Personal income tax on sick leave in 2019-2020: how it is taxed

Any staff member may be temporarily unable to work due to illness or caring for an unhealthy family member. During this period, drawn up with a special document - a certificate of incapacity for work - the employee does not perform his immediate duties, but still receives money in the amounts specified by law.

Do I need to withhold personal income tax from these funds?
How is this reflected in the company's accounting documents?
What exactly are the funds used to make up this tax payment?

Find out from the article.

Is personal income tax withheld and paid on sick leave?

The answer to the question of whether sick leave is subject to personal income tax is contained in paragraph 1 of Art.
217 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Temporary disability benefits are excluded from the list of payments not subject to personal income tax. Since the document confirming the employee’s incapacity for work is a certificate of incapacity for work, personal income tax is calculated from the sick leave. Let us recall payments that are not subject to personal income tax (Clause 1, Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

lump sum maternity benefit;
monthly allowance for child care up to 1.5 years;
monthly compensation for child care up to 3 years old.

A ready-made solution from ConsultantPlus will help you calculate and pay sick leave to employees, including in unusual and difficult situations. Get trial access to the K+ system and immediately see expert recommendations. It's free.

Rules for filling out lines in form 6-NDFL

The table below shows a clear example of how sick leave payment can be reflected in Form 6-NDFL. This report is prepared when income tax is collected on such payment.

Filling out a report: example

Below is a clear example of how sick leave payments and the corresponding tax payment are reflected in Form 6-NDFL.

After recovery, worker Sidorov A.G. was issued a certificate of incapacity for work for the following period - July 13-26, 2021. Sidorov reported to work on July 27 and immediately gave this document to the accountant.

After making calculations for sick leave, on July 27, 2021, the employee was credited with 24,500 rubles. This money was transferred to the employee’s salary card on the day the monthly salary was issued - August 7, 2017.

All of the above transactions were indicated in the 6-NDFL report for 9 months. 2017 They did it this way:

Line	Meaning
020	24 500
040	3 185
070	3 185
100	07.08.2017
110	07.08.2017
120	31.08.2017
130	24 500
140	3 185

Additional payment up to average monthly earnings

If, when transferring sick leave money to an employee’s salary card, an additional payment is made up to the average monthly earnings, then income tax is collected in the general manner (Articles 217, 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
In this situation, personal income tax is withheld at a rate of 13%. Important! Supplement to average earnings is considered a legal procedure in which, if the employee’s salary level decreases, the employer pays him the required amount. As a result, the employee’s monthly income reaches a specific average value.

Payments for closed sick leave are calculated based on the average monthly salary of a worker for the last 2 years that precede the onset of illness (Part 1, Article 14 of Federal Law No. 255 of December 29, 2006). When calculating such a benefit, it is taken into account that the amount of wages for one year should not exceed the specific maximum amount of various insurance contributions to the Social Insurance Fund.

The provision of additional payment is indicated in the employment contract (agreement) with the employee or in a separate specific regulatory act.

Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ “On compulsory social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity”

Taxation of sick leave for caring for a disabled child

Often, an employee is paid for a certificate of incapacity for work, which is opened in connection with caring for one or more disabled children. However, many parents do not know whether closed sick leave is subject to personal income tax.

Read also: simplified tax system in 2021

In Art. 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation reflects a list of payments that are not subject to personal income tax. Sick leave issued when caring for one or more disabled children is not on this list. Accordingly, payments for such certificates of incapacity for work are also subject to taxation.

Is income tax taken from sick leave in 2020-2021 or not?

Are sick leave subject to personal income tax? Yes, and the personal income tax rate for this type of payment has not changed: in 2020-2021, as before, it is 13%.

Since sick leave is subject to personal income tax, the tax base for calculation is the amount of temporary disability benefits in full (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 17, 2009 No. 03-04-06-01/139).

Important! Starting from 2021, the employer accrues and pays sick leave only for the first 3 days and only pays personal income tax from this amount. The remaining portion of the benefit is paid directly to the employee by the Social Insurance Fund. He also withholds personal income tax from her. In cases where the FSS issues 100% of the benefit, it withholds tax from the entire amount. For more details, see our memo on the new rules for paying benefits from 2021.

Accountants sometimes have doubts whether to withhold personal income tax from sick leave as when assessing wages, or are there differences? Please note that deductions here are carried out in a special manner, different from deductions from an employee’s salary.

The difference is that sick pay is included in taxable income in the month of payment (clause 1 of Article 223 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). There are also differences in the procedure for paying personal income tax from sick leave to the budget. But more on that below.

In business practice, there are circumstances in which employees working at the enterprise fell ill after concluding civil contracts with them. A reasonable question arose: is personal income tax paid on sick leave for such employees? It should be borne in mind that employees with whom civil contracts have been concluded should not be paid sick leave. Accordingly, there is no need to accrue or pay personal income tax.

Is tax paid for sick leave paid from the Social Insurance Fund?

If a specific region of the Russian Federation participates in the official FSS pilot project (Order of the FSS of the Russian Federation No. 578 of November 24, 2021), then the following rule is applied: the first three days of illness are paid from the fund of a specific enterprise, and all the rest - from the FSS.
Personal income tax is withheld in both the first and second cases. Read also: Cash accounting in an enterprise

Sick leave is paid for at the expense of a specific amount of funds from the Social Insurance Fund already in the first days in the following situations:

when caring for a child;
in the event of a specific accident at work;
during prosthetics in a hospital;
in the event of an occupational disease;
when the employee himself, or 1 or several of his children under 7 years old who go to kindergarten, etc., go into quarantine.

Regardless of the validity period of a specific certificate of incapacity for work, only the employer - a specific company - is considered a tax agent when paying personal income tax. Personal income tax is withheld and transferred to the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation from the entire amount of benefits under this medical certificate.

Order of the Federal Insurance Service of the Russian Federation dated November 24, 2017 N 578 “On approval of the forms of documents used for the payment of insurance coverage and other payments in 2012 - 2021 in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation participating in the implementation of a pilot project providing for the appointment and payment of compulsory social insurance coverage to insured persons insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with maternity and for compulsory social insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases, other payments and expenses by the territorial bodies of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation"

What period and date of personal income tax withholding are established for sick leave and vacation pay?

The deadline for paying sick leave tax is no later than the last day of the month in which the benefit was paid.

The withheld personal income tax must be shown in the 6-NDFL report. ConsultantPlus experts explained how to determine the date of actual receipt of sick leave income for calculating 6-NDFL. Get free demo access to K+ and go to the Ready Solution to find out all the details of this procedure.

By the way, a similar procedure and payment deadline is provided for personal income tax on vacation pay: the tax should be withheld and transferred to the budget no later than the last day of the month when the vacation pay was issued.

About the deadline for paying personal income tax

Participants of the pilot project 2021

The list of subjects of the Russian Federation - participants in the pilot project of the FSS of the Russian Federation can be found in paragraph 2 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 21, 2011 N 294.

Table: Who is participating in the pilot project 2020

Region	Terms of participation in the pilot project
Republic of Bashkortostan	from July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
The Republic of Dagestan
Krasnoyarsk region
Stavropol region
Volgograd region
Irkutsk region – from January 1, 2021
Leningrad region
Tyumen region
Yaroslavl region
Komi Republic	from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
Udmurt republic
Kirov region
Kemerovo region
Orenburg region
Saratov region
Tver region
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
Transbaikal region	from July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
Arhangelsk region
Voronezh region
Ivanovo region
Murmansk region
Penza region
Ryazan Oblast
Sakhalin region
Tula region
The Republic of Ingushetia	from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
Mari El Republic
The Republic of Khakassia
Chechen Republic
Chuvash Republic
Kamchatka Krai
Vladimir region
Pskov region
Smolensk region
Nenets Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Kabardino-Balkarian Republic	from July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
Republic of Karelia
Republic of North Ossetia–Alania
Tyva Republic
Kostroma region
Kursk region
Republic of Adygea (Adygea)	from July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
Altai Republic
The Republic of Buryatia
Republic of Kalmykia
Altai region
Primorsky Krai
Amur region
Vologda Region
Omsk region
Oryol Region
Magadan Region
Tomsk region
Jewish Autonomous Region
The Republic of Mordovia	from July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
Bryansk region
Kaliningrad region
Kaluga region1
Lipetsk region
Ulyanovsk region
Republic of Tatarstan	from July 1, 2015 to December 31, 2021
Belgorod region
Rostov region
Samara Region
Republic of Crimea	from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2021
Sevastopol	from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2021
Astrakhan region	from July 1, 2012 to December 31, 2021
Kurgan region
Novgorod region
Novosibirsk region
Tambov Region
Khabarovsk region
Karachay-Cherkess Republic	from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2021
Nizhny Novgorod Region	from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2021

From that part of the benefit amount that is paid at the expense of the employer, the organization, as a tax agent, withholds and transfers it to the personal income tax budget in the usual manner.

With regard to personal income tax on the amount of hospital benefits at the expense of the Social Insurance Fund, the employer participating in the pilot project is not recognized as a tax agent, since he is not the source of payment of income. Since this part of the benefit is paid by the FSS department, it withholds personal income tax from the corresponding amount.

Temporary disability benefit – personal income tax and additional payment up to average earnings

If, when calculating temporary disability benefits, an additional payment is made up to average earnings, then the corresponding personal income tax on sick leave is paid in the general manner (Articles 217, 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Both officials and judges came to this conclusion (letters from the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 05/06/2009 No. 03-03-06/1/299, dated 02/12/2009 No. 03-03-06/1/60, dated 12/24/2008 No. 03- 03-06/1/720, resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North-Western District dated 07.07.2008 No. A26-2542/2007).

Thus, to the question posed at the beginning of the article, whether personal income tax is withheld from sick leave, the answer will be unequivocal: undoubtedly, yes.

Procedure for calculating taxes (formula, example of calculation)

The amount of the income tax on sick leave is 13 percent and does not differ from the generally established value. Since compensation for a certificate of incapacity for work is made from two sources - from the social insurance budget and from the organization’s wage fund, its amount consists of two values. Personal income tax is withheld from each of these parts, but social insurance sends its share to the enterprise, which subsequently transfers the tax to the budget in full.

To understand how personal income tax is withheld from sick leave, let’s look at a specific example.

Employee Petrov V.V. Upon returning to work, he submitted a certificate of incapacity for work for 10 days. In accordance with the amount of earnings, he was awarded sick leave compensation in the amount of 6,000 rubles, which is distributed as follows:

1800 rub. pays the company (for three working days);
4200 rub. reimbursed by the Social Insurance Fund (in seven working days).

A person will receive 5,220 rubles for sick leave (minus 13% personal income tax).

The Social Insurance Fund will return 234 rubles to the enterprise, that is, 13% of 1,800 rubles. The employer will transfer to the budget the full amount of tax in the amount of 780 rubles (13% of 6,000 rubles).

Since 2011, a pilot project has been carried out in a number of regions of Russia, in which 39 constituent entities of the Russian Federation are participating in 2021. Within the framework of this program, it is stipulated that all sick leave payments are made only by the social insurance fund, which calculates the withholding tax and sends it to the treasury.

Results

Payment for sick leave, with the exception of maternity benefits, is subject to personal income tax, regardless of the source of its payment (employer or Social Insurance Fund).
The employer's personal income tax on sick leave benefits must be withheld upon payment and transferred to the budget no later than the last day of the month in which the benefits were paid. When paying benefits for sick days, starting from the 4th day, the Social Insurance Fund will withhold and transfer it to the budget independently. You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

At whose expense is the employee sick in 2019-2020?

In general, the first 3 days of illness from the employee’s period of incapacity are paid at the expense of the employer, the remaining days - at the expense of the Social Insurance Fund.

The benefit must be assigned to the employee within 10 calendar days from the date of presentation of sick leave to the employer, and transferred on the nearest payday after the assignment of the benefit, established by the employer (part 1 of article 15, part 8 of article 13 of the Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ).

The basis for payment of benefits is paper or electronic certificates of incapacity for work.

general information

A temporary disability certificate allows a citizen to officially not go to work for a certain period of time and at the same time save a certain percentage of his salary.

The attending physician of the employee (child – when applying for sick leave for child care) has the right to draw up this document.

A temporary disability certificate allows a citizen to receive benefits. Its size depends on many factors.

Every citizen of the Russian Federation who carries out official work activities on the basis of a concluded employment contract has the right to issue a sick leave in the following situations:

in case of illness;
in case of industrial injury;
if there is a need to care for a child or close relative;
in connection with pregnancy and childbirth.

Representatives of other states can also draw up this document and receive the required benefits in the event of:

injury at work;
development of occupational disease;
under other circumstances related to the field of activity in which the foreign citizen works.

Definitions

Basic concepts and terms:

Concept	Definition
Sick leave	A document confirming the fact of a citizen’s temporary disability for a certain period of time, allowing him to receive a certain percentage of his salary
Personal income tax	Tax levied on income received by individuals
Employment contract	A document establishing the basic rights and obligations between a citizen and a legal entity or individual entrepreneur with whom he has a working relationship
Work injury	Physical injury suffered by employees in the course of performing their job duties.

What taxes are withheld?

According to the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, temporary disability benefits are not included in the list of payments that are state benefits.

Consequently, these contributions are classified as income of individuals and are subject to a corresponding tax of thirteen percent of the amount.

This rule is valid from January 1, 2007. Until that moment, personal income tax was not withheld from compensation for temporary disability.

In what cases is it not taken

However, the collection of personal income tax from compensation to an employee in connection with his temporary disability cannot be called carried out in a general manner.

This is because there are exceptions. Personal income tax is not withheld from a number of temporary disability benefits.

These include:

Unemployment benefit	If a citizen who is registered with the employment center has issued a sick leave, then personal income tax is not charged on the payment due to him.
Hospital benefits in connection with pregnancy and childbirth (maternity benefits)	A woman in a position receives benefits in full without deducting thirteen percent

Whose amounts are taxable?

As a general rule, funds to pay for sick leave to the employee who presented it are taken from two sources:

the first three days of incapacity for work are paid at the expense of the employer;
the rest of the sick leave period is financially compensated by the compulsory health insurance fund.

In accordance with the procedure prescribed by law, the accounting department calculates to the employee the amount due for payment, consisting of the employer’s money and the Federal Compulsory Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. Before writing out the amount to be accrued, the tax agent, that is, the employer, deducts the required 13% income tax from this amount.

After this, the employer submits an application to the Health Insurance Fund for reimbursement of sick leave payments, for which a special form 4-FSS is provided.

What contributions are charged at the expense of the employer?

From the amount of temporary disability benefits received by an employee, the employer also pays contributions to the citizen’s individual personal account in the pension insurance system.

If personal income tax is deducted from funds issued to an employee who was on sick leave, then the contribution to pension funds is paid from the assets of the organization.

Points of interest

A personal income tax of thirteen percent is levied on each sick leave benefit, with the exception of payments received by employees while on maternity leave (maternity leave).

The benefit amount is calculated as follows:

the summed salary for the last two years of the employee’s insurance coverage is taken;
the resulting value is divided by the number of days in the billing period - 730 * (731 for a leap year);
the result is the average wage of a citizen for one day of work.

He is indexed depending on his length of service:

Up to six months	Calculated according to the minimum wage
Up to five years	60%
From five to eight years	80%
Over eight years	100%
In the case of temporary maternity benefits for up to 6 months of service	Calculated according to the minimum wage, with work experience of more than six months - 100%

the indexed average daily salary of an employee is multiplied by the number of days during which the citizen was temporarily disabled;
the amount received is subject to personal income tax;
the final amount is issued to the employee as a sick leave benefit.

Line	Action	Deadline	Norm of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation
020	Calculation of sick pay	Pay day	Art. 223
040	Income tax calculation		clause 3 art. 226
100	Transferring money to an employee		Art. 223
070, 110	Withholding personal income tax		clause 4 art. 226
120	Transfer of tax payment to the budget	28th, 30th or 31st day of the month in which sick leave is paid	clause 6 art. 226