How to arrange a business trip in 2021: instructions with sample documents

Circumstances often arise that may interfere with the further performance of a job assignment. In such cases, it is necessary to correctly document the cancellation or rescheduling of a business trip.

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Let us consider the main issues and emerging nuances in more detail.

General concepts for business trips

A business trip is a trip by an employee, by order of a manager, for a certain period of time to another location to carry out an official assignment outside the place of his permanent work. Business trips of employees whose permanent work takes place on the road or is of a traveling nature are not recognized .

Duration of business trip – the duration of the employee’s stay on a business trip. The duration of the business trip is determined by the employer, taking into account the volume, complexity and other features of the official assignment.

The day of departure on a business trip is the day the vehicle departs from the place of permanent work of the business traveler, and the day of arrival is the day the vehicle arrives at the place of permanent work. When leaving a vehicle before 24 hours inclusive, the day of departure for a business trip is considered the current day, and from 00.00 hours and later - the next day.

Is it possible to send an employee on a day off?

Sometimes a trip means that an employee must begin performing duties in a new place on Monday. To do this, he needs to go on a business trip on his day off.

This point must be agreed upon with the employee himself - in order to complete a business trip on a day off, it will be necessary to issue an order that the business trip will begin on a day off, and the employee must give written consent to this. In such an order, it is necessary to indicate the working hours for a given day - this step is necessary in order to eliminate disputes about payment for such days.

For example, if the train leaves several hours before midnight, then the order must indicate that only these hours are subject to payment. Otherwise, the employer will need to compensate the entire day. And this will have to be done either double or single, but with an additional day for rest.

Organization of business trips

Let’s look step by step at how to organize sending an employee on a business trip.

So, at the first stage , the initiator prepares a memo or justification for the trip indicating:

• FULL NAME. and positions of employees sent on business trips;
• purpose of the trip;
• start and end dates of the business trip;
• location and name of the legal entity (division) of the receiving party;
• a proposed register of costs indicating the method of payment.

The justification must include a list of the employee's expected expenses - costs of renting living quarters, travel expenses to and from the business trip, additional transportation costs for fuels and lubricants, etc.

At the second stage , taking into account the justification, the head of the company makes a decision on the secondment of the employee, guided by the following principles:

• the purposes of the business trip must be of a production nature;
• secondment of the head and employees of one department, as well as secondment of 2 or more employees of one department should be expedient and economically justified from the point of view of production necessity.

Examples of the purpose of a business trip in case of traveling abroad may be as follows:

• for participation in international conferences, seminars, symposiums, exhibitions;
• to participate in working groups on joint activities with the company’s foreign partners;
• to represent the employer’s interests at significant international events (forums, etc.);
• to familiarize yourself with new types of equipment, organize the supply of goods (equipment) necessary for the operation of the facility ordered by the company from a foreign manufacturer.

Examples of wording of the purpose of a business trip

When creating templates for the wording used, you should proceed from the fact that the text of this phrase should:

• to be short;
• reflect the very essence of the travel destination;
• contain key explanations that allow you to make an unambiguous link to the designated purpose of the business trip.

Examples

• “To conduct negotiations with a potential buyer before concluding a supply agreement.”
• “To conduct an internal audit in the accounting department of a separate division.”
• “To assess the technical condition of used equipment intended for purchase.”

The sets of goals for which a business trip is sent most often directly depends on which category of personnel the employees going on a business trip belong to. For example:

• the employer's manager is dominated by general issues related to the organization of work and control over it, negotiations, defining moments that are fundamental for the further conduct of activities, reporting to business owners;
• heads of sales and purchasing services, as a rule, have to negotiate the terms of contracts with buyers and suppliers, respectively, and participate in exhibitions of their own or other people’s products;
• the head of the financial service can travel to negotiate with the bank or to study the market;
• lawyers are required to personally attend court hearings, they can also take part in negotiations with counterparties and deal with the preparation of permits;
• accountants can attend thematic consultations and seminars held in another city and monitor the work of accounting departments of separate structures;
• employees with good experience can periodically act as persons establishing work in a separate structure;
• persons of technical specialties perform work on installation of equipment, its commissioning, further warranty and maintenance, and are also involved in assessing the condition of used property that is planned to be purchased from the counterparty and to accompany the used property for repairs.

But there are also goals that can be relevant to almost any employee, regardless of what position and specialty he occupies. These are trips related to:

• retraining, retraining, advanced training;
• carrying out control activities (inventory, inspections of work performed).

Preparation of documents for a business trip

After the approval part comes the documentation of the business trip.

So, at the third step, an order is issued to send the employee on a business trip. It is usually prepared by the personnel department based on a positive decision from the director of the company.

After signing the order and familiarizing the posted worker with it, at the fourth stage they book tickets and a hotel.

Why is it important to issue travel documents only after the order is issued? Because at any moment the plans of the management may change and the business trip will not take place. In this case, your expenses for travel and rental housing will be considered unreasonable .

The employee can independently arrange travel and hotel passes. However, to organize expenses, it is advisable to entrust the booking of tickets and accommodation to a separate employee who will process these expenses in accordance with established standards. In this case, you need to make a preliminary calculation for calculating travel allowances.

You can download an example of a calculation form for the amount of travel allowances for free from our website here:

PRELIMINARY CALCULATION FORM FOR A BUSINESS TRAVEL: SAMPLE

Non-refundable fare and penalties

If the tariffs are non-refundable, the money may either not be returned at all, or returned, but with a fine.

What to do?

The difference between the purchase price and the return amount can be written off as non-operating expenses (subclause 13, clause 1, article 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). To do this, the costs must be documented:

• the cost of a non-refundable ticket - with the ticket itself (the fare is stated in it);
• expenses for the reservation - a document from the hotel, where the tariff is also indicated;
• fine - by check, where the amount of deduction is indicated.

Business trip payment

And the last step before sending an employee on a business trip is issuing travel allowances for reporting.

Money can be issued in cash from the cash register or transferred to the employee’s bank card, since now many companies have abandoned cash management and pay all expenses by bank transfer.

The approved preliminary calculation for the business trip will be attached to the cash receipt order or to the payment order for the transfer and will be a supporting document.

When agreeing on the preliminary calculation, the accounting department makes a note if the employee has a debt on previously received advances. As a rule, if there is a debt from a past business trip, new advance amounts are not issued . In exceptional cases, the advance is issued minus the debt.

Amounts of unconfirmed (excessively transferred) travel expenses are withheld from the employee’s salary based on the application.

APPLICATION FORM FOR A BUSINESS TRAVEL

If the employee did not have time to receive funds before the business trip on account - in the case of an urgent departure due to production needs - reimbursement of expenses is made after his return from the business trip (subject to the availability of supporting documents).

The transfer of money issued on account for a business trip by one employee to another is prohibited .

Refund tariff and taxes

When returning funds for reservations and tickets with a refundable fare, be careful with taxes - income and VAT.

The cost of accommodation and a refundable travel ticket can be taken into account as an advance or prepayment. Therefore, when you receive money for the return of taxable income, you will not have (clause 1, article 41, clause 1, part 2, article 247 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

As for VAT indicated in the ticket price, it should neither be charged nor deducted. After all, transportation services were not provided (clause 7 of article 171, clause 1 of article 172 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Preparation of reports on the results of business trips outside the Russian Federation

Foreign business trips always attract the attention of inspection authorities. Therefore, it is better to prepare for them in advance and fill out a business trip report addressed to the manager.

You can view the form of such a report here:

TRIP REPORT FORM

For example:

• when traveling abroad for the purpose of participating in international conferences, seminars, symposiums, exhibitions - the employee personally draws up a report in which he sets out information about the goals and results of the business trip, the knowledge acquired, indicates proposals for the use of foreign experience and information obtained during the trip in the company ;
• when traveling abroad to participate in working groups on joint activities , its participants draw up minutes of the meeting of the working group;
• when traveling abroad to represent the company at significant international events , they make a written report on business meetings in formal and informal settings, indicating the persons participating in them and the topics discussed during the working meetings.

Documents confirming the employee’s expenses for a business trip outside the Russian Federation are accepted with a line-by-line translation into Russian.

Typical mistakes:

Error:

An accountant issued unpaid leave to an internal part-time employee sent on a business trip.

A comment:

An internal part-time worker who has gone on a business trip cannot be granted basic or additional leave. It is necessary to apply for additional paid leave in addition to the annual leave for the period of the trip.

Error:

The employer sent an employee on a business trip while on annual leave.

A comment:

If there is a production need to send an employee who is on vacation on a business trip, it is necessary to recall him from vacation (unless the law prohibits recalling an employee of a special category from vacation) and make adjustments to the vacation schedule.

Advance report

Upon returning from a business trip, the employee is obliged to submit an advance report to the accounting department with the following supporting documents attached:

• a copy of the order for sending on a business trip;
• a copy of the order to extend (change/cancel) the business trip;
• travel documents: electronic ticket or air ticket with boarding passes attached, railway ticket and others;
• an invoice (act and invoice) of a hotel or a lease agreement when renting a residential premises and a document confirming payment (cash receipt, PKO receipt, card extract and others);
• a document confirming the refueling of the car (in the case of renting a car or sending an employee on a business trip in a company car) - gas station receipt;
• receipts for ticket refunds, fines for cancellation of ticket reservations, rental of accommodation (if there is an order to cancel/change/reduce/extend a business trip);
• a copy of the consignment note, consignment note or movement act - when transporting inventory items;
• other documents confirming expenses during a business trip;
• a copy of a foreign passport with a mark on crossing the border - when traveling outside the Russian Federation (except for cases when, in accordance with the current procedure, crossing the state border of the Russian Federation occurs using an internal passport without putting a mark in the foreign passport).

Driver

Another category of workers whose occupation involves frequent travel is drivers. Their responsibilities include transporting company employees, goods, valuables, and documents.

How to write the purpose of the trip in the order depends on the specific task. Examples for the driver:

• delivery of goods to (address);
• transportation of a commercial director;
• delivery of goods and materials, receipt of invoices.

What else might the purpose of a driver’s business trip “look like”? Examples:

• purchasing spare parts for car repairs;
• routine vehicle diagnostics;
• delivery of original transaction documentation.

Other business trip expenses

In addition to basic expenses, an employee may have other expenses during a business trip. In order for the accounting department to be able to reimburse them and take them into account, the employee must provide supporting documents:

• for the use of the bed;

• payment of insurance fees (including insurance fees for compulsory and voluntary personal insurance of passengers on transport);

• payment of registration fees;

• payment for services for issuing travel documents;

• return of tickets, fines (if there is an order to cancel/change/reduce/extend a business trip);

• hotel accounts for the provision of additional services (insurance, use of a refrigerator).

The employee may also have expenses for baggage when transporting documents, spare parts and other equipment, if this task is provided for in the business trip order. They are reimbursed to the posted worker in full on the basis of supporting documents.

KEEP IN MIND

The accounting department may refuse to accept for accounting documents that are dirty, worn, torn, have abrasions, holes, punctures, foreign inscriptions, stains, have lost fragments, are glued together from fragments - if, due to their condition, they cannot confirm the fact of expenses incurred or any mandatory document details cannot be identified.

Departure of a freelancer

A trip by an employee with whom a civil contract has been concluded (for example, a contract or assignment) is not considered a business trip. However, the company can reimburse such an employee for travel expenses. To do this, the costs incurred must be:

• directly related to the services provided (work performed);
• documented.

In addition, the provision for compensation of costs must be specified in the contract. Then the employee will not have to pay personal income tax on them, and the company will not have to pay insurance contributions to extra-budgetary funds and “injury” contributions.

It happens that a person who is not in official relations with the company is sent on a business trip. There may be a variety of reasons for this: the employee may be on the staff of a “friendly” company or even receive an unofficial salary.

Please note: inspectors may consider payments to this employee not as compensation for the business trip, but as his income. In this case, in a dispute with inspectors, use the following arguments.

The fact that an employee carries out the company’s assignment already indicates that he has fulfilled his job duties. And once a person starts work, the employment contract is automatically considered concluded (Article 67 of the Labor Code), even if it is not drawn up on paper. Therefore, the company and the employee do not face any tax consequences. The same opinion is shared by the arbitration courts (decrees of the FAS Moscow District dated December 5, 2003 No. KA_A40/9726_03 and the FAS Volga-Vyatka District dated July 29, 2003 No. A31_541/ 1).

However, in order to avoid claims during the audit, it is better to draw up fixed-term employment contracts during business trips with freelance workers.