Compensation for cell phone use. Compensation for mobile communications for employees

L.V. Chkhutiashvili, auditor, member of the IPB of the Moscow region, Ph.D. econ. sciences

A work mobile phone, when an employer provides an employee with a device and (or) pays for mobile communications, is a common occurrence. How to correctly account for the costs of purchasing mobile phones and paying for communication services?

An employer can take two routes when providing mobile communications to employees:

1) connect them to the corporate tariff, thereby fully paying for mobile communications;

2) pay or reimburse expenses according to the tariff used by the employee.

In both cases, various options are possible: the employer can purchase telephone sets and issue them to employees with or without SIM cards, can issue only SIM cards, can transfer the number used by the employee to a corporate tariff, can pay (compensate) expenses for mobile communications at the tariff used by the employee, in whole or in part.

Income tax

As a general rule, expenses for mobile communications can be taken into account when taxing profits on the basis of subparagraph 25 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. However, as we see, the range of expenses for providing employees with communication services can be quite wide, and not all of them can be written off based on this standard.

As stated in paragraph 1 of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, any expenses recognized in tax accounting must be justified and documented. Justified expenses mean economically justified expenses, the assessment of which is expressed in monetary form. Documented expenses mean expenses supported by documents, including those drawn up in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. Any expenses are recognized as expenses, provided that they are incurred to carry out activities aimed at generating income.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has repeatedly indicated that the taxpayer himself determines the validity and expediency of expenses (Definitions dated June 4, 2007 No. 366-O-P and dated December 16, 2008 No. 1072-O-O). The Ministry of Finance of Russia also agrees with this (letters dated 05/21/2010 No. 03-03-06/1/341 and dated 01/21/2010 No. 03-03-06/1/14).

In Resolution No. 8905/10 dated 03/09/2011, the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation indicated that the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not contain provisions allowing the tax authority to assess the taxpayer’s expenses from the standpoint of their economic feasibility. Business entities have independence in making management decisions. The justification of expenses should not be assessed from the point of view of their expediency.

Mobile phone

When starting to account for mobile communications expenses, you first need to record the costs of purchasing a mobile phone. The procedure for accounting for its cost for profit tax purposes will depend on the price of the phone (we are talking about the price of the phone itself, excluding the cost of the SIM card).

Phones costing more than 40,000 rubles. relate to depreciable property, the acquisition costs of which reduce taxable profit through the depreciation mechanism (clause 1 of Article 256 of the Tax Code).

If the cost of the device is less than 40,000 rubles, the organization has the opportunity to write off the costs of its purchase at a time. Such amounts are included in material costs in full on the date the telephone is put into operation (subclause 3, clause 1, article 254 of the Tax Code).

The transfer of mobile phones to employees must be carried out on a separate statement signed by employees who, from the moment they receive the phones, are responsible for their safety and will be required to return them upon dismissal from the organization. Can an employee take the phone with him, receive it as a gift, or buy it at the residual value from the organization? These issues are always resolved individually by agreement of the parties.

When an employee uses his personal mobile phone for work conversations, the organization can compensate him for use, wear and tear (depreciation), as well as expenses associated with the use of such property, the amount of which is determined by agreement of the parties to the employment contract (Article 188 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The use of an employee’s personal property for business purposes must be determined by his job responsibilities and the nature of his work. This is indicated by the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia in letters dated 08/06/2010 No. 2538-19 (clause 3), dated 03/12/2010 No. 550-19, dated 05/26/2010 No. 1343-19.

As noted in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 2, 2006 No. 03-05-01-04/43, the amount of reimbursement of expenses must correspond to the economically justified costs associated with the actual use of the employee’s personal property for the purposes of work. The organization must have documents (or their duly certified copies) confirming both the ownership of the property used and the expenses incurred when using this property for work purposes.

Confirmation of both the fact that the expenses are of a production nature and that the ownership of the property used belongs to the employee must be the corresponding administrative documents. The amount of reimbursement may:

Determined by agreement between the employee and the employer in writing in the form of a separate document (letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 2, 2006 No. 03-05-01-04/43 and dated November 2, 2004 No. 03-05-01-04/72);

Be recorded in the job description of this employee, which indicates the need to provide the employee in the corresponding position with mobile communications (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 23, 2005 No. 03-03-01-04/1/275) or in the employment contract itself (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 31 .2004 No. 03-03-01-04/1/194).

For these expenses to be economically justified, it is necessary to prove that the employee used a personal mobile phone for work purposes. The production nature of such expenses can be confirmed by such documents as an employee memo describing the reasons for calls from a personal cell phone, detailed account details, an order or order from the manager to pay the cost of calls.

Sim cards

A SIM card is essentially a tool used to connect to mobile communication services. This means that expenses for the purchase of SIM cards can be written off on the basis of subparagraph 25 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as expenses for payment for communication services.

As a rule, an organization purchases SIM cards when it enters into an agreement with a mobile operator to connect to a corporate or business tariff. However, not all cards can be activated and the amounts credited to the accounts can be used. The SIM card may be given to the employee or lost. Therefore, the costs of purchasing SIM cards are taken into account in tax accounting as material expenses of the organization.

If, according to the rules of the mobile operator, the cost of the SIM card is fully or partially credited to the subscriber’s account and will be spent on payment for communication services in the future, such cost (part of it) of the SIM card must be reflected in tax accounting as it is spent based on the invoices of the telecom operator (subparagraph 3, paragraph 7, article 272, paragraphs 1 and 2, article 318 of the Tax Code). If the amount paid for the SIM card is not credited to the subscriber account, the organization can take such expenses into account at the time of purchase.

The transfer of SIM cards, as well as mobile phones, to employees must be carried out on a separate statement signed by the employees.

Payment for mobile communications

It would be rational for an organization to set limits on payment for calls to employees connected to corporate communications and fix them in an employment contract or in a separate local regulation. At the same time, you should sign an agreement with the telecom operator. In this case, the organization will be able to take into account the invoice amount within the established limit in general business expenses.

The Ministry of Finance in a letter dated July 27. 2006 No. 03-03-04/3/15 recommended the following methodology: “In tax accounting, the employee exceeding the established limit will be taken into account as part of other expenses only after the employee reimburses the company for the specified expenses. In this case, the compensation paid by the employee will be taken into account for tax purposes in income from sales.” Thus, the cost of products, works, and services of the organization will not include the costs of personal conversations of employees via mobile communications.

Employees should be familiarized with the order, against signature, according to which conversations on personal topics should not be conducted on the office phone. If phones connected to unlimited tariffs are used by employees for both work-related and personal calls, the organization must approve a limit on the amount of expenses reimbursed to the employee. This amount may vary depending on the position held by the employee. This approach is fully consistent with the position of the Ministry of Finance, set out in letter No. 03-03-04/2/217 dated October 13, 2006.

Most organizations that pay their employees for mobile communications prefer to connect to a corporate tariff plan. This allows you to significantly save on the cost of paying for cellular communication services. This is both economically beneficial - the company receives large discounts from the servicing telephone company, and practically - expenses are displayed in documents as one amount, which is convenient for billing. Such tariffs provide preferential calls between employees of the same organization and much more.

The procedure for accounting for mobile communications expenses depends on which tariff plan was chosen by the organization: unlimited or with per-minute (per-second) billing.

Taxpayer expenses for postal, telegraph and other similar services, expenses for payment for communication services, computer centers and banks, including expenses for fax and satellite communication services, e-mail, as well as information systems (SWIFT, Internet and other similar systems), relate to other costs associated with production and sales. This is stated in subparagraph 25 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The Ministry of Finance of Russia and the courts allow taking into account expenses for mobile communications at unlimited tariffs for the purposes of calculating the tax base for income tax (letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 23, 2011 No. 03-03-06/1/378 and dated October 13, 2006 No. 03-03- 04/2/217, resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North Caucasus District dated October 27, 2009 in case No. A32-246/2008-12/27). The main thing is that such expenses are economically justified and documented (clause 1 of Article 252 of the Tax Code).

Tariff plans are usually expensive, and not every organization can afford them. A fixed monthly fee, as a rule, allows employees of an organization to communicate freely only within the region where they are located. Long distance and international calls are charged separately.

Most organizations choose tariff plans with per-minute billing and set a limit on compensation for mobile calls (internal limit). The employee is informed about this limit and the procedure for compensating expenses for mobile communications within the organization by signing.

As a rule, a special order is issued for these purposes. The maximum amount of funds paid by the organization may be specified in the employment contract with it (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated October 5, 2010 No. 16-15/104055@).

It should be noted that the Russian Ministry of Finance is of the opinion that even those calls that are made within the corporate limit may not be made for work purposes. This means that to confirm expenses for mobile communications, the following documents are required (letter dated January 19, 2009 No. 03-03-07/2):

A list of employee positions approved by the head of the organization who are provided with mobile communications for work purposes;

Agreement with the operator for the provision of communication services;

Detailed invoices of the telecom operator (on what numbers, when and for what amount were negotiations carried out with subscribers).

The letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 27, 2006 No. 03-03-04/3/15, on the basis of which the letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated September 20, 2006 No. 20-12/83834.1 was issued, explains that the form of a detailed account must contain details of the total amount of payment for the services provided by the cellular operator in the context of separate sub-accounts opened for each subscriber number registered with the taxpayer, including: telephone numbers of all subscribers, dates and times of negotiations, service tariffs.

However, it is not enough to have a transcript indicating the numbers with which negotiations were conducted; you also need to prove that these numbers belong to the counterparties. The telephone numbers indicated in the decryption must appear in official correspondence, contracts, certificates of completion of work, delivery notes, invoices, etc.

This is a difficult task. Often, representatives of counterparties use cell numbers that are not included in contracts, or even personal phones. It is not surprising that printouts for specific business telephone numbers turn out to be insufficient documentation for analysis.

Tax legislation does not contain requirements for mandatory confirmation of mobile expenses with a document such as a telecom operator invoice. Most courts have recently come to the conclusion that the absence of this document is not a basis for excluding amounts transferred to pay for mobile communications from expenses that reduce taxable profit (resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated June 22, 2010 in case No. KA-A40/6056 -10, dated 01/29/2010 No. KA-A40/14759-09-2, FAS Central District dated 03/06/2009 No. A35-4080/07-C8, FAS Moscow District dated 12/24/2009 No. KA-A40/12845-09- P, FAS of the Ural District dated December 8, 2008 No. Ф09-9153/08-С3, FAS of the North-Western District dated June 27, 2007 No. A42-5778/2006).

The organization must issue an order with a list of employees or positions of employees who, in connection with their professional activities, need to use mobile communications for work. The order should indicate the numbers of mobile phones and SIM cards assigned to specific employees, the purpose of using mobile phones (letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 19, 2009 No. 03-03-07/2 and dated June 5, 2008 No. 03-03-06/1 /350).

This condition must also be reflected in the relevant job descriptions and employment contracts. In addition, the employee’s job description can state that in order to perform job duties (due to the traveling nature of the work due to official needs), he needs mobile communications.

The official position of the Ministry of Finance of Russia is that expenses for cellular communication services at unlimited tariffs for employees are taken into account when taxing profits within the limit established for the employee, based on his job responsibilities, by an internal local act of the organization (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated October 13, 2006 No. 03 -03-04/2/217). At the same time, in the Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North Caucasus of October 27, 2009 No. A32-246/2008-12/27, the court recognized the company’s costs of providing its employee with unlimited mobile communications as justified due to the fact that he needs it to perform his official duties.

An organization cannot take into account the cost of over-limit calls as expenses for profit tax purposes (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated October 13, 2010 No. 03-03-06/2/178). An exception may be the issuance by the head of the organization of a special order, in which the standard for mobile communications expenses in a given month for a specific employee is increased due to business needs.

Otherwise, the excess amount is either withheld from the employee’s salary or paid from net profit. Moreover, if the employee compensates for the overexpenditure, the amount the employee exceeds the established limit will be taken into account as part of other expenses for tax purposes only after the employee has reimbursed the organization for these costs. In this case, the amount of compensation paid by the employee will be taken into account for tax purposes in income from sales (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 19, 2009 No. 03-03-07/2).

Based on Article 272 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, expenses are recognized in the reporting (tax) period in which they arise, based on the terms of transactions (for transactions with specific deadlines) and the principle of uniform and proportional generation of income and expenses (for transactions lasting more than one reporting period). (tax) period).

When an organization compensates an employee for cellular communications expenses associated with a personal mobile phone, it takes them into account as expenses that reduce taxable income.

VAT, personal income tax and insurance premiums

The provision of mobile communication services on the territory of the Russian Federation is recognized as subject to VAT (Article 146 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The mobile operator (if it is a VAT payer) is obliged to issue an invoice to the organization for mobile communication services, including VAT, and also to issue and issue an invoice in the manner prescribed by Articles 168 and 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The amount of VAT paid by an organization as part of the fee for mobile phones, SIM cards and mobile communication services can be deducted from the budget on the basis of Articles 171 and 172 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Cash compensation for the use of a cell phone belonging to an employee is not subject to personal income tax and insurance premiums within the limits established by the organization.

Using a phone with an unlimited business tariff for business purposes is the basis for writing off the full amount of the monthly fee for mobile communication services as expenses and exemption from personal income tax and insurance premiums, since documented expenses are not subject to personal income tax (clause 3 of Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) .

Based on subparagraph “i” of paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 9 of Federal Law No. 212-FZ “On insurance contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund and the territorial compulsory medical insurance funds”, the amount of compensation paid employee of an organization for the use of personal property (mobile phone), is not subject to insurance premiums if the use of this property is related to the performance of job duties (traveling nature of job duties, official purposes), in the amount determined by the agreement between the organization and such employee (letter from the Ministry of Health and Social Development Russia dated 06.08.2010 No. 2538-19 (clause 3)).

As for the taxation of compensation amounts for mobile communications with personal income tax and insurance premiums, if the employee conducted conversations exclusively for official purposes, these payments will not have to be subject to personal income tax and insurance premiums (Clause 2 of Article 9 of the Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212 -FZ, clause 3, article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If the conversations were conducted in the employee’s own interests and he does not compensate the employer for the corresponding expenses, personal income tax and insurance contributions will have to be transferred from these amounts to the budget.

Accounting

If there are all the necessary primary documents confirming the costs of mobile communication services, the organization can include such costs as expenses for ordinary activities on the basis of paragraph 5 of PBU 10/99 “Expenses of the organization.” The specific method of accounting for them depends on the specifics of the enterprise’s activities (types of business activities carried out, adopted accounting policies, management requirements for analytical data, etc.).

In accordance with paragraph 18 of PBU 10/99, expenses are recognized in the reporting period in which they occurred, regardless of the time of actual payment of funds and other forms of implementation.

Expenses are recognized in accounting if the following conditions are met:

1) the expense is made in accordance with a specific agreement, the requirements of legislative and regulatory acts, and business customs;

2) the amount of expenditure can be determined;

3) there is confidence that as a result of a specific transaction there will be a decrease in the economic benefits of the organization. There is certainty that a particular transaction will result in a reduction in the entity's economic benefits when the entity has transferred an asset or there is no uncertainty about the transfer of the asset.

If at least one of the above conditions is not met in relation to any expenses incurred by the organization, receivables are recognized in the organization’s accounting records (clause 16 of PBU 10/99).

Let us give examples of how expenses for mobile phones and cellular communications are reflected in accounting accounts.

1. How to confirm the validity of expenses for cellular communications.

2. How to register the use of personal phones and SIM cards by employees for business purposes.

3. In what order are cellular communications expenses reflected in accounting and tax accounting?

Expenses for communication services are one of those types of expenses that almost any organization and individual entrepreneur has. Moreover, an increasingly large share of these costs is occupied by cellular communication services. And this is not surprising, because cellular, or mobile, communications allow you to solve work issues much more quickly, and for some workers, using a landline phone is simply impossible. For example, employees with a traveling nature of work, as well as whose work involves frequent business trips, cannot do without mobile phones during their work activities. Therefore, employers are faced with the need to provide their employees with cellular communications, and to do this in a way that takes into account the interests of employees and their own, while avoiding claims from the tax authorities. Read the article on how to do this.

Providing employees with cellular communications is possible in two options:

• Corporate cellular communication: the employer enters into an agreement with the mobile operator, and employees are given SIM cards belonging to the employer for use.

• Reimbursement of employee expenses for cellular communications: each employee enters into an agreement with a mobile operator on his own behalf and uses a personal SIM card for business calls.

The chosen method (or combination thereof), as well as all the essential conditions for the use of cellular communications by employees for business purposes, must be enshrined in local regulations. Such a document could be, for example, Regulations on providing employees with cellular communications.

In tax accounting, expenses for cellular communication services, including the payment of compensation to employees for cellular communication expenses, accepted both for calculating income tax (clause 25, clause 1, article 264), and under the simplified tax system (clause 18, clause 1, article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). As a general rule, expenses for cellular communications must be economically justified and documented. Moreover, the procedure for documenting such expenses directly depends on the method of providing employees with cellular communications.

Corporate cellular communication

To confirm expenses for corporate cellular communications, you will need the following: documentation(Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated June 23, 2011 No. 03-03-06/1/378):

• agreement with a cellular operator;
• invoice for services rendered;
• a list of positions of employees using cellular communications to perform job duties approved by the head of the organization. The specified list of positions can be enshrined in a separate order or specified in the Regulations on providing employees with cellular communications.

In some cases, the following is also required:

• invoice – for VAT taxpayers for the purpose of deducting “input” VAT (clause 1 of Article 172 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
• a document confirming payment for the services of a cellular operator - for organizations using the simplified tax system (clause 2 of article 346.17 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition to the listed documents, tax inspectors often request additional documents confirming the economic justification of expenses for cellular communication services:

• job descriptions of employees who use cellular communications, as confirmation that the use of cellular communications is necessary to perform their job duties;
• employment contracts (collective agreement) with employees, which stipulate the conditions for providing cellular communications or provide a link to the relevant local act (Regulations on providing employees with cellular communications);
• details of bills for communication services, which indicate the telephone numbers of all subscribers with whom negotiations were conducted, as confirmation that the negotiations were of a work and not personal nature.

As for detailing bills for cellular communication services, the mandatory nature of such a document is ambiguous. The Ministry of Finance in some letters indicates that detail is required (Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 19, 2009 No. 03-03-07/2, dated June 5, 2008 No. 03-03-06/1/350, dated July 27, 2006 No. 03-03- 04/3/15). However, the courts in most cases do not consider the lack of detail as a basis for not accepting expenses for cellular communications for tax accounting (Resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow Region dated June 22, 2010 No. KA-A40/6056-10, dated January 29, 2010 No. KA-A40/14759-09- 2, FAS PO dated May 23, 2008 in case No. A55-10554/07). Basically, the courts refer to the fact that the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not contain a requirement for mandatory confirmation of communication expenses with a detailed invoice. In addition, the detail contains only telephone numbers, however, it does not reveal the nature and content of the conversation (business or personal).

! Note: If you decide to “hedge yourselves” and confirm the validity of expenses for cellular communication services by detailing the bills, you must keep in mind that if there is detail, it will certainly become the subject of an audit by the tax authorities. That's why the details need not just be attached to the invoice, but actually checked and cut off all personal conversations (that is, fees for them cannot be included in tax expenses). It is advisable to reflect the fact that the details have been verified, for example, by placing a mark on the document itself, indicating the date and signature of the responsible person.

Accounting for phones and SIM cards

With the “corporate” option of providing employees with cellular communications, SIM cards with telephone numbers “linked” to them belong to the employer and are issued to employees for use. However, SIM cards by themselves, as you know, do not work: you need phones (or other devices). And here, as a rule, one of two options is used:

• telephones are purchased by the employer and given to employees for use;
• workers use personal phones. In this case, employees may be paid, or.

A third option is often encountered: the organization does not have its own cell phones, and the use of employees’ personal phones is not formalized in any way. At the same time, cellular communications costs are regularly taken into account based on invoices issued by the operator. In this case, the legality of accepting expenses for cellular communications will most likely be questioned by tax inspectors. However, taxpayers have a chance to prove their case. Firstly, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not contain a requirement for the mandatory availability of telephones for the recognition of communication expenses (25 clause 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Secondly, the courts have more than once sided with taxpayers, confirming the legality of accepting expenses for cellular communications for tax accounting even in the absence of telephones (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North-West District dated April 24, 2007 in case No. A56-33529/2006; Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow Region dated July 21, 2005 No. KA-A41/6715-05). And yet, in order not to give tax officials an extra reason for complaints, it makes sense to take care of documenting the use of cell phones by employees.

As for SIM cards, the cost of their acquisition may be reflected:

• as part of material expenses (clause 3, clause 1, clause 2, article 254, clause 5, clause 1, article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If the connection fee is greater than the amount credited to the account as an advance payment, then the difference will be the cost of the SIM card;
• if the entire amount paid upon connection is credited to the account, then the cost of the SIM card is zero, and the paid amount is taken into account as an advance for communication services.

Since SIM cards are the property of the employer and are transferred to employees for temporary use, it is advisable to keep off-balance sheet accounting of SIM cards with analytics on phone numbers and employees.

! Note: The transfer of the SIM card (and phone) to the employee must be documented. For this purpose, you can use the procedure established in the organization for documenting the movement of goods, or develop and approve special forms of primary documents, for example, a log of issuing phones and SIM cards to employees. Documentation of the transfer of SIM cards to employees serves as proof that a specific employee uses a specific telephone number, and if limits on cellular communication expenses are established, this will be the basis for collecting from the employee the amount exceeding the limit.

Setting limits on cell phone spending

If employees are provided with corporate cellular communications, the organization does not have the opportunity to selectively pay the operator for the cost of services: they will have to pay the entire amount indicated in the invoice, which the employees “talked” about. Therefore, in order not to overpay for personal conversations of employees, most often they are set limits on expenses for cellular communications or use an unlimited tariff.

• Unlimited tariff

The unlimited tariff has a significant advantage: you do not need to control the amount of employee expenses, since the fee for communication services is fixed and does not depend on the number and duration of calls (subscription fee). In addition, as the Ministry of Finance explained, paying for cellular communication services at an unlimited tariff does not prevent them from being taken into account for tax purposes (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated June 23, 2011 No. 03-03-06/1/378).

However, in some cases, it is more profitable for organizations to use a time-based tariff, and this, in turn, involves setting limits on cellular communications expenses for employees. If such limits are not set, all the benefits from using a time-based tariff may be canceled out by a large number of “extra” calls and, as a result, “extra” expenses.

• Setting limits

The fact of establishing limits on expenses for cellular communications for employees, as well as the amount of these limits, must be fixed in a separate order of the manager or in the Regulations on providing employees with cellular communications and made known to employees using corporate cellular communications.

Despite the fact that setting limits is primarily an internal measure aimed at disciplining employees, it should be kept in mind that for inspectors the presence of limits means only one thing: costs for cellular communications exceeding these limits are economically unjustified for the organization, and, accordingly, are not accepted for tax accounting purposes.

Of course, communication expense limits set for employees should be as close as possible to actual costs. But even this does not guarantee that the limits will not be exceeded. When employee exceeding the limit established for him costs for cellular communications, the following options are possible:

1. Exceeding the limit is caused by business needs (for example, using cellular communications on a business trip abroad, etc.).

In this case, it makes sense to make a one-time increase in the limit on cellular communications expenses for a specific employee. The increase in the limit must be documented by issuing an appropriate order from the manager (the basis may be a statement or memo from the employee indicating the reasons for the overexpenditure, as well as details of the invoice for communication services confirming the business nature of the calls).

1. Exceeding the limit is not related to the performance of work duties (making personal calls from a work number, etc.).

The fact that the above-limit cellular expenses are indeed personal in nature and not business-related can be confirmed by the itemization of the bill. In this case, the amount exceeding the limit:

• may be contributed by the employee voluntarily or collected from the employee in order to compensate for material damage caused to the employer (Chapter 39 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). With this option, the amount exceeding the limit:
  • is not the employee’s income subject to personal income tax;
  • not subject to insurance premiums;
  • taken into account as other expenses for tax purposes only after reimbursement by the employee. In this case, the amount of compensation paid by the employee (or collected from him) will be taken into account for tax purposes in income (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 13, 2010 No. 03-03-06/2/178).

! Note: the employer does not have the right to produce on his own initiative.

• may be “forgiven” to the employee. The amount of exceeding the limit, which is not reimbursed by the employee and is not collected from him, that is, paid at the expense of the employer:
  • is recognized as the employee’s income in kind and is subject to personal income tax (clause 1 of Article 2010, clause 1 of clause 2 of Article 211 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
  • subject to insurance premiums (clause 1, article 7 of Law No. 212-FZ);
  • is not taken into account in expenses for tax purposes (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 13, 2010 No. 03-03-06/2/178).

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, providing workers with cellular communications can be organized in the form of payment of compensation for cellular communications expenses. As a rule, with this option, compensation includes both payment for the use of employees’ personal cell phones for business purposes and reimbursement of expenses for communication services.

The processing and taxation of compensation for the use of personal cell phones is generally similar to the procedure that applies to any other personal property of employees, such as cars. You can read more about this in the articles: and.

To confirm the validity of compensation for cellular communications costs, the following will be required: documentation(Letters of the Ministry of Finance dated October 13, 2010 No. 03-03-06/2/178, Ministry of Health and Social Development dated August 6, 2010 No. 2538-19 (clause 3)):

• a list of positions of employees who use cellular communications to perform job duties approved by the manager;
• employee job description;
• an employment contract or other written agreement between the employer and employee, which establishes the amount and procedure for payment of compensation;
• a copy of the employee’s agreement with the cellular operator;
• a copy of the invoice for communication services, as well as details of the invoice, as confirmation of the “working” nature of the calls.

Compensation for cellular communications costs is usually established:

• in a fixed amount - in terms of compensation for the use of a personal cell phone;
• in the amount of actual expenses or within the established limit - in terms of reimbursement of expenses for cellular communication services.

Documented amount of compensation for employee expenses for cellular communications:

• not subject to personal income tax and insurance contributions (clause 3 of article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, subparagraph “and” clause 2 of part 1 of article 9 of Law No. 212-FZ, Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated 04/20/2015 No. 03-04-06/22274 );
• accepted for profit tax purposes and under the simplified tax system, as expenses for payment for communication services (clause 25, clause 1, article 264, clause 18, clause 1, article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Accounting for cellular expenses

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Normative base

1. Tax Code of the Russian Federation
2. Federal Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212-FZ “On insurance contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund”
3. Letter of the Ministry of Health and Social Development dated 06.08.2010 No. 2538-19
, .

Regardless of the tax regime, compensation for cellular communications is reflected in tax accounting as payment for communication services. The following accounting entry corresponds: Posting Transaction Debit 20 (26, 44) - Credit 73 Expenses for cellular communications are taken into account Debit 73 - Credit 50 (51) Expenses for cellular communications are compensated to the employee These costs will be taken into account in the cost price. If the organization does not pay VAT. Otherwise, compensation for cellular communications cannot be accepted for consideration due to the lack of an invoice from the cellular operator to a specific organization. Frequently Asked Questions Question No. 1. When hiring a sales representative, a civil employment contract was concluded between the employee and the employer. Due to the nature of the work and the lack of corporate communication, all work issues are resolved via personal mobile phone.

Compensation for mobile communications for employees

Neither tax legislation, nor communications legislation, nor accounting legislation contain requirements for mandatory decoding of conversations made, receiving detailed invoices and drawing up a report on each call. In addition, the content of the negotiations constitutes a legally protected communication secret (Art.

Attention

Law of July 7, 2003 No. 126-FZ). This means that the organization is not obliged to confirm the production nature of these expenses by detailing the accounts. Thus, the organization has the right to justify the costs of paying for mobile communications services, in particular, by the concluded agreement with the mobile operator, payment documents, organizational and administrative documents of the head of the organization, etc.

Cellular communications for employees: nothing personal

Info

Insurance premiums Federal Law No. 212-FZ “On insurance contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund and territorial compulsory medical funds” allows not to charge insurance premiums for compensation for the use of a personal mobile phone for production purposes of an organization. insurance" (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 212-FZ). According to sub. “and” clause 2, part 1, art. 9 of Law No. 212-FZ are not subject to insurance premiums for all types of compensation payments established by the legislation of the Russian Federation (within the limits established in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation) related to the performance of labor duties by an individual.

Reimbursement of employee expenses for cellular communications

Important

Rationale From the recommendation of Nina Kovyazina, Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Education and Personnel Policy in Healthcare of the Ministry of Health of Russia How to pay and reflect in accounting and taxation compensation for the use of an employee’s personal property (telephone, fax, computer, etc., except a car) Use personal employee property (telephone, computer, fax, etc.) is possible not only on the basis of a lease agreement, but also by paying special compensation. This possibility is provided for in Article 188 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Compensation for personal phone use

If there is no breakdown of the invoice for payment for communication services, it is impossible to determine the amount of expenses associated with production activities. Consequently, the requirement for documentary evidence of expenses is not met in this case. A similar point of view is expressed in letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 5, 2008 No. 03-03-06/1/350, dated July 27, 2006 No. 03-03-04/3/15 and the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated 9 February 2005 No. 20-12/8153. If compensation is paid, personal income tax must be withheld from it (clause

3 tbsp. 217 and paragraph 1 of Art. 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Also, contributions to compulsory pension (social, medical) insurance and contributions to insurance against accidents and occupational diseases must be added to the amount of compensation. This is due to the fact that this payment is considered as payment for an employee for telephone services.

Using an employee's personal phone for business purposes

In many organizations, employees use personal property (such as a cell phone) for business purposes, and the employer pays compensation for the use, wear and tear of that property, and the costs incurred for cellular services. How to reflect this fact in tax accounting, we will consider in this article 06/06/2011, “Tax Consultant” magazine (St.

Tyumen) Author: Elena Orlova, tax consultant of CJSC "AuditSibMash" CG "Lex", member of the Chamber of Tax Consultants of the Russian Federation Required documents Payment of compensation for use and wear with the consent or knowledge of the employer and in his interests of the employee's personal property, as well as reimbursement of expenses associated using personal property, are provided for in Article 188 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
In addition to compensation for the use of personal property, Article 188 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation obliges the organization to reimburse the employee for expenses associated with its operation (for example, the purchase of consumables). The procedure and amount of reimbursement for these expenses can also be established in the employment contract (additional agreement to it).

Situation: is it possible not to provide for the payment of compensation for the use of an employee’s personal property in the employment contract, indicating the procedure and amount of its payment in the manager’s order? Yes, it is possible. When an employee uses personal property (telephone, fax, computer, etc.)

d., except for a car) for official purposes, he is paid compensation, and also reimbursed for expenses associated with the use of this property. The amount of reimbursement of expenses is determined by agreement of the parties to the employment contract, expressed in writing.

How compensation is processed for a mobile communications employee

• employee job description;
• an employment contract or other written agreement between the employer and employee, which establishes the amount and procedure for payment of compensation;
• a copy of the employee’s agreement with the cellular operator;
• a copy of the invoice for communication services, as well as details of the invoice, as confirmation of the “working” nature of the calls.

Compensation for cellular communications costs is usually established:

• in a fixed amount - in terms of compensation for the use of a personal cell phone;
• in the amount of actual expenses or within the established limit - in terms of reimbursement of expenses for cellular communication services.

Documented amount of compensation for employee expenses for cellular communications:

• not subject to personal income tax and insurance premiums (clause 3 of article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, paragraphs “and” clause 2 of part 1 of art.

Compensation to employees for the use of personal property

The procedure for posting expenses in accounting and tax documentation directly depends on the gradual decrease in the value of mobile phones due to their wear and tear. For example, mobile phones must be included as fixed assets if their value exceeds 40,000 rubles.
In such a situation, depreciation charges are charged on them to cover the costs of maintaining it in working condition. They must be properly documented in the enterprise documentation.
In accounting documentation, expenses associated with the purchase of mobile phones and SIM cards are recorded under article PBU 6/01. They are entered on the balance sheet as ordinary or other expenses at the purchase price minus VAT. If the initial cost of mobile phones is less than 40,000 rubles, in accordance with Article 254 of the Tax Code, it is included in material expenses.

Compensation for cell phone use

From the recommendation of Sergei Razgulin, Actual State Advisor of the Russian Federation, 3rd class. How to reflect in accounting and taxation compensation for the cost of business calls from an employee’s personal mobile phone. To provide an employee with mobile communications, an organization can not only connect to a cellular operator itself, but also compensate employees for the cost calls from their personal mobile phone. Types of payments When using his own mobile phone for work, an employee has the right to receive two types of payments:

• compensation for the use of personal property (telephone) or income from leasing it to an organization;
• reimbursement of the cost of business calls.

BASIC: income tax When calculating income tax, include compensation for expenses for paying for business calls from a personal telephone as part of other expenses (sub.

Compensation for cell phone use

Therefore, employers are faced with the need to provide their employees with cellular communications, and to do this in a way that takes into account the interests of employees and their own, while avoiding claims from the tax authorities. Read the article on how to do this. Providing employees with cellular communications is possible in two options:

• Corporate cellular communications: an agreement with a cellular operator is concluded by the employer, and employees are issued SIM cards belonging to the employer for use.

• Reimbursement of employee expenses for cellular communications: each employee enters into an agreement with a cellular operator on his own behalf and uses a personal SIM card for business calls.

The chosen method (or combination thereof), as well as all the essential conditions for the use of cellular communications by employees for business purposes, must be enshrined in local regulations.

Often, an effective organizational process depends on the efficiency of solving certain problems. This is often why mobile communications are used. This section tells you in what cases an employee will be paid compensation for mobile communications, how to prove the validity of the compensation, and how to correctly draw up an order for compensation for mobile communications.

From this article you will learn:

• types of compensation to employees at the enterprise;
• how to compensate an employee for mobile communications;
• what information needs to be reflected in the compensation order.

Is it possible to compensate an employee for mobile communications, and how to issue an order for this?

Prompt resolution of any issues within the company is always considered a priority. In such cases, not only modern technologies and the Internet are used, but also regular mobile communications. This is especially convenient if the job involves constant movement at a distance from the workplace or frequent business trips.

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Encyclopedia of personnel orders from the Personnel System.

Types of compensation and regulatory framework

Agree that it is not entirely correct if an employee solves work issues using his communication device and the means on it. It is in such cases that the employer should provide compensation for the use of mobile communications for work purposes.

In some cases, the organization pays not only funds to cover calls on a mobile phone, but also possible wear and tear of the communication device due to work.

As a rule, the amount of compensation is set by the manager himself based on an agreement between the parties, which is noted in the employment contract. In addition, such issues must be reflected in the organization’s regulations, indicating a fixed amount of payments for such expenses. Agree, sometimes an employee can use the phone for personal purposes, that’s why he has a phone, more often than for work. It is precisely for such possible situations that an economic justification for covering such costs is needed.

As already mentioned, the enterprise itself decides what exact amount of payments must be accrued to cover mobile communications costs, within what time frame and under what conditions, as well as what documents govern this entire process. It is worth noting that such compensation initially applies only to those employees who work under an employment contract. Such conditions are not provided for a civil contract.

Compensation for mobile communications to an employee

In some cases, in addition to paying for mobile communications, the employer also undertakes the purchase of mobile devices for employees. All this must be properly documented and carried out through accounting. As we have already said, in order for a manager to compensate an employee for mobile communications expenses, the employer needs to take a number of actions. Among them, identify employees who simply need mobile communications to solve production problems. And develop rules for using the office phone. All this must be reflected in the collective agreement.

Sometimes the employer himself enters into an agreement with a mobile operator in order to choose favorable tariffs for general use, or unlimited tariffs with a fixed fee and pay for communication in advance. In the case where post-payment is made for mobile communications, it is necessary to make it based on the provided invoices and call details. But all this must be regulated by a written agreement concluded between the employee and the employer.

It happens that an employer can set a limit on each employee number for up to one year. If it is possible to document the limited expenses, the company may be exempt from paying personal income tax on the cost of expenses. If necessary, by decision of the manager, the limit may be increased. In case of unlawful excess of the limit, payment of the excess falls entirely on the shoulders of the employee.

As we have already mentioned, in order to pay for certain employee expenses, in particular, mobile communications, you need to issue an appropriate order .

Since there is no exact form for drawing up an order for compensation for mobile communications, and if it is not provided for in regulatory documents, then the order can be drawn up as follows in any form:

• name of the document, in this case - order;
• type of order - about payment for cellular communication services;
• the basis for the order - for example, in connection with production necessity to ensure production processes;
• issuing an order indicating the name of the official who is responsible for paying compensation;
• listing of positions to which the right to use mobile communications is assigned at the expense of the organization;
• assign responsible officials to control the list of numbers on the organization’s balance sheet for use by employees;
• signature, transcript and job title.

Since any expenses in the organization are subject to taxes, it is important to prepare the documentation correctly so that in the event of inspections by supervisory authorities, they will not have any doubts about your impeccable conduct of business.

To quickly resolve production issues, enterprises need cellular communications more than ever. Like any type of expense, these must be clearly regulated for proper control and accounting. At the same time, we mean that compensation implies the return of part of the money to the employee for using his own phone for work purposes. In addition, the employee, on his own behalf, enters into an agreement with the cellular operator. If all these actions are undertaken by an organization, then this is already a corporate cellular communication. Then there is no need for compensation for cellular communications. In this article we will look at what compensation is provided for mobile communications for employees.

Compensation for mobile communications to employees: h legislative base

The validity of this expense item is stated in Article 164 of the Labor Code, which prescribes compensation in monetary terms for expenses that the employee incurred as a result of the work process. Article 188 of the Labor Code stipulates the following cases of additional payments to employees:

• for the use of personal property (in this case, a mobile phone);
• depreciation of this property.

Important! If the cost of a mobile phone is less than 40 thousand rubles, then depreciation is not charged on it, and the cost of the phone is written off at a time as the material costs of the enterprise.

Among other things, the enterprise must separately pay the costs for using cellular communications. Articles 41 and 45 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation state that the collective agreement, as well as local regulatory acts, must describe in detail issues regarding this type of payment. Their size must be discussed bilaterally between the employee and the enterprise and included as a separate clause in the employment contract or additional agreement.

The legislation clearly defines the requirements for the economic justification for including such compensation in expense items. Otherwise, the company may be subject to administrative liability.

Justification for cellular expenses

In addition to documentary evidence of this type of cost, it must be economically justified. The tax legislation does not enshrine the concept of economic feasibility; there are no clear regulations on how to conduct one’s financial and economic activities. The taxpayer independently assesses the economic efficiency, necessity and rationality of reimbursing employees for cellular communications.

If, during an inspection, the tax authorities encounter controversial issues, then inspectors are more likely to rely on a subjective assessment of the enterprise’s economic activities. Organizations whose employees regularly go on business trips and work issues are primarily resolved over the phone will not raise doubts. To quickly resolve work issues, a landline connection (if there is one) may not be enough, therefore, when defending the inappropriateness of using an additional cellular connection, such an argument will not be enough.

If an organization clearly represents and can confirm the increase in income due to the use of cellular communications, the control tax authorities will not be able to make claims regarding this cost item. Otherwise, it may not be taken into account at all; as a result, the tax base of the enterprise will increase, and various penalties may be applied to it.

Documents to confirm expenses for cellular communications

Any item of expense must be documented, especially something as “intangible” as compensation for cellular communications. To legally account for the costs associated with its payment, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, in a letter dated July 27, 2006 No. 03-03-04/3/15, compiled the following list of necessary documentation.

Renting a mobile phone from an employee

Renting a personal mobile device from an employee is a fairly common practice. This kind of relationship can be documented in two ways:

• conclude a rental agreement for a mobile device (Articles 606-625 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), in which it is necessary to specify the rental period, as well as the amount and terms of payment. You can avoid additional red tape with the execution of the contract and write down all these points in the employment contract or additional agreement;
• conclude an agreement for the free use of the employee’s property (in this case, a mobile phone) and/or assign an amount of compensation for this use.

Telecom operator account details

The details of the invoice by the telecom operator is a real document, on the basis of which one can judge how much the employee actually said, and for what he should actually be compensated. However, no one can legally oblige you to provide this document.

The issue remains controversial due to different opinions:

• The Ministry of Finance, together with the Tax authorities, advocates for the inclusion of detail in the mandatory list of documents;
• Some arbitration courts say there is no need for this document when determining the feasibility of including compensation for the use of cellular communications in the cost price.

Is compensation subject to personal income tax and contributions?

Compensation for the use of cellular communications for work purposes is not subject to:

• personal income tax;
• contributions for compulsory health insurance;
• accident insurance contributions.

There is an omission here that personal calls were not taken into account for expenses. If there was a use of a cell phone (SIM card) in addition to the work process for personal purposes, the amount of compensation that falls on the time when the employee made personal calls should be subject to personal income tax.

Things are different when a lease agreement for a personal mobile phone is concluded. The amount of rental payments will be subject to personal income tax, since it is additional income for the employee.

Example! The company entered into a rental agreement for a mobile device with an employee. The amount of monthly rental payments is 500 rubles. The contract specifies a fixed amount of compensation for the use of cellular communications - 1,500 rubles. In this case, 500 rubles will be subject to personal income tax (13%) and the tax amount will be 65 rubles. Transfers to insurance funds are also made from it.

Limits on compensation for workers' cellular communications

By concluding an agreement on compensation for cellular communications, organizations and the employee can negotiate through negotiations an acceptable limit for cellular communications expenses. Thus, compensation will be made only within this limit. For example, the limit on compensation is 2,000 rubles, and the employee spent 2,350 rubles on negotiations per month. Thus, he will only be reimbursed 2,000 rubles.

Reflection of expenses in accounting documentation

An accountant includes certain expenses in cost items only if they were aimed at making a profit. Otherwise, the tax authorities will exclude them from the cost price.

Compensation for cellular communications assumes that the contract with the operator is concluded in the name of the employee. Thus, he pays for communication, submits the relevant documents to the employer, and he reimburses him for the money spent.

Regardless of the tax regime, compensation for cellular communications is reflected in tax accounting as payment for communication services.

The following accounting entry corresponds:

These costs will be included in the cost price. If the organization does not pay VAT. Otherwise, compensation for cellular communications cannot be accepted for consideration due to the lack of an invoice from the cellular operator to a specific organization.

FAQ

Question No. 1. When hiring a sales representative, a civil employment contract was concluded between the employee and the employer. Due to the nature of the work and the lack of corporate communication, all work issues are resolved via personal mobile phone. Can an employee demand compensation for using cellular communications?

Answer. No, it cannot, since compensation for cellular communications costs is possible only with official employment. Otherwise, the employee has no rights to this type of payment.

Question No. 2. Mobile devices are not listed on the company's balance sheet or on its balance sheet. At the same time, there is a cost item for compensation of expenses for cellular communications. Will the tax authorities raise doubts about the validity of these costs?

Answer. With a high degree of probability, the tax authorities will perceive the presence of expenses for cellular communications and the absence of expenses for using mobile devices as suspicious and may exclude this cost item from the cost calculation.

Question #3. For the accounting department of the enterprise, the employee provided details of telephone conversations in order to exclude time for personal calls from the calculation. Is it worth worrying about the correctness of the data presented, and who else might be interested in having such documents?

Answer. All supporting documentation available in the accounting department is sent to the tax authorities, who conduct a thorough check of literally every line in detail. Therefore, if you decide to provide such a document, you need to make sure that every figure in it does not raise doubts.

Question #4.What are the limits of compensation payments for the use of cellular communications.

Answer. The company will not be able to set unlimited limits; therefore, it will not be possible to endlessly reflect large amounts of compensation on the balance sheet in order to reduce the tax base. Controlling authorities strictly monitor the amount of compensation and, if it does not correspond to economically justified costs, they can exclude costs from the cost calculation.

Question #5. Is it possible to use compensation for cellular communications in a budget organization?
Answer. In any organization, if the feasibility of using cell phones for work purposes is justified from an economic point of view, it is possible to take into account such costs.

Question No. 6. Will work calls on holidays and weekends be taken into account when calculating compensation?
Answer. If the contract specifies the limit amount, then it does not matter at what time the calls were made. If the report is factual, then if the expenses incurred comply with clause 1 of Art. 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, tax services will not find fault with this.