In practice, there are cases when an employer sends employees on a business trip without paying daily allowances. And in this situation, the question of how legitimate such actions are is quite natural.
From this article you will find out whether it is possible not to pay per diems when traveling on a business trip, the laws that regulate it all, as well as what are the penalties for individual entrepreneurs and LLCs.
Legislation
If we consider the issue of paying daily allowances from a legal point of view, then first of all we should refer to Article 168 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, adopted by the State Duma on December 21, 2001.
In accordance with this article, the head of the company, who sent the employee on a business trip, is obliged to reimburse all costs associated with a business trip, including per diems. At the same time, the procedure and amount of reimbursement of expenses incurred in connection with a business trip is regulated by a collective agreement or a local regulatory legal act.
At the same time, in accordance with paragraph 10 of the Regulation “On the Peculiarities of Sending Employees on Business Trips”, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 749 of October 13, 2008, the employer, when sending an employee on a business trip, must issue a cash advance that will allow you to pay expenses for travel and rent of accommodation, and other additional expenses related to living outside the place of permanent registration. In this context, we are talking about the payment of per diems.
The specified Regulation provides only one exception, which allows the heads of enterprises and organizations not to pay the designated amounts. So, according to paragraph 5 of clause 11 of the Regulations, in the case of a business trip to an area where the employee can return daily to his permanent place of residence, based on the transport connection and taking into account the nature of the work performed, the employee does not receive advance funds, which were discussed above.
What does an employer care about?
It is not worth violating the requirements of labor legislation regarding the payment of daily allowances, as this can lead to administrative and material liability.
So, according to paragraph 1 of article 5.27. of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses, adopted by the State Duma on December 20, 2001, violation of labor legislation is fraught with a warning or a fine on an official of an organization in the amount of 1-5 thousand rubles. The same measure is provided for individual entrepreneurs without forming a legal entity. As for legal entities, in their case the amount of the fine varies from 30,000 to 50,000 rubles.
If we are talking about a repeated violation, then in this case the official faces a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 rubles or disqualification for a period of 1 to 3 years. For individual entrepreneurs, the size of the administrative fine will rise to 10,000-20,000 rubles, for legal entities – 50,000-70,000 rubles.
Sometimes an enterprise pays per diems even when an employee is sent on a business trip to a place where it is possible to return every day. If this happens, then during the next inspection, the employer may be required to charge insurance premiums and personal income tax in the amount of per diems.
Conclusion
Thus, the current labor legislation obliges employers to pay daily allowances to employees. Thus, the rights of workers are protected. If the head of an enterprise or organization decides to “save” and deny the legal right to daily allowance, this can turn into a lot of administrative problems and tangible expenses for him, which in the end will significantly cover the amount that the company decided to save in this way.
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