. Today, 47% of respondents are ready to work for a salary in an envelope. In February 2009 there were 60% of them, in January 2011 - 51%. Those who are ready to work and receive a salary “in an envelope” are more numerous among men (54% versus 39% of women), as well as among young people under 24 years of age (52%). ... 2 891

• 08.08.12

  Companies that act as tax agents for personal income tax often have practical questions regarding the calculation and withholding of tax and the provision of deductions to employees. Also relevant are new trends in the Federal Tax Service’s fight against salaries in envelopes, for which the company and the employee may pay with fines and additional personal income tax charges. We talked about this with Kirill Vladimirovich Kotov, Advisor to the Individual Taxation Department of the Taxation Directorate of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, and discussed the pressing problems and risks of paying gray salaries to employees. 9 151

• 23.07.12

  Now 83% of companies pay salaries “in an envelope” or otherwise minimize insurance premiums - this is three times more than during the 2008 crisis, Vladislav Korochkin, first vice-president of Opora Russia, told Izvestia. He associates the deterioration of the situation in the field of small and medium-sized businesses primarily with the increase in insurance premiums from 14 to 30%. 1 3 696

• 14.06.12

  During the social campaign to legalize wages, tax officials are holding on-site seminars at enterprises, reports the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the Lipetsk region. At seminars, inspectors tell enterprise employees about the consequences for them of paying gray wages, and what they should do if the employer offers wages “in an envelope.” ... 1 843



• 14.06.12

  Directors and accountants of companies paying “gray” salaries may face criminal charges. The bill, which provides for such punishment for the deliberate failure of a company to pay income tax (personal income tax), has already been submitted to the State Duma. Those found guilty face a fine of 100 to 300 thousand rubles, arrest for up to six months or imprisonment for a year. In this case, the amount hidden does not play a role - under certain... 47 17 673

• 06.06.12

  In order to identify incomplete payment of personal income tax, tax authorities not only analyze the reports submitted by the taxpayer, but also use information from external sources. The Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the resort city of Gelendzhik spoke about what facts make tax inspectors think that this or that enterprise is paying a gray salary. This is: payment of wages to employees below the minimum wage, subsistence level, and... 2 309

• 27.03.12

  The Federal Tax Service for the Tver Region, in its note “On the consequences of paying wages “in envelopes””, reported on the development of new ways to identify them: “Tax authorities of the Tver Region, when analyzing the reports submitted by the taxpayer to the tax authority, as well as guided by information from external sources with In order to identify unscrupulous employers, pays attention to the following factors: payment of wages... 1 861



• 31.05.11

  Even if an organization pays wages in envelopes, the amount of personal income tax that it would be obliged to withhold from employees cannot be determined by calculation. The resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated 04/06/2011 No. KA-A40/2505−11 in case No. A40−29190/10−129−127 considered the following situation. During an on-site audit, the tax inspectorate established that the organization paid wages to some employees... 1 387



• 26.05.11

  Yesterday in Moscow, entrepreneurs held a rally on the Taras Shevchenko embankment. According to the organizers of the event, about 3 thousand representatives of small and medium-sized businesses from more than 30 regions of the country gathered there. All of them demand that the authorities urgently, no later than July 1, reduce the amount of insurance contributions of employers from the wage fund to 14%. The deadline for the government to submit proposals to the president to reduce these contributions from the current 34%, ... 808

• 11.05.11

  Despite the fact that the majority of Russian citizens have a negative attitude towards entrepreneurs who evade taxes and pay their employees “gray” salaries, the number of citizens who condemn management for tax evasion has not changed in ten years. At the same time, the share of those who are opposed to “gray” wages increased by a quarter, and the number of workers who do not care what scheme the employer uses has increased by 40%. 1 105

• 22.04.11

  AUDIT The composition of the Audit Council and its working body was approved. On April 20, 2011, by orders of the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation - Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation A.L. Kudrin, the composition of the Audit Council and its working body was approved. Read more about this >> Information about the simplified procedure for passing the qualification exam for obtaining an auditor certificate At the official... 4 741

• 20.04.11

  Investment analysts saw the latest data from Rosstat as confirmation of entrepreneurs going into the shadows and salaries into envelopes. On Tuesday, Rosstat revised retail data for 2010 and for January-February 2011 towards improvement: in March, retail trade turnover increased by 4.8% in annual terms. Figures of outpacing retail trade dynamics over household incomes may be evidence of a negative business reaction to growth... 1 1 557

• 12.04.11

  “Gray” salaries remain a serious problem for the Russian economy. According to trade unions, their share is 50%. Experts believe that to combat “convertible” wages, control measures should be tightened, while ensuring an optimal regime of social benefits for employers. According to the head of Rosstat, Alexander Surinov, today the “gray” economy employs almost 13 million people and accounts for about 16%... 1 860

• 17.03.11

  As a survey conducted by the newspaper "Accounting. Taxes. Law" together with the editors of the magazine "Practical Tax Planning" showed, the majority of companies pay money in envelopes in exchange for a reduction in official salaries - about 46 percent. A third of respondents pay part of their salaries as bonuses. And only 20 percent pay “gray” wages instead of increasing the official salary. Needless to say, salary cuts are one of those... 1 316

• 15.03.11

  The increase in contributions has brought back the popularity of the “gray” salary. If before 2011 almost half of the companies paid using “envelopes”, then in the three months of this year another 28 percent joined them. These are the results of a study that the newspaper "Accounting. Taxes. Law" jointly conducted with colleagues from the journal "Practical Tax Planning" to create a true picture of unofficial wages. Capabilities of the company's envelope scheme... 1 498

• 11.03.11

  The increase in insurance rates to 34 percent has returned the popularity of the “gray” salary. In 2011, three quarters of all practitioners are going to resort to it. However, as shown by a survey conducted by the editors of PNP from February 1 to 28 on the magazine’s website, in most cases no one cares about the risks of this method. 1 4 129

• 10.03.11

  The increase in insurance rates to 34 percent has returned the popularity of the “gray” salary. In 2011, three quarters of all practitioners are going to resort to it. However, as shown by a survey conducted by the editors of PNP from February 1 to 28 on the magazine’s website, in most cases no one cares about the risks of this method. If we summarize the research data, then a typical optimizer would be a company that pays out more than 50 percent of the total salary, not... 2 1 174



• 01.03.11

  Often, during inspections, the weakest link is the company’s employees, who tell the auditors about their “gray” salaries. In practice, some employers tell employees in advance why it is not profitable for them to report envelopes to inspectors. Firstly, in addition to insurance contributions to extra-budgetary funds, payments in favor of employees are also subject to personal income tax. And according to the code, its payer is the employee, and not the employer (clause... 915

• 08.02.11

  An employer's certificate of inflated average earnings, issued to an employee to obtain a bank loan, does not confirm the envelope scheme. During the on-site inspection, inspectors discovered that one of the company’s employees had taken out a loan. In the certificate of employment about earnings, which the employee submitted to the bank when drawing up the contract, the salary amount was significantly different from what was written in the employment contract and staffing table. Besides, in... 1 715

• 27.01.11

  Since 2011, the rate of insurance premiums has been increased. Now it is 34 percent. Why are the Pension Fund not afraid of “gray” salaries and how are they going to fight them? What other changes can accountants expect this year? The answers are in our interview. 2 940



• 21.01.11

  The tax reform, which provides for the replacement of the 14% social tax with so-called social payments, the volume of which can reach 34%, has pushed many Russians to quickly obtain a mortgage. Since the tax burden on the employer has increased, people expect a massive return of “gray” salary schemes, for participants of which it will be more difficult and more expensive to confirm their income and, therefore, get a housing loan than for the lucky ones... 1 468

• 19.11.10

  On November 16, at the Third All-Russian Pension Forum, co-chairman of Business Russia, Head of the Social Policy Committee of the Public Chamber, Elena Nikolaeva, proposed the abolition of the introduced regressive scale of social insurance payments and the introduction of a single level of 27%. According to the data provided by Ms. Nikolaeva from an official survey conducted by the Public Chamber jointly with the Institute for Problems of Economy in Transition... 995



• 17.11.10

  “Business Russia” proposes to replace the regressive scale of social insurance payments introduced on January 1 with a single bar of 27% from the current 26%, which could solve the problems of the Pension Fund. Otherwise, part of the business will return to the practice of “gray salaries” and will save on social services, surveys say. Since 2010, the Unified Social Tax (UST) in Russia has been replaced by insurance contributions to the Pension Fund, Social Insurance Fund and mandatory... 1 115

• 11.10.10

  Tax officials and representatives of funds are well aware of ways to save personal income tax and insurance premiums and are trying in every possible way to expose them. To confirm the scheme, they most often refer to understated or inflated salaries. Experts have weighed in on whether the company should be wary of such evidence. The experts' points of view were appreciated by PNP readers. 9 095



• 11.10.10

  In 2010, the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) was short of 5 million insured: businesses transferred workers to civil contracts. Since 2011, officials have promised to close the loophole. From 2011, employers will begin paying contributions to the Social Insurance Fund for persons working under civil contracts. Until now, these agreements have not been included in the social insurance system, although contributions to the Pension Fund (PFR), the Medical Insurance Fund and personal income tax... 2 1 848

• 18.08.10

  As Rosstat reported yesterday, wage arrears in the Russian Federation in July increased by 11.1%, to 3.3 billion rubles. At the same time, according to government statistics, the level of wages in the country is reaching the pre-crisis level, but at the same time more than 20 million people live below the poverty line. And according to the Pension Fund, every sixth Russian receives less than 1 thousand rubles. per month. Independent experts note that all these figures can be trusted only to a certain extent... 2 1 582

• 04.08.10

  For the first time in St. Petersburg, the prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against one of the St. Petersburg companies for issuing “gray” salaries to employees. Law enforcement officials consider the main evidence in the case to be the “second accounting book,” which the police seized during an audit of the taxpayer’s company. As the prosecutor's office told us, they have long been interested in the transfer of salary taxes by the Kordon-S security company. According to Elena Ordynskaya, press secretary... 1 473

• 27.07.10

  Tax officials do not have the right to charge additional personal income tax to a company, referring to the testimony of those employees who, for their part, did not report to the Federal Tax Service on the salary received, according to them, in an envelope. During the on-site inspection, inspectors fined the company and charged it a penalty because they decided that it had underpaid personal income tax to the budget. The auditors made this conclusion based on the testimony of several employees and a certificate from the local statistics office about... 1 061

• 22.07.10

  The Pension Fund of Russia (PFR) is sounding the alarm - about 17% of working citizens in Russia receive an official salary of less than a thousand rubles a month. This fact will negatively affect the pension provision of the population, the growth of which can only occur following an increase in the wage fund. Experts are puzzled: some consider the Pension Fund data to be a clear exaggeration, others complain about the crisis, during which employers tried to hide official... 1 164

• 23.03.10

  The Moscow budget is suffering colossal losses due to the fact that businesses have begun to increasingly use “gray” wage payment schemes. Nine out of ten Moscow companies reward their employees with money “in an envelope,” experts estimate. Recently, the capital's tax authorities identified 142 ways to evade payroll taxation, the Moscow department of the Federal Tax Service told an RG correspondent. By the way, those employees who accept... 1 598

• 10.04.09

  Our reader managed to refute in court all the evidence from the inspectorate, which, in its opinion, confirmed the evasion of salary taxes and pension contributions. 1 767

• 02.12.08

  “Gray” employee benefits are gradually becoming a thing of the past. According to experts, today their share in Russia is slightly more than 20%. A year ago, these same experts spoke about fifty percent. It turns out that entrepreneurs no longer want to take risks, and Russian business methods are becoming more transparent. However, in practice, not everything is so smooth... 1 4 771

• 27.11.08

  They stopped paying salaries! This is exactly the situation when company employees pick up the Labor Code and hastily begin to look for solutions to their problems there. We will help you understand the norms of labor legislation and indicate possible ways out of a difficult situation. 3 666

• 14.08.08

  During an on-site tax audit, inspectors often conduct a kind of social survey among the company’s employees about how clean their wages are and what sins they know about the company. Of course, not everyone will want to testify against their employer, but not everyone - not everyone... 1 414

• 08.07.08

  Interrogating witnesses with bias is a common thing for tax inspectors. But if earlier the attention of Moscow inspectors was mainly focused on individuals working in the company, now witnesses in the case are often former employees or those who are on maternity leave for up to three years. A mass mailing to such witnesses was carried out in June by the 7th Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service in Moscow. The editors of the magazine "Glavbukh" learned what information about the company inspectors find out from former employees and those who are on parental leave. 3 338

• 01.07.08

  During the on-site inspection, inspectors found folders with unaccounted statements and expense orders on the accounting desk. Testimony obtained by law enforcement agencies allowed tax authorities to accuse the company of issuing salaries “in an envelope.” What arguments helped you get rid of additional taxes and fines? 3 516

• 20.09.07

  For the second year now, special interdepartmental commissions have been working in the Samara region (as well as throughout Russia) with the participation of tax authorities, the prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the labor inspectorate. If previously the reason for calling officials of organizations for a “heart-to-heart talk” was the fact that wages were paid below the minimum wage and the regional subsistence level, now the “link” is already to industry averages 4 563

• 08.08.07

  The fight against “gray” salaries and one-day pay is not the monopoly of tax specialists. The Department for Combating Tax Crimes of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate is also actively involved in these two areas. But the methods of work that the police use differ from the procedure for conducting tax audits

• 27.10.04

  The boss decided that issuing salaries in an envelope was a thing of the past. Of course, he is still not going to pay the unified social tax in full. And therefore, he intends to resort to a common scheme - calculating salaries under the guise of payments exempt from social tax. For the sake of simplicity, they usually choose rental payments or compensation. But first, it would be nice to find out what you are risking by resorting to such tricks. 3 289

In modern Russian reality, there are such concepts as “black”, “gray” and “white” wages. The “white” salary is fully official compensation for the employee’s work. That is, all payments are made in accordance with the requirements of the law: full display of earnings in accounting and tax reporting, full payment of all required taxes and deductions, the presence of an employment contract, salary calculation in accordance with this contract, and so on.

“Black” wages are inherent in a situation where the employee is not officially employed and does not have an employment contract. Accordingly, there are no legal grounds for this situation. Any calculation of wages and its payment occurs on the basis of either a preliminary agreement between the employee and the employer, or on the basis of a simple decision of the employer. There is no need to talk about any guarantees for the employee in such a situation.

Along with these methods of paying an employee, one completely official and legal and the other completely illegal and completely unofficial, there is another method that has features of one and the other. This is the so-called “gray” salary, when the employee receives one part of the payments in accordance with legal requirements, and the other without official registration, in person.

You can indicate the positive and negative aspects of payments under the “gray” scheme, both for the employee and for the employer. The legal portal site draws your attention to the fact that any advantages of using “gray” salaries have signs of violation of current legislation. Moreover, this applies to both sides of the labor relationship.

For the employer

1. Advantages of the “gray” scheme.

By not showing a certain part of an employee’s income in official reporting documents, the enterprise thereby reduces the size of the base for calculating taxes and other mandatory contributions (to the Pension Fund, insurance and social funds). This allows you to simply not pay these payments to the budget and extra-budgetary funds.

This can amount to a very significant amount if we are talking about one employee. And if there are several workers who receive partial official wages, then the savings for the employer can be impressive.

1. Disadvantages of the “gray” scheme.

All the disadvantages that may concern the employer are directly related to the positive aspects of this scheme. We are talking about liability for violation of legal requirements. If cases of evasion of mandatory payments to the budget are detected, the employer will in any case be obliged to pay significant amounts of fines, penalties, and also fully repay the existing debt. If the “gray” scheme operated for a long time, then we can talk about huge amounts.

In addition, the top management of the enterprise may be subject to personal administrative fines.

In case of proven large amounts of amounts diverted into the gray zone, they can also be prosecuted under criminal law. Under relevant tax evasion charges, key executives may face significant prison term.

For employee

1. Positive aspects of the “gray” salary.

For the employee, the positive side is that he often receives more income compared to a “white” salary, due to the fact that he does not have to pay taxes and other deductions.

Those employees from whom deductions are made from their income (for example, alimony) can also benefit. A decrease in the official part of the salary leads to a decrease in the amount of deductions and, accordingly, a larger amount remains at the disposal of the employee.

1. Negative aspects of the “gray” salary.

If gray schemes are detected when calculating wages, the responsibility will also lie with the employee, since from the point of view of the law he evaded paying personal income tax. Therefore, monetary fines and the obligation to pay all identified payments cannot be avoided by the employee.

The negative aspects also include:

• a decrease in the amount of contributions to the Pension Fund leads to a decrease in future pensions;
• a decrease in the official part of earnings can become an obstacle to obtaining a bank loan (consumer loan, car loan, mortgage), since the bank necessarily takes into account the amount of income of the potential borrower;
• all payments calculated from average earnings (vacation pay, severance pay) are reduced;
• the unofficial part of the salary may simply not be paid by the employer, and the employee has no legal ways to protect himself.

Specialists of the legal portal website believe that you should not be deluded by the advantages of “gray” schemes for calculating and paying salaries. Ultimately, negative consequences have the potential to cause great harm.