Employer reporting
Natalya Vasilyeva
Certified Tax Advisor
Current as of November 27, 2019
Entrepreneurs and organizations of all forms of ownership are required to submit information to the Federal Tax Service on the number of employees at the end of the year. But individual entrepreneurs can operate without employees. Let's figure out whether in this case they need to submit a zero report on the average number of employees (ASCH).
Why is SSC needed?
Many accountants and HR specialists know that the SCH is a small report on the number of people working in an organization or on the staff of an individual entrepreneur. The report form was approved by Federal Tax Service Order No. MM-3-25/ [email protected] dated March 29, 2007 and looks like this:
>Download a free sample form from ConsultantPlus experts.
Previously, the average number of employees of individual entrepreneurs without employees was always submitted using the same form. The form looks simple, but you need to take into account the specifics of counting the number of workers. The calculation instructions are given in the instructions set out in the letter of the Federal Tax Service No. CHD-6-25 / [email protected] dated April 26, 2007.
Objectives of the report:
- control over the number of full-time employees in order to correctly determine the status of a person (small, large enterprise, etc.);
- clarification of the method of submitting and compiling reports (some entities now submit them only electronically);
- simplification of control over the payment of insurance premiums.
Thus, the SSC for individual entrepreneurs without employees or with employees allows tax authorities to control certain aspects of the taxpayer’s economic activities.
Who reports and when
Once a year, all legal entities and individual entrepreneurs are required to submit a certificate on the number of personnel registered in the organization. We are talking about information about the average number of employees who worked at the enterprise during the past year. Information is necessary for statistical data, for example, to understand how the head of an organization is required to submit reports - electronically or on paper.
In Art. 80 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation stipulates whether an individual entrepreneur must submit the average number of employees if there are no employees for the reporting period. The need to submit a report is provided for:
- newly registered organizations with and without employees;
- Individual entrepreneur with employees on staff;
- operating organizations with and without employees.
In paragraph 3 of Art. 80 indicates whether individual entrepreneurs submit SSC - yes, they do, provided that they hired employees during the reporting period. For individual entrepreneurs, the deadline for submitting information is January 20 of the following reporting year.
New organizations and individual entrepreneurs submit this report to the Federal Tax Service - the average number of individual entrepreneurs without employees upon registration is included in the list of mandatory reporting forms. For newly created organizations, the declaration of SSC must be made before the 20th day of the month following registration.
An annual certificate of the average number of individual entrepreneurs without employees is not compiled. If an entrepreneur closes a business, then the report is provided no later than the actual date when the individual entrepreneur is deregistered with the tax authorities. The report is submitted to the tax office at the place of registration of the individual entrepreneur. If the number of personnel exceeds 25 people, then you will have to report electronically.
Features of SSC for individual entrepreneurs
Against the backdrop of the fight against administrative pressure on business, the question of whether an individual entrepreneur without employees rents out the average number of employees has disappeared. Just 7 years ago, even new LLCs and registered individual entrepreneurs were required to submit this form to the Federal Tax Service. In establishing this obligation, the legislator proceeded from the assumption that if there are currently no employees on staff, then during the reporting period (year) they could be employed and resign.
Fortunately, the tax inspectorate is no longer interested in a certificate of the average number of individual entrepreneurs without employees, the indicator in which is always equal to zero. The table below shows the changes made to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, thanks to which the need to submit an SSC report to entrepreneurs who do not use hired labor has disappeared.
How to report on the average number of individual entrepreneurs with and without employees in 2021
Individual entrepreneurs with employees report on the average number of employees in 2021 in the manner described above, that is, indicate the number in the calculation of insurance premiums submitted at the end of 2020 by 02/01/2021.
The date on which data for 2021 is calculated is January 1, 2021.
The entrepreneur sends the information as part of the DAM to the inspectorate at his place of residence.
If an individual entrepreneur does not have employees, he does not submit calculations for insurance premiums. Additionally, he does not need to report to the Federal Tax Service about the zero SSC.
Why does the individual entrepreneur not include himself in the certificate?
Despite the fact that changes to the Tax Code were made more than seven years ago, entrepreneurs do not cease to worry and ask how to fill the average number of individual entrepreneurs without employees. In theory, a working individual entrepreneur can include himself in the form, but from the explanations of the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service it follows that this is not necessary, since:
- An individual entrepreneur does not have the right to conclude an employment contract with himself, and according to the instructions of Rosstat, information is submitted about those employees with whom the employment contract is concluded;
- in accordance with >Art. 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, an entrepreneur organizes his own business, a business at his own peril and risk, the purpose of his activity is to make a profit, and he has the right to act on his own behalf when concluding transactions and in court, but this activity cannot be classified as labor activity.
Do individual entrepreneurs rent out the average number of employees?
Organizations and individual entrepreneurs that hired employees during the reporting period are required to submit a report on the average number of employees by January 20 of the following year. Organizations with a single founder-director, with whom an agreement has not been concluded and whose salary is not paid, submit a report with zero indicators. Thus, the SSC for 2021 must be submitted to the Federal Tax Service by January 20, 2020.
Individual entrepreneurs without hired workers do not rent out the SSCH, including the zero one (Clause 3 of Article 80 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
But what if the individual entrepreneur ceased operations in the reporting year? Controllers believe that if he has hired employees, he is obliged to submit information, although he has already lost his status as an entrepreneur (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated March 30, 2017 No. 03-02-08/18588).
Answers to frequently asked questions (repetition is the mother of learning)
Who passes the average number?
All organizations, without exception, and entrepreneurs using hired labor.
Is a zero value of the average headcount allowed in the report?
Yes, if there were no employees on staff during the reporting period, this is quite logical, but not for individual entrepreneurs. Currently, LLCs without employees are still required to submit such forms.
What to do if employees were on staff, but have now been fired?
The value is calculated taking into account the established rules set out in the instructions of Rosstat. The total value is the sum of the values calculated for each month. Thus, if employees worked at the enterprise during the period specified in the form, this should be reflected in the final figure. The calculation rules are specific and described in detail; there are special instructions for counting part-time workers, part-time workers, etc.
How to calculate the average number of employees?
For what formula is used for the calculation, read the article > “Sample calculation of the SSC”.
How to accurately calculate the average number of employees
To correctly calculate the average number of employees, specialists refer to the instructions for filling out statistical form No. P-4 “Information on the number and wages of employees.” For 2021, they were approved by Rosstat order No. 711 dated November 27, 2019.
Important! From 01/01/2021, order No. 711 is applied as amended by Rosstat order No. 706 dated 11/17/2020. You can find out what changes in this regard in the calculation of the SSC from the Review from ConsultantPlus. Trial access to the system can be obtained for free.
When calculating, you need to understand which employees should be taken into account and which should not. Thus, those on sick leave, on regular leave, on study (but maintaining average earnings), on unpaid leave, on a business trip, missing work, etc. should be included in the TSS indicator.
The following categories of workers will not be included in the calculation:
- external part-time workers;
- employees who have signed civil contracts;
- transferred to other companies and sent abroad without pay;
- employees studying outside the production process, etc.
A complete list of persons included and not included in the calculation can be found in paragraphs 77-78 of the instructions.
The algorithm for calculating the MSS can be set as follows:
- We calculate the MSS for each day of the month.
- We calculate the SCN of full-time employees for each month.
- We find part-time employees for each month.
- We determine the MSS for each month of the period.
- We display the result - the average value for the past year.
The detailed algorithm can be viewed in ConsultantPlus by receiving free trial access to the system.
Fines
For an entrepreneur who hired people to work, submitting a SSC report for the past year is his responsibility, as prescribed in the Tax Code. Therefore, for violation of this rule, tax liability is provided under paragraph 1 of Art. 126 Tax Code - a fine of 200 rubles. Even one day of delay is considered a violation. If administrative measures provided for in paragraph 1 of Art. 15.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the amount of the fine can range from 100 to 300 rubles. They can be fined even for expired periods; the statute of limitations for applying these measures is 3 years after late submission of information.
When to include yourself in the declaration
Businessmen who use the special tax regime of UTII should know that they have one feature for calculating the SCH. They should include themselves in this number. This applies to such activities as the provision of household services to the population and retail trade. Calculation of UTII for these types of work occurs using the physical indicator of the number of hired employees together with individual entrepreneurs.
All other businessmen should not count themselves in the headcount. This conclusion follows from the norms of the Civil Code, which states that a businessman cannot have an employment relationship with himself and pay himself a salary.
How to calculate MSS
When calculating the SCN, follow the instructions given in Rosstat Order No. 772 dated November 22, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the Instructions):
- Count only those employees for whom this is their main place of work.
External part-time workers and those working under civil law contracts are not included in their number. Count internal part-time workers only as main employees.
- To calculate the average number of employees for the year, you must first determine the average number of employees for each month.
It is calculated by summing the number of employees for each calendar day.
- If the number of employees changed during the month, calculate the arithmetic average.
For example, from November 1 to November 21, 10 people worked for an individual entrepreneur, and from November 22 to 30, 8 people worked. Then the TSS for November will be 9.4 (10 people x 21 days) + (8 people x 9 days): 30 days), and taking into account rounding - 9 people.
- In the SSC for the month, include all full-time employees who are on your payroll for each specific day, including those on vacation or sick leave.
The number of employees on weekends and holidays is equal to the number on the previous working day (clause 76 of the Instructions). If an employee quits on Friday, he must be included in the SSC for the following weekend.
- Employees who are on maternity leave, parental leave and unpaid educational leave are excluded from the calculation.
If an employee works part-time during parental leave, he is also taken into account in the SSC.
- All part-time workers are calculated using a separate formula in proportion to the time worked (clause 79.3 of the Guidelines).
Features of accounting for the entrepreneur himself
Often when drawing up a form, the question arises: is an individual entrepreneur included in the average number of employees, and what are the nuances of its accounting? Here the answer is negative. An entrepreneur does not have the right to conclude an employment contract with himself: he does not perform hired work, but is engaged in business, his own business. The form takes into account only employees with whom an employment contract has been concluded.
The average number of individual entrepreneurs with one employee is also possible, what to do in this case? This happens when an entrepreneur officially employs at least one person. If an individual entrepreneur is an entrepreneur, a product manufacturer, an accountant, and a seller, as is often the case, in one person, his reporting is zero (there are no employees).
Submission methods
The tax authorities also have their own requirements for filing methods. For example, in order to reduce paperwork, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs with more than 100 people) are not allowed to submit a report on paper. To do this, you need to have an electronic signature and use:
- telecommunication channels;
- personal account of the individual entrepreneur on the Federal Tax Service website.
Entrepreneurs with a small staff have access to traditional ways of presenting the SSC:
- on one's own;
- through a representative with a power of attorney;
- use postal delivery with a description of the attachment and notification of delivery.
Small businesses also have the right to use, like medium and large businesses, electronic services and programs.
Calculation example
Let's consider a sample calculation of the MSS for an enterprise in which 6 employees work a standard work week: 5 days for 8 hours, and 4 employees work in shifts of 2 by 2 for 12 hours. Let’s assume that no one was fired or hired in a year.
- SC1=6; SC2=4
- January: for 6 workers SSChm=186/31=6; for 4 workers who worked 168 hours in January at a rate of 8 hours at 15 working days SSChm=4*192/(8*15)=6.4≈6. Total for January 6+6=12.
- Let’s do the same calculation for each month:
Jan. 12 July 10 Feb. 10 Aug. 11 March 11 Sep. 10 Apr. 10 Oct. 12 May 8 Nov. 9 June 11 Dec. 10 - Total monthly sum SCH=124. Annual SSCH=124/12=10.33≈10.
Automation of accounting
You can calculate the average headcount yourself using the presented formula, but for greater accuracy it is better to use an automated accounting system. As a rule, accounting is carried out on the basis of software, which includes the function of personnel accounting. With its help, you can get a more accurate calculation, which will not be questioned by the tax authorities. But if an individual entrepreneur employs only a few employees, there is no point in purchasing expensive software specifically for generating a report - you can completely cope with this task yourself.
Responsibility for missing report or incorrect data
If an individual entrepreneur with employees has not calculated the average number of employees for 2021 correctly or the entrepreneur has not reported it to the Federal Tax Service in a timely manner, he will face a fine. In this case, liability is provided on the basis of two laws at once:
- under Article 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - for an individual entrepreneur, as a taxpayer, the fine is 200 rubles for one document or an error in it;
- under Article 15.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - for an entrepreneur, as a person authorized to prepare reports - a fine of up to 500 rubles.
No warning is provided in either case. Therefore, it is better not to forget about this report, even though it is not a declaration, and also not to make mistakes when drawing it up.
The deadline for the completion of the SSR is in 2021
The deadline for submitting information on the average number of employees is established by Article 80 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. According to it, this form must be submitted no later than January 20 of the current year for the previous calendar year. But the deadline for submitting a report on the average number of new organizations (legal entities that have just been created or reorganized) is no later than the 20th day of the month following the one in which the organization was registered or reorganized.
For example, the creation of an LLC occurred on January 10, 2021, therefore, information on the average headcount of the newly created organization must be submitted no later than February 20, 2021, then the company reports in the general manner.
If the delivery deadline is violated, the LLC will be fined under Article 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in the amount of 200 rubles. In addition, an administrative punishment of an official (chief accountant or director) in the amount of 300 to 500 rubles is possible under Article 15.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
Important: information about the average number of employees of a new organization, although submitted to the Federal Tax Service, is not a tax return, therefore tax authorities do not have the right to block the LLC’s current account due to late submission deadlines.
The report on the average number of employees has been canceled
Starting from 01/01/2021, the SSC is no longer required to be submitted as an independent report. This is stated in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as amended by Law No. 5-FZ dated January 28, 2020. This applies to both the annual form and the report submitted one month after the registration of the new company.
However, if the company was registered (reorganized) in 2020, then the obligation to provide the financial balance as of the registration date remains. Failure to comply with this requirement is punishable by a fine on the official in the amount of 300-500 rubles (Article 15.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).
New application 5.1 for policyholders from the IT sector and electronics specialists
Section 1 was supplemented with Appendix 5.1. From the first quarter of 2021, it will be filled out by IT companies and electronics developers and designers to confirm compliance with the conditions for applying the reduced tariff.
Since 2021, reduced insurance premium rates have been applied to Russian organizations of these categories (Article 427 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as amended by Federal Law No. 265-FZ of July 31, 2020): OPS - 6%, VNiM - 1.5%, Compulsory Medical Insurance - 0, 1 %.
Conditions for applying a reduced tariff (Article 427 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):
- The share of income from core activities at the end of the billing period is at least 90% of the total income for the period;
- The organization has state accreditation or is included in the register of organizations providing services for the design and development of electronic products, which is maintained by the Ministry of Industry and Trade;
- The average number of employees for the billing period is at least 7 people.
In field 001 of Appendix 5.1 the payer code is indicated:
- “1” - payers from paragraphs. 3 p. 1 art. 427 Tax Code of the Russian Federation;
- “2” - payers from paragraphs. 18 p. 1 p. 427 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
The remaining lines are identical, except for line 060. It is not filled in if the code “2” is specified in field 001.
