What amounts overpaid to an employee can be withheld from his salary. How are mandatory deductions from wages and other types of deductions made?

It is possible to withhold part of an employee’s salary only when this is expressly permitted by law.

We highlight the following permissible deductions from payment:

1. For mandatory payments provided for by law (such payment, first of all, is personal income tax - income tax provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). It is important to remember: payments to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation and the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund are not deducted from the salary - the employer pays them for the employee, receiving a tax deduction for this.
2. Payments by court decision during enforcement proceedings.
3. Deductions made by the employer himself.
4. Deductions carried out at the initiative of employees.

The last option occurs when the employee, by his application, gives the employer the authority to make transfers of insurance payments, membership fees to the trade union, etc., on behalf of the employees.

In cases where a parent does not voluntarily participate in the expenses of the child, according to the Family Code, the following may be recovered from minor children through the court:

For 1 child - 25% of earnings;
by 2 - 33.3%;
by 3 or more - 50%.

Alimony is collected not only from wages, but deduction from earnings is the most effective way to get at least something. That is why the writ of execution is most often sent to the parent’s place of work.

In addition to alimony, payments under writs of execution (sheets, court orders, etc.) issued by the court may be withheld from the employee. Collections can be made in connection with the collection of a debt through the court, compensation for damage (including those caused by a crime), as well as on other grounds.

When can an employer withhold part of a salary?

According to the law, the employer himself can make deductions from an employee’s salary.

This is acceptable:

If the employee has not worked out the advance received;
if the employee was paid an inflated amount of wages due to an error in calculations or in connection with his unlawful actions (deception, etc.), established by the court or body that considered the labor dispute;
upon dismissal in a year for which the employee has already served vacation.

In the latter case, deduction does not apply if the employee quits:

By abbreviation;
in connection with a change in the owner of the company (for the director, his deputies or the chief accountant);
due to conscription into the army or alternative service;
due to complete loss of ability to work;
in connection with the death of an employer-citizen or due to the recognition of the employer as missing through the court.

This list is exhaustive; in no other case can the employer make deductions.

Moreover, even in this case, he can withhold wages only under 2 conditions:

No more than a month has passed;
the employee agrees to the retention.

Otherwise, you will have to collect it through the court.

Commentary on Article 138

1. This article establishes the maximum amount of deductions from wages, limiting it to a certain proportion of paid earnings. These restrictions are intended to provide special protection for wages, which are the main or even the only source of livelihood not only for the employee, but often for his family members, and thereby guarantee that wages fulfill their socio-economic function.

2. As a general rule, for each payment of wages, no more than 20% of the total amount for all types of deductions can be withheld. This withholding limitation applies in all cases unless otherwise provided by federal law.

Employer-mandated withholdings may under no circumstances exceed 20%.

3. The amount of deductions should not exceed 50% of wages in cases where deductions are made on the basis of an executive document. Executive documents mean the documents specified in Art. 7 of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings”: writs of execution issued by courts; court orders; resolutions of bodies (officials) authorized to consider cases of administrative offenses; notarized agreements on payment of alimony; orders of the bailiff.

4. Part 2 art. 138 of the Labor Code introduces an additional restriction: if deductions are made on the basis of several executive documents, then the total amount of deductions still cannot exceed 50% of the employee’s earnings.

5. The amount of deductions should not exceed 70% of wages in cases where deductions are made when:

Serving correctional labor based on a court verdict;

Collection of alimony for minor children;

Compensation for harm caused to the health of another person;

Compensation for damage to persons who suffered damage due to the death of the breadwinner;

Compensation for damage caused by a crime.

6. In accordance with Art. 50 of the Criminal Code, when imposing a sentence in the form of correctional labor, deductions are made from the earnings of the convicted person in the amount of 5 to 20%. If, along with this, deductions are made for other reasons, then the total amount of deductions cannot exceed 70% of earnings.

7. In accordance with Art. Art. 80 and 81 of the Family Code, if parents do not provide maintenance to their minor children, funds for the maintenance of children (alimony) are collected in court, and the amount of alimony is determined either by the share of earnings (one quarter for one child, one third for two and half for three or more, and this amount can be increased and decreased by the court taking into account the financial situation of the debtor, the children for whose maintenance alimony is being sought, and his other minor children), or, if the debtor does not have a regular income, by a fixed amount. Furthermore, in accordance with Art. Art. 100 and 103 of the SK, it is possible to conclude a notarized agreement on the payment of alimony, which must establish the amount of alimony for minor children no less than that provided for in Art. 81 SK. Thus, the amount of alimony collected for minor children may be equal to 50% of earnings. If other deductions are also made, their total amount cannot exceed 70% of earnings.

The increased amount of restrictions on deductions from wages applies to the collection of alimony only for minor children. When collecting alimony for the maintenance of other persons (disabled parents, spouses, adult but disabled children, etc.) on the basis of executive documents, the total amount of deductions cannot exceed 50% of earnings.

8. In accordance with Art. 1085 of the Civil Code, if a citizen is injured or his health is damaged, his lost income and additional expenses incurred in connection with this are subject to compensation. Compensation for this damage is made in monthly payments (Article 1092 of the Civil Code), which is possible only through deductions from wages. The total amount of deductions cannot exceed 70% of earnings.

9. In case of death of a citizen in accordance with Art. 1088 of the Civil Code, the right to compensation for property damage arising from this is given to dependent persons and certain other persons. The share of the deceased's income that the dependents received or had the right to receive for their maintenance during his lifetime is subject to compensation (Article 1089 of the Civil Code). The total amount of deductions from the wages of the tortfeasor in this case can also be up to 70% of earnings.

10. If the damage was caused by a crime, which should clearly follow from the content of the writ of execution, up to 70% of earnings is also subject to withholding.

11. In accordance with Art. 65 of the Federal Law "On Enforcement Proceedings" deductions are made from wages due to be handed over to the debtor, i.e. after taxes are withheld.

If the amount of the debtor's wages is not enough to satisfy the demands of all claimants, it is distributed among them in the order established by Art. 78 of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings”: first of all, requirements for the collection of alimony, compensation for damage caused to health, as well as compensation for damage to persons who suffered damage as a result of the death of the breadwinner are satisfied, and then all other requirements. If the amount of wages subject to withholding is not enough to satisfy the demands of the claimants of one queue, then it is distributed among them in proportion to the amount due to each of them.

12. A similar procedure for withholding applies to other types of income of the debtor, including those paid by the employer (monetary remuneration under contract agreements, royalties and other remuneration, income from securities, etc.).

Collection of social insurance benefits (temporary disability, pregnancy and childbirth, child care during leave until the child reaches the age of one and a half years) is carried out only by a court decision, a court order for the collection of alimony or a notarized agreement on the payment of alimony or by a court decision on compensation for damage caused to health and compensation for harm to persons who suffered damage as a result of the death of the breadwinner (Article 68 of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings”).

13. Part 4 art. 138 of the Labor Code contains an additional restriction on deductions from wages, prohibiting them from being made from those payments that are not subject to collection in accordance with federal law. The list of such payments is established by Art. 69 of the Federal Law "On Enforcement Proceedings". A number of them relate to wages or are paid by the employer. These include:

Payments to compensate for harm caused to health, as well as compensation for harm to persons who suffered damage as a result of the death of the breadwinner;

Payments in connection with the birth of a child; mothers of many children; victims of an industrial accident for additional food, sanatorium treatment, prosthetics and expenses for their care;

Payments for work under hazardous working conditions or in extreme situations, as well as for citizens exposed to radiation as a result of disasters or accidents at nuclear power plants;

Payments made by the organization in connection with the birth of a child, the death of relatives, and the registration of marriage;

Severance pay paid upon dismissal of an employee.

Withholding part of an employee's salary involves non-payment of a specific amount of money due to him for various reasons. Such actions can be carried out only in situations specified in the Labor Code (Articles 133-142) and federal legislation. In this article we will tell you about the procedure for deduction from wages and give instructions on how to prepare documents.

Types and conditions of deductions from the earnings of working citizens

Today, accounting has the right to deduct money from the pay of a working citizen only when there is one of the following grounds:

1. Order of the employer (on his initiative).
2. Statement from the employee, written at his own request.
3. Executive document.

In addition, income tax and payments to the Pension Fund are calculated from earnings. Deductions apply to royalties, income from securities and received under civil contracts. The accountant has the right to deduct the withheld amount from the advance payment for the first half of the month worked.

Restrictions on the amounts from which money can be withheld by law are regulated by Art. 138, clause 4 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. So, for example, it is not allowed to deduct money from payments related to business trips, transfers, the birth of a child, marriage registration, etc.

Reasons for deductions from the wages of working citizens

You can withhold money from your earnings only when required by law. Read also the article: → “”. Permissible deductions are divided into several types depending on the reasons causing them.

The circumstances under which deductions from pay are possible are limited by the Tax, Family, Labor, and Criminal Codes, Federal Law No. 229. The law obliges the employer to promptly notify employees of the amount and reasons for deductions.

Sequence of registration for deductions from pay

The registration procedure is as simple as possible, but requires the right approach. By fulfilling the required minimum conditions, the employer can eliminate violations and thereby protect himself from undesirable legal consequences in the future.

A working citizen has the right to dispose of his own earnings at his own discretion. Therefore, when making a sole decision to transfer part of his salary in favor of third parties, he should only write a corresponding statement to the employer. Based on his written request, the declared amount will be transferred.

In some cases, when the employer does not have the right to transfer money, the employee deposits the entire amount into the cash register himself.

The amount of possible deductions calculated from pay

The legal basis for amounts withheld from earnings is formed by Article 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. It lists the current restrictions on the size of these deductions.

If during the calculation it is discovered that the pay is not enough to pay off all claims, then its amount is distributed proportionally among all deductions in strict order:

1. Alimony.
2. Compensation for damage to health.
3. Compensation for damage incurred due to the death of the breadwinner. Only then are the remaining existing requirements considered and satisfied.

Unlawful deductions from an employee's salary

The employer must understand that he has the right to make any deductions only as required by law, that is, for a specific purpose and within a regulated framework. So, the standard period for applying the above-described deductions is 30 days, unless otherwise provided by law. If the prescribed deadlines are violated, the employer will be able to resolve retention issues only through the court.

A condition must be met under which the employee does not dispute anything and, in the best case, confirms his consent in writing. But the main thing is that the employer is obliged to adhere to the current limits when determining the amounts withheld.

The employer must clearly differentiate the grounds for applying withholding as a punishment. It is considered unlawful to withhold fines from an employee’s pay due to being late, smoking, etc. In such situations, employees are subject to disciplinary (reprimand, reprimand, dismissal) or financial liability, but are not fined.

Ignoring the conditions specified above, failure to comply with the rules determined by law, means a violation of labor legislation, for which the employer may be fined (Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, Article 5.27).

In case of unlawful deduction from an employee's pay, the employer is held liable for the delay in payments due to the employee. Then he will be obliged to return to his employee the withheld money with interest for each overdue day and compensate for the moral damage caused (Labor Code of the Russian Federation, Articles 236, 237).

Example 1. Calculation of the maximum amount withheld from an employee’s pay

In January, P. A. Valeryanov’s salary amounted to 35 thousand rubles. He is not entitled to standard tax deductions. According to the order of the employer, 15 thousand rubles must be deducted from P. A. Valeryanov’s salary. By law, the monthly withholding amount cannot exceed 20% of your salary. The maximum deduction amount per month is calculated sequentially:

1. First, the amount of personal income tax is determined: 35,000 * 13% = 4,550 rubles.
2. Since the withholding is calculated from the amount that is given to the employee, the next step is to subtract the calculated personal income tax (4,550 rubles) from the January official salary of P. A. Valeryanov (35 thousand rubles): 35,000-4550 = 30,450 rubles .
3. The maximum withheld amount is calculated: 30,450 * 20% = 6,090 rubles.

So, for a month the employer has the right to withhold a maximum of 6,090 rubles. from the pay of P. A. Valeryanov. Since the actual amount withheld according to the order of the employer is much larger - 15 thousand rubles, it is distributed over subsequent months until the entire amount is repaid.

Example 2. Calculation of the amount withheld from an employee’s pay according to a writ of execution

The employer received a writ of execution, according to which, starting from January 2017, alimony for the maintenance of a minor child should be calculated from the pay of his employee P. A. Valeryanov. The amount of deduction is 25% of earnings. In January, P. A. Valeryanov should receive 35 thousand rubles.

The procedure for calculating the withheld amount under a writ of execution is similar to that presented in the first example:

1. Calculation of income tax for January: 35,000 * 13% = 4,550 rubles.
2. Calculation of alimony for the same month: 25% * (35,000-4550) = 7,612 rubles.

So, from P. A. Valeryanov’s salary in January, the accounting department must calculate alimony for the maintenance of a minor child in the amount of 7,612 rubles. If the writ of execution appearing in the example had reached the employer later, say, in February, then P. A. Valeryanov would have incurred a debt by that time.

In this situation, the resulting debt is transferred to the next month. This means that in February P.A. Valeryanova will have the right to calculate the summed amounts of alimony for January and February. Moreover, the withholding should not exceed 70% of the employee’s salary.

Answers to frequently asked questions

Question No. 1. Can an employer, without the employee’s consent, deduct from earnings an excess amount that was accrued and issued due to an accountant’s accounting error?

In fact, the employer has the right to do this, but he will be able to return the amount only if the employee agrees to this, i.e. does not dispute the need for the return and the amount of the refunded amount.

Question No. 2. If an employee needs to withhold a large amount for several months, how does the employer formalize this?

Only up to 20% of the employee’s pay is deducted from each earnings. Withholdings subject to the legal limit are made every month until the entire debt is paid off. But to do this, the employer must order this once. There is no need to issue a new order for each monthly withholding.

Question No. 3. Is it legal to calculate personal income tax on cash compensation when dismissing employees?

No. Compensation amounts due upon dismissal are not included in the income on which income tax is calculated. A complete list of such income is specified in Art. 217, part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Deductions from an employee's salary are divided into several types. However, not all employees know exactly how deductions from wages occur and on what grounds.

In some situations, employers take advantage of the lack of awareness of their employees and try to withhold part of their salaries, violating labor laws.

In this article we will look at all types of deductions from employees' wages, how this procedure occurs, and also touch upon the question of how this norm is reflected in the current Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Deductions from wages: groups and types

All deductions from an employee’s salary can be divided into three main groups, as well as types, namely:

1. Mandatory deductions:

• deductions under a writ of execution (alimony);
• personal income tax (NDFL).

2. At the employee’s initiative, retention is possible in the following situations:

• under the loan agreement;
• when deducting additional insurance contributions to the funded part of the pension;
• for the employee's use of mobile communications in excess of the limit.

3. At the employer’s initiative, payments are withheld if:

• the employee did not repay the advance payment he had already received;
• the employee was fired in a year for which he already had vacation;
• in case of downtime or failure to comply with labor standards;
• funds were paid due to incorrect calculation;
• the working days were not worked by the employee (upon his dismissal).

Mandatory deductions from salary

As we have already noted, mandatory deductions from an employee’s salary according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation are personal income tax, as well as alimony. Let's look at each type in more detail.

Withholding of alimony from wages

Please note that alimony can be withheld solely on a documentary basis. The retention order is regulated by:

1. Law on enforcement proceedings.
2. Family Code of the Russian Federation.

Alimony may be withheld in relation to:

• children who have not reached the age of majority;
• other adult family members (if they do not have the ability to work).

The grounds for paying alimony are as follows:

• by court decision (if there is a court order or writ of execution);
• upon agreement of this issue by the child’s parents (a notarized agreement must be drawn up).

Original documents must be submitted to the accounting department of the enterprise.

Please note that at the discretion of the court, the size of these shares may be increased or decreased. The court takes into account the financial situation, as well as other circumstances of the parties.

In general, the deduction from an employee's salary for alimony will be calculated from the amount that remains after taxes are paid.

Within three days after the employee’s salary has been paid, the company must withhold alimony from his income.

If a company employee receives several writs of execution, then the amount of deductions (total) cannot be more than 70%.

If the company has an employee who has alimony debts and changes his place of work, the organization must notify the bailiff about this. Then the company is obliged to return the enforcement document to the bailiff, which should contain a note indicating what penalties were imposed on the employee.

Withholding personal income tax from wages

When the salary is actually paid, the amount of personal income tax that was accrued must be withheld from the taxpayer’s income. This provision is provided for by the Tax Code (clause 4, article 226).

When the actual payment occurs, withholding can be made from any funds that are paid to the taxpayer by the withholding agent. In this case, the amount of withholding cannot exceed 50% of the amount that must be paid.

The withheld personal income tax must be transferred no later than the day when the bank received the money to pay the employee’s income.

Deductions from wages at the initiative of the employee

Retention under loan agreement

A loan agreement is the basis for deducting a sum of money from an employee’s salary. The document must be concluded between the employee and the employer. The agreement reflects the following provisions:

• the size of the loan provided to the employee;
• loan term (period during which the debt must be repaid);
• the amount of interest under the terms of the agreement;
• procedure for returning funds.

Due to the fact that the deduction of money under the loan agreement will be carried out from the employee’s salary, the latter should fill out an application containing approximately the following wording:

“I ask you to withhold 1,500 rubles monthly to repay the loan.”

Withholding additional insurance contributions for the funded part of the pension

This type of deduction is permissible solely on the basis of an employee’s application (in writing). The document must indicate the following points:

1. How much should insurance premiums be withheld each month?
2. How should they be calculated?

After the employer receives the application completed by the employee, he is obliged to withhold and also transfer additional insurance contributions to the funded part of the employee’s labor pension.

Deduction for mobile phone usage

This form of deduction from an employee’s salary is relevant if the company has an established limit on expenses for using mobile communication services. Thus, if the limit is exceeded, the employee will have to compensate for this excess from his own funds.

Deduction from wages for cellular communications will be based on the local act of the enterprise. For example, such a document could be the Regulations on Remuneration. It must contain the procedure for compensating the communication services employee.

In addition, the employee can write an application requesting that funds be withheld from his income to compensate for mobile communication services.

Deductions from wages at the initiative of the employer

The initiative to make deductions from an employee’s salary can come not only from the employee, but also from the employer. In accordance with Russian law, an employer can make deductions from an employee’s income in such situations, for example, if the employee has not worked off the advance payment he received. In addition, the employer can deduct from the employee’s salary in the following situations:

1. In what cases does the employer have the right to make deductions from the employee’s wages?

2. What restrictions apply to deductions initiated by the employer.

3. How to file deductions from wages and reflect them in accounting.

As a rule, the employer is the debtor for wages, which is quite natural: the employee fulfills his job duties, and the employer is obliged to pay him a remuneration for this. However, there are cases when a debt arises from an employee, for example, if he “went too far” with the advance payment at the time of payment of wages or with vacation pay at the time of dismissal. If with the employer’s debt everything is extremely clear: if you owe it, you are obliged to repay it, then with the employee’s salary arrears the situation is somewhat different. The law allows the deduction of debt from an employee’s salary, but establishes a number of restrictions. Read the article about what amounts and in what order the employer has the right to withhold from an employee’s salary.

Grounds for deductions at the initiative of the employer

Cases when an employer has the right to deduct from an employee’s salary to pay off wage arrears are listed in Article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation:

to reimburse an unpaid advance issued to an employee on account of wages;

to repay an unspent and not returned timely advance payment issued in connection with a business trip or transfer to another job in another area, as well as in other cases;

to return amounts overpaid to the employee due to accounting errors, as well as amounts overpaid to the employee, if the body for the consideration of individual labor disputes recognizes the employee’s guilt in failure to comply with labor standards or downtime;

when an employee is dismissed before the end of the working year for which he has already received annual paid leave, for unworked vacation days.

The list of grounds for deductions from an employee’s salary at the initiative of the employer is closed, that is, the employer does not have the right to independently establish additional grounds. Thus, withholding various fines (for being late, for smoking, etc.) from employees’ salaries is illegal. And even the inclusion of such fines in employment contracts and local regulations does not make them legal. The maximum that an employer can apply in such a situation is disciplinary measures (Article 192 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), for example, a reprimand, reprimand or dismissal on appropriate grounds. However, the fine does not apply to disciplinary measures; accordingly, there are no grounds for deducting it from the employee’s salary. Moreover, by making illegal deductions, the employer himself may be fined for violation of labor legislation (part 1 of article 5.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation):

• from 1,000 to 5,000 rubles. – fine for officials and individual entrepreneurs;

• from 30,000 to 50,000 rub. – fine for organizations.

Likewise, an employer cannot, on its own initiative, withhold amounts from an employee’s salary to pay off. Repayment of the loan by deduction from wages is possible only at the request of the employee. An employee can also “ask” in writing for the employer to withhold other amounts from wages every month: to repay a bank loan, for voluntary child support, etc. In this case, the bank commission and other expenses associated with the transfer of the specified amounts to the recipient must also be paid at the expense of the employee.

! Note: Deductions from wages that the employer makes at the written request of the employee are not “withholdings” within the meaning of Art. 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, since the reduction in the amount of wages to be paid does not occur forcibly, but in accordance with the will of the employee himself, who has the right to dispose of his property at his own discretion (Letter of Rostrud dated September 26, 2012 No. PG/7156-6-1 ). Thus, no size restrictions apply to deductions initiated by the employee, established by Art. 138 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Limitation of deductions from wages

Labor legislation allows the employer to withhold amounts owed by the employee in the cases that we discussed above, from his salary. At the same time, in accordance with Art. 129 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, wages include the following payments: direct remuneration for work (salary, piecework component, etc.), as well as compensatory payments (for example, additional payments for work in the Far North) and incentives (for example, bonuses) . Thus, from other payments that are not wages, the employer cannot make deductions on its own initiative. For example, it is impossible to deduct an employee’s debt from the amounts of compensation for, payments for, etc.

The total amount of all deductions initiated by the employer should not exceed 20% of wages employee (Article 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The specified limit is calculated from the amount of salary remaining after personal income tax withholding. If the employee also has deductions under writs of execution, then they are made first, and if their amount is less than 20%, then the employer has the right to withhold the employee’s debt, but the total amount of deductions (under writs of execution and at the initiative of the employer) should not exceed 20% of salary. If deductions under enforcement documents amount to more than 20% of the employee’s salary, then the employer does not have the right to withhold the employee’s debt.

In addition to the general restrictions established regarding deductions from an employee’s salary at the initiative of the employer, it is also necessary to take into account specific restrictions depending on the grounds for deductions.

Retention of unearned advance, unreturned accountable amounts, overpaid wages

It is possible to make such deductions only if the following conditions are simultaneously met (Part 3 of Article 137):

• one month has not expired from the date of expiration of the period established for the return of the advance, repayment of debt or incorrectly calculated payments;

• the employee does not dispute the grounds and amounts of the deduction.

If these conditions, or at least one of them, are not met, then the employee’s debt can only be collected in court. Or the employee can voluntarily repay the debt by depositing funds into the employer's cash desk.

Quite often it happens that an employee received an advance, but did not work it until the end of the month due to various circumstances (sick leave, leave without pay, etc.). Accordingly, at the end of the month the employee has a debt. Simply “offsetting” this debt next month, reducing the amount of wages due for payment, is incorrect, since any deduction from the employee’s salary (including the deduction of an unpaid advance) must have legal grounds. That is, firstly, you need to comply with the 20% limit on the amount of deduction, and secondly, meet the deadline of 1 month and obtain the employee’s consent.

The fact that the employee does not dispute the grounds and amounts of deduction from his wages is best confirmed with documentation, for example, by a statement from the employee (Rostrud Letter No. 3044-6-0 dated 08/09/2007). The basis for withholding amounts of debt from an employee’s salary is an order from the manager, drawn up in any form.

! Note: If an employee has a debt due to the fact that he was overpaid wages, then the employer has the right to withhold the amount of such debt only in the following cases:

• if the salary was paid in a larger amount as a result of a calculation error;

The Labor Code does not disclose the concept of “counting error”, but in practice it is understood as an arithmetic error, that is, an error made as a result of incorrect application of arithmetic operations (multiplication, addition, subtraction, division) when calculating (letter of Rostrud dated 01.10.2012 No. 1286 -6-1). But the employer’s technical errors (for example, repeated payment of wages for one period) or errors resulting from incorrect application of legislation (for example, an outdated version) are not recognized as accounting errors (Definition of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated January 20, 2012 No. 59-B11-17) .

• if the body for the consideration of individual labor disputes recognizes the employee’s guilt in failure to comply with labor standards or downtime;

• if the wages were overpaid to the employee in connection with his unlawful actions established by the court.

In the event that none of the above conditions are met, the employer does not have the right to deduct debt from the employee’s wages.

Deduction for unworked vacation

The situation when an employee at the time of dismissal did not have time to work out the used annual leave is very common. The fact is that, according to the law, an employee must be provided with annual paid leave during the working year, and the employee can take leave at any time, regardless of the number of months actually worked. Therefore, if an employee quits before the end of the working year, for which he has fully used the annual paid and (or) additional leave, then he will have a debt in the amount of vacation pay received for unworked vacation days. The employer has the right to withhold the amount of such debt, for example, from the final payment upon dismissal (but not more than 20%).

! Note: If the amounts due to be paid to the dismissed employee are not enough for the employer to withhold the debt for unworked vacation, the employee can voluntarily pay the amount of the debt. If the employee refuses to voluntarily repay the amount owed, it will not be possible to recover it in court: judicial practice shows that in this case there are no grounds for recovery (Decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated March 14, 2014 No. 19-KG13-18, Appeal determination of the Moscow City Court dated December 4, 2013 in case No. 11-37421/2013).

The employer does not have the right to withhold from the employee’s salary the amount of debt for unworked vacation if the employee’s dismissal occurs on the following grounds (paragraph 4, part 2, article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation):

• the employee’s refusal to transfer to another job, which is necessary for him in accordance with a medical report issued in the manner established by federal laws and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, or the employer does not have the corresponding work (Clause 8, Part 1, Article 77 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) ;
• liquidation of an organization or termination of activities by an individual entrepreneur (clause 1, part 1, article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• reduction in the number or staff of employees of an organization, individual entrepreneur (clause 2, part 1, article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• change of owner of the organization’s property (in relation to the head of the organization, his deputies and the chief accountant) (clause 4, part 1, article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• conscription of an employee for military service or sending him to an alternative civil service replacing it (clause 1, part 1, article 83 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• reinstatement of an employee who previously performed this work by decision of the state labor inspectorate or court (clause 2, part 1, article 83 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• recognition of the employee as completely incapable of working in accordance with a medical report (clause 5, part 1, article 83 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• death of an employee or employer - an individual, as well as recognition by a court of an employee or employer - an individual as deceased or missing (Clause 6, Part 1, Article 83 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• the occurrence of emergency circumstances that impede the continuation of labor relations (military operations, catastrophe, natural disaster, major accident, epidemic and other emergency circumstances), if this circumstance is recognized by a decision of the Government of the Russian Federation or a government body of the relevant subject of the Russian Federation (clause 7, part 1, art. 83 Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Example of deduction for unworked vacation days upon dismissal

Manager of the sales department of Resurs LLC Sokolov V.I. resigns on April 10, 2015. At the time of dismissal from Sokolov V.I. There are 12 days of unworked vacation. The amount of payments due to an employee upon dismissal (salary and bonus for the period from 04/01/2015 to 04/10/2015) amounted to RUB 25,700.00. The amount accrued for unworked vacation days amounted to RUB 12,305.50. The management of Resurs LLC decided to withhold V.I. Sokolov from his salary. the amount of payment for unworked vacation days.

Let's consider the procedure for deducting and recording the amount of debt.

Deductions from an employee's salary of his debt to the employer for an unpaid advance or for overpaid wages are reflected in accounting in the same way as deductions for unworked vacation: by reversing the debit of the cost accounting account (44, 20, 26) and the credit of the account of settlements with personnel on wages (70). And the deduction of the employee’s debt for unspent accountable amounts is reflected by the posting: debit 70 – credit 71.

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Normative base

1. Labor Code of the Russian Federation
2. Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation
3. Letters from Rostrud:

• dated September 26, 2012 No. PG/7156-6-1;
• dated 08/09/2007 No. 3044-6-0;
• dated 01.10.2012 No. 1286-6-1