The employee is not officially given a fine. What are the risks of informal employment for the employee and the employer? How to protect your rights if your salary is not paid

Despite the fact that the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not contain the term “informal employment,” in practice this occurs quite often. From the point of view of protecting the rights of an employee, such a phenomenon is unacceptable; however, the situation is very beneficial for the employer: you don’t have to pay taxes or make contributions for the employee. In the article we will consider the consequences of such employment for both sides of the labor relationship.

Informal employment – what is it?

Labor Code of the Russian Federation in Art. 69 specifies that the employer, when hiring a person, is obliged to enter into a contract with the employee employment contract. The document includes conditions about the place of work, schedule, salary, rest time, etc.

The legislator is even considering the option of signing an employment agreement after actual admission to work. In this case, the procedure for concluding a contract is the same, only the order of starting work and completing all necessary documents changes.

There is a third option - concluding a civil contract with a citizen for the provision of services.

But if an employee starts work, and still no documents are signed with him, then there is unofficial employment. In other words, the employee is not officially on the company’s staff. An employment order is not issued for him, an entry about this is not made in the work book, and contributions to funds are not deducted.

What could be the consequences of working without an employment contract?

Informal employment has a number of negative aspects and advantages, which we will discuss below.

The employee does not receive payments sick leave, in case of leaving maternity leave etc. In the latter case, for example, he needs to contact the social security authorities to apply for benefits; however, they will be calculated according to the minimum wage.
The employer may well leave the employee without overtime, overtime payments and other additional payments that are due to him by law.
Due to the fact that there are no contributions to the pension fund, the employee’s pension is not formed. In addition, experience unofficial work will not be taken into account when calculating it.
If the injury occurred at work, the employee may not receive any compensation.

The advantages are as follows:

Savings on taxes, thereby increasing wages.
They cannot collect alimony from the employee, since he does not have an official place of work.
In fact, the employee does not bear any responsibility for his actions in the workplace. It's about, for example, about financial liability.

Each employee and employer has its own pros and cons of official employment. Therefore, before insisting on signing an employment agreement or refusing this action, we recommend weighing the pros and cons.

An alternative to drawing up an employment agreement may be concluding a civil contract with the head of the organization. As a rule, we are talking about either a contract or a contract for the provision of services. In this case, the employee also does not have an employment relationship with the employer and, accordingly, does not have the right to count on the guarantees and compensation provided for by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, however, he receives remuneration for his work and has the right to seek protection of violated rights, having in hand evidence of civil legal relations between him and the organization.

In some cases, the employer offers another employment option - the citizen is officially hired as a member of the enterprise, an employment contract is signed with him, but the text of the document indicates a different salary, less than what he receives in person. On the one hand, the advantage is that the salary is higher, since taxes are not charged on part of the earnings. On the other hand, the amount of maternity benefits, sick leave payments, etc. will also be lower, since it is calculated based on the official part of the income.

What punishment faces an employer who does not enter into an employment contract with an employee?

Let's start with the fact that liability can only occur if the authorized bodies find out about the offense. In other words, if an employee files a complaint, for example, with the prosecutor’s office or the labor inspectorate; The Federal Tax Service learns that expenses for wages, from which deductions were not made to funds and the budget, etc.

The second circumstance for liability to arise is the presence of the employer’s fault. That is, he is the one who should not enter into an employment contract. For some reason, the employee sometimes refuses to sign the document; in this case, the head of the organization will not bear any punishment.

And the third point is the cause-and-effect relationship between the employer’s actions and the resulting consequences. In particular, it may be that due to informal employment, the employer does not make contributions to the relevant funds and the employee does not have a future pension.

Responsibility may be as follows:

Administrative – according to Art. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offences. In this case, the employer is subject to a fine, the amount of which depends on the organizational and legal form of the guilty person and the repetition of the violation. An alternative is suspension of activities for a period specified by law. As a rule, this type of punishment can be applied if we are talking about repeated violations or in relation to several citizens.
Civil law – in the event that the employee filed an application in court and asks to recover the amount of moral damage.
Criminal - if there is evidence of fraud in hiding a large number of “unregistered” citizens from the state. The second option is liability under Art. 199.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - as a tax agent: imprisonment for up to 2 years or a large fine.

Are loans given to informally working citizens?

One of the conditions for obtaining a loan from many banks is having a work experience of 1 month or more. How more amount loan, the more work experience is required. For banks, experience is a kind of safety net that a reliable employee who has worked in one place for a long time will be able to pay off the debt.

However, some banks allow the possibility of obtaining a loan without proof of experience. As a rule, we are talking about small amounts. But in contrast to this there must be proof of income. For example, if a citizen is not officially registered, then the employer has the right to draw up a letter of guarantee stating that the applicant really works for him and indicate the period of work.

The second option for confirming income is to charge it to a card that is issued to a citizen. An undoubted advantage in in this case will be that it is issued by the bank from which the loan is requested.

But we must be prepared for the fact that citizens who do not have an official place of work may experience increased credit rate compared to the topic of who is officially employed. The bank includes its costs in the difference between rates in the event that the debtor is unable to repay the loan.

However, you can agree with the bank to confirm solvency by the presence of real estate, Vehicle etc. in other words, the bank will have something to recover losses from if payments on the loan are not made.

If the salary of an unofficially working employee has not been paid

In practice, there are situations when an employer, for some reason, does not pay a salary to an employee who is not officially employed. What to do in this case?

A citizen can protect his rights either by going to court, or to the prosecutor's office, or to the labor inspectorate.

However, it will be necessary to prove the fact that the actual labor Relations between the employer and the applicant took place.

Upon receipt of an application, the authorized bodies must conduct checks and find out all the circumstances of the case. If there are violations of the law, the employer will be held administratively liable.

Evidence of work in informal employment

As a rule, it is necessary to prove the fact that a citizen actually worked at the enterprise, even if an employment contract was not concluded with him or other employment documents were drawn up, if we are talking about going to court, the labor inspectorate or the prosecutor's office.

How can this fact be proven?

Witness's testimonies. You can involve other workers who can confirm that the citizen actually worked at the enterprise.
Video recordings from surveillance cameras, if they are installed, for example, at the entrance, in the workshop where the applicant works, etc.
Documents bearing the signature of a citizen. For example, invoices, acts, contracts, etc.
Transactions in the form of salary to a citizen’s card.

At the same time, the evidence base must clearly indicate that these documents connect 2 facts: the fact that they come from the name of a specific organization; the fact that a specific person worked in this organization.

The burden of proof in this case lies solely with the employee. The employer is not required to provide any evidence, even if he is a defendant in the case.

Thus, official employment is a requirement of the legislator. If the parties decide not to enter into an employment contract, they must be aware of the consequences of such a decision.

All entrepreneurs and organizations, regardless of their type of activity, must comply with Russian legislation. They are also responsible for official employment. employees. To do this, you need to draw up a written contract with the future employee - then there will definitely be no problems with the law. But the use of labor resources without a supporting document is a fairly major violation.

Official registration, of course, has undeniable advantages. This includes legal protection for employees, white wages, and payment of pension savings. However, many employers evade paying taxes and invite workers based only on a verbal agreement. And the fact that their actions are illegal is of little concern to anyone until administrative liability arises. We will tell you in this article what fine an individual entrepreneur expects for an unregistered employee and whether it is worth taking such risks at all.

Labor relations arising between employees and employers must be formalized in accordance with the norms of current legislation. To hire an employee for a position, an entrepreneur needs to enter into a contract with him that regulates the rights and obligations of both parties. In addition, it allows the employee to count on the employer to provide him with all the necessary social guarantees and pay the promised wages.

If the employee is actually allowed to perform his duties, the employer has exactly 3 days to enter into a written agreement with him. Otherwise, the labor inspectorate may issue him a fine for each person not officially on the payroll.

Unpleasant consequences will also await the employees themselves. They will not receive any guarantees, including support from the state. They also won't have to rely on paid or. In addition, they are unlikely to be able to defend their interests in the event.

A fine for an unregistered employee may be imposed for several reasons:

Hiring employees without an employment contract;
Violation of the deadlines for concluding an employment contract;
Non-payment of personal income tax and insurance contributions from employee salaries;
Failure to pay insurance contributions to the Russian Pension Fund.

Unfortunately, informal employment is becoming more and more common today. It has its advantages and disadvantages, but, as mentioned earlier, it is a direct violation of the law. The main complaint against the employer is that in this way he evades the duties of a tax agent. And there is nothing surprising here - after all, if the employer is individual entrepreneur or the head of the company, he is obliged to pay taxes to the budget and contributions for subordinates to the Pension Fund. This violation threatens him with criminal liability. Therefore, the absence of an employment contract always raises many questions during an inspection by regulatory authorities.

Amount of fine

The size of the sanction will depend on the losses caused by the employer to the state. Among other things, its legal status matters: does it carry out entrepreneurial activity or is private organization. A separate type of punishment is provided, among other things, for the employment of illegal migrants. Let's look at each of these aspects in more detail.

For individual entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs most often do not enter into employment contracts with their employees. In this way they are trying to save their cash evading taxes. Meanwhile, individual entrepreneurs are also not exempt from liability for violation labor legislation. For unofficially employed employees, they may incur quite large financial losses, which will be significantly higher than the regular tax deductions for officially employed people. In this case, an individual entrepreneur may face:

Fine from 1,000 to 5,000 rubles for each subordinate;
Suspension of activities for up to 90 days.

If violations have been detected repeatedly and cause serious damage to the state, the entrepreneur may be held criminally liable. When the violation is not under an administrative, but under a criminal article, a completely different punishment is assigned. Preventive measures for individual entrepreneurs for unregistered workers will look like this:

Collection of a fine in the amount of 100,000 to 300,000 rubles;
Imprisonment for up to 2 years;
Prohibition on carrying out any types of business activities.

Tax officials always check the activities of individual entrepreneurs especially carefully: they have the right to request materials immediately for 4 years of the existence of the business.

In addition, they can interview witnesses, inspect premises and seize documents. The task of the regulatory authorities, of course, is not to close the business as quickly as possible. Their main task is to obtain payments from the offender to the state budget. This means that in addition to paying fines, the entrepreneur must compensate for all losses caused to the state.

For legal entities

Hiring an employee without drawing up an employment contract will also be a serious violation for the organization. In this case, responsibility will be borne by its manager or the head of the personnel department who hires personnel. For unregistered employees, they may be subject to the following sanctions:

Fine in the amount of 100 to 300 thousand rubles;
Deprivation of the right to carry out activities for up to 3 months;
Imprisonment for up to 3 years or correctional labor.

If the audit reveals that the company’s employees have been working unofficially for several years, the official may be brought to criminal liability. He may even be required to pay insurance premiums for the missed period in full.

For migrants

The employer faces even more serious liability in the event of illegal employment of foreigners. A separate violation will be the labor activity of a migrant without permits or a work patent. For this reason, company managers should be extremely careful when hiring foreign citizens. For example, they need to promptly notify the migration service of this fact.

If a foreign worker started work illegally or the employer did not inform the FMS that he was hiring him, then during the inspection he will be issued a fine of 35 to 70 thousand rubles. In this case, the legal entity faces fine up to one million rubles.

The Migration Service also has the right to suspend the activities of this organization for up to 90 days.

Responsibility for repeated violation

The employer’s next responsibility is to eliminate all identified violations as soon as possible. If he is caught again by regulatory authorities within a year, the penalty may be increased. In accordance with Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, for a repeated violation, punishment is prescribed in the form of:

Fine up to 5,000 rubles – for individuals;
Suspension from office for a period of up to 3 years – for officials;
A fine of up to 40,000 rubles – for individual entrepreneurs;
Fine up to 1 million rubles – for legal entities.

True, the violation will no longer be the absence of an employment contract, but the deliberate evasion of payment of insurance premiums. If the guilt of an individual entrepreneur or organization is proven a second time, they will have to pay a sanction in favor of the state in the amount of 40% of the amount of the arrears and repay all existing debt.

In order not to become a persistent offender, it is enough for the employer to conclude employment agreements with all employees, register with Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund and transfer funds there on time. And of course, he will need to comply with all the necessary personnel procedures: make entries in the work book, accept applications, maintain personal files of employees, etc. By fulfilling these conditions, you can easily avoid serious financial losses in the form of gigantic administrative fines.

One of the goals of business is to reduce costs as much as possible. In a number of cases, companies and organizations violate the law. The most common example is the informal employment of employees. Businesses resort to such measures for the following reasons:

the absence of concluded employment contracts makes it possible not to pay taxes for employees;
if employees are not on staff, then the employer does not pay contributions to the pension fund, Social Insurance Fund and Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund;
the administration has no formal obligations to the staff (for example, workers can be laid off without severance pay due).

There are a number of serious risks associated with using this scheme. If the employer is caught in violations, liability for failure to register an employee can bring much greater losses, compared to possible savings on taxes and other payments.

Informal employment: legislative interpretation

Current legislation does not contain the term “informal employment”. The Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for the only way to formalize the relationship between an employee and an employer, which implies the conclusion of an employment contract. Art. 67 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation requires the preparation of this document in 2 copies within a period that should not exceed 3 days from the date the employee is allowed to work.

The term “informal employment” is used in business practice for all cases where an agreement between the employee and the administration was not concluded within the prescribed period. There are the following ways to apply this scheme:

attracting an employee who is not included in the staff;
conclusion of a civil agreement containing elements of an employment contract. More information about employment under a GPC agreement;
the actual performance of a labor function by a citizen with whom an agreement has not been concluded, for a fictitious employee on staff.

Informal employment does not include cases in which taxes are not levied on part of the employees’ earnings. In these situations, employment agreements are formalized.

Responsibility for informal employment

The liability of an individual entrepreneur for an unregistered employee, as well as punishment for companies using such schemes, is provided for by various legal acts. The practice of refusing to conclude labor agreements is fraught with sanctions against the enterprise and its management. Responsibility for unofficial employment includes the application of a wide range of penalties: from administrative fines to criminal coercion measures.

The risks of receiving penalties are quite high. Any employee who is dissatisfied with working conditions or the amount of wages can initiate a procedure for holding them accountable.

Administrative punishment

Responsibility for violations during the placement of employees is established in parts 3, 4 and 5 of Art. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The law provides for a number of situations that entail punishment:

If admission to the performance of a labor function was made by a person who was not authorized by the employer, then liability will arise under Part 3 of Art. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. A citizen who makes this decision faces a fine of 3 to 5 thousand rubles. If the violator is an official, then the monetary penalty will be from 10 to 20 thousand rubles.
If the administration evades concluding an employment contract or replaces the latter with a civil agreement, then Part 4 of Art. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The official will have to pay a fine of 10 to 20 thousand rubles. Responsibility for an unregistered employee for an individual entrepreneur provides for the recovery of 5 to 10 thousand rubles; the company will have to pay from 50 to 100 thousand rubles.
Part 5 art. 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation establishes punishment for repeated commission of any of the listed violations. We are talking about cases where 1 year has not elapsed since the previous resolution came into force (Article 4.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). In this case, citizens will be fined 5 thousand rubles, and officials may be disqualified for a period of 1 to 3 years. Individual entrepreneurs and organizations will also receive increased penalties (from 30 to 40 thousand rubles and from 100 to 200 thousand rubles, respectively).

It is worth noting: if the organization has not concluded a written employment contract with the hired employee, then liability arises both for the organization itself and for the official who committed such an offense. In this case, the director (official) will have to pay a fine, and in case of repeated violation, he will be disqualified. The organization is also subject to fines.

If listed facts are established, there is a high probability of being held liable for other violations related to unofficial employment.

Responsibility provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation

One of the consequences of the scheme is violations related to non-payment of taxes and insurance premiums. Responsibility for them is established in Art. 122 and 123 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The employer acts as the employee’s tax agent and is obliged to withhold personal income tax from the earnings paid to the latter. Unofficial employment automatically entails a violation of Art. 123 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. It provides for a fine of 20% of the arrears incurred. Its payment will not free the employer from transferring to the budget both the tax itself and penalties (1/300 of the Central Bank refinancing rate for each day of delay (Article 75 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In some cases, the employee himself is held liable for failure to register. The employee may be required to pay tax, penalties and a fine, which will also amount to 20% of the amount of the arrears.

Since 2017, tax inspectorates have been administering contributions to the Pension Fund, Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund and Social Insurance Fund. For this reason, the employer risks being held liable under Part 3 of Art. 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. We are talking about deliberate non-payment of insurance premiums. The company or individual entrepreneur will be forced to pay a fine of 40% of the amount of the arrears, transfer all debt to the funds and penalties.

Risks of criminal punishment

Another fact

Practice shows that unlawful actions are committed not only by employers. Fraudulent manipulations for the purpose of profit are also carried out by employees or candidates for positions. For example, with work books, they falsify and/or distribute fake ones in the hope of getting a bigger pension or a better position. The threat is quite serious, up to imprisonment for up to 2 years.

This type of liability is provided for in Art. 199.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. We are talking about cases when the tax agent does not transfer mandatory payments that he is obliged to withhold from employee income. The manager may be punished Chief Accountant or entrepreneur.

Part 1 art. 199.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides following conditions to apply punishment:

presence of personal interest related to the crime (Resolution of the Plenum Supreme Court RF dated December 28, 2006 N 64, property or other benefits that the violator is counting on are recognized as such);
large amount of arrears (over 5 million rubles for the previous 3 financial years, provided that it exceeds ¼ of the mandatory payments to be made or more than 15 million rubles).

If both conditions are met, the offender will face punishment ranging from a fine in the range of 100-300 thousand rubles (an alternative is the recovery of 2 years’ income of the offender) to imprisonment for a period of up to 2 years. Other options are forced labor for 2 years or six-month arrest.

If the amount of arrears is considered particularly large (more than 15 million rubles for the previous 3 financial years and exceeds 50% of the amount of all obligatory payments or exceeds 45 million rubles), the punishment will be more severe. Part 2 art. 199.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability from a fine in the range of 200 - 500 thousand rubles (its amount can also be equivalent to 5 years of income of the offender) to imprisonment for a period of up to 6 years. The offender may be subject to forced labor for a 5-year period.

All cases in which the court sentences a criminal to imprisonment or forced labor may be accompanied by a 3-year disqualification.

The employer will have a chance to avoid punishment if he committed a violation for the first time and paid arrears, penalties and fines provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Art. 198 and 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are not subject to application, since there is no liability for non-payment of contributions to extra-budgetary funds. Criminal liability for these actions may be established in the future.

What are the risks for an employer of unofficial employment of an employee in this video?

Other types of liability

If an employer seeks to save money on employee wages and for this reason uses an informal employment scheme, this may result in claims from employees. They have the right to receive the money due on the basis of Art. 67.1 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Additional liability is established by Art. 17 Federal Law “On individual registration in the system of mandatory pension insurance". It establishes a fine of 500 rubles, which an enterprise or individual entrepreneur will have to pay for each employee who is not officially employed.

Revealing evidence of evasion from concluding labor agreements is fraught with serious consequences for the employer. In some cases, they can not only destroy a business financially, but also lead to criminal penalties for entrepreneurs and company management.

To learn more about responsibility for unofficial employment, ask questions in the comments to the article

Any employer has the obligation to register an employee in accordance with current legislation in Russia, regardless of whether we are talking about an individual entrepreneur (IP) or legal entity. It is established in the Labor Code (LC) of the Russian Federation. In this article I will tell you what determines such an obligation and what the consequences of non-compliance are.

The employment relationship between the parties must be properly recorded after a maximum of 3 days. An individual entrepreneur’s fine for an unregistered employee is issued even when it comes to a probationary period. The latter can be specified in the concluded agreement, but the formally drawn up agreement must still be formalized.

When hiring an employee, an entrepreneur usually requests the following:

passport;
work book;
military ID;
diploma or other document confirming the relevant qualifications of a specialist.

After this, a written agreement is prepared in 2 copies, one of which remains with the employer, and the second is given to the employee. There is a standard text of the agreement, but the entrepreneur can make adjustments to it.

In any case, the contract must indicate:

data of the parties, including code;
the date from which the employee officially begins to perform his duties;
official job title;
place of drawing up the contract, as well as the date;
benefits, if any;
the conditions under which leave is granted;
salary along with all components (salary and bonuses);
schedule.

Next, the employer must issue a hiring order and make a corresponding entry in the labor record. From this moment on, the applicant officially becomes a full-fledged employee of the company. If an individual entrepreneur does not register an employee, the fine in accordance with 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation will range from 5 to 10 thousand rubles. In case of repeated violation, the amount increases to 30-40 thousand. In addition, the relevant authorities have the right to stop the activities of individual entrepreneurs for a period of up to 90 days, which most often means the loss of a much larger amount.

What fine does an individual entrepreneur face for an unregistered employee according to the Criminal Code?

I want to point out that a businessman risks facing not only administrative, but also criminal liability. If the violation is malicious and lasts quite a long time, for example, for 2 years or more, if the individual entrepreneur has already repeatedly issued fines in the past for unemployed workers, then a criminal case may be initiated against him.

This threatens the following:

A criminal record appears, which, for obvious reasons, has a negative impact on business. It is unlikely that anyone will want to enter into long-term agreements with such an entrepreneur.
The amount of the fine for failure to register an employee for an individual entrepreneur increases sharply (from 100 to 300 thousand rubles).
Possible arrest (in fact - imprisonment) for up to 2 years.
The individual entrepreneur will be obliged to pay the state for the entire period everything that the budget did not receive. That is, we are talking about all tax deductions, everything that he had to transfer to different funds, etc.
Negative attention is drawn to the business from various regulatory structures.

Thus, a fine for an unemployed individual entrepreneur in such a situation already becomes the lesser of two evils. Although the amount increases significantly.

Agree, it is much easier to avoid such developments. Moreover, download standard version contracts today can be done simply from the Internet. And even if the employer makes some mistakes when signing it, negative consequences for him in this case it will still be much less.

Fine for individual entrepreneurs for an unregistered foreign worker

More more problems arises when it comes to illegal work of foreigners. Trouble appears if:

a migrant works without permission to engage in a specific type of activity;
such an employee is not aware of the expiration dates of the contract;
a foreigner works without a permit or has one, but the person was actually employed in a completely different specialty;
In principle, there is no official registration.

The employer also needs to carefully monitor the registration deadline. If it turns out to be overdue, then, in addition to the fine for an unregistered foreign worker, the individual entrepreneur will also have to deal with the FMS.

In general, the size of sanctions depends on what specific violation we are talking about. If a foreigner works without a permit, the amount of the fine can in some cases reach up to 800 thousand. The employer did not register an illegal immigrant? Up to 500 thousand.

What is the reason for such harsh measures?

An employee without registration remains without state protection. It will be extremely difficult for him to prove the fact of his employment, he is not insured against accidents, he is not accrued pension service, he risks not receiving free medical care, since the money from his salary does not go towards appropriate insurance. In addition, the employer thus evades paying taxes, which threatens the economic security of the state.

It is quite simple to establish the presence of unregistered employees of an individual owner. For example, when submitting reports to the tax office, inspectors may pay attention to the total volume of work performed (goods produced, services provided). If it becomes clear that one person is simply not able to do all this himself, then questions will arise for the businessman. Therefore, hiding such an employee is more difficult than some entrepreneurs might think.

Official registration of labor relations is beneficial to both parties. The employee receives certain guarantees and begins to value his position more. The employer does not risk losing much more for the sake of dubious savings and ending up with problems with law enforcement agencies.

Sooner or later, there comes a time for an individual entrepreneur when it becomes necessary to hire an employee. If you work in the field retail, your first employee will probably be a salesperson. In this article we will tell you how to register a seller for an individual entrepreneur correctly, without inadvertently breaking the law and without risking being “caught” by regulatory authorities for some annoying little thing.

Before hiring a cashier, take a look at your equipment. In 2019, Law 54-FZ obliges everyone to work with an online cash register and indicate the name of the product on the receipt: your cash register program should be able to do this. Our application Cash Desk MySklad supports this and all other requirements of the law. Download and try it now: it's free.

The program is very simple, and your cashier will master it in five minutes. Now the main thing is to hire a reliable person to whom you can trust your product. When you find it, you can enter into an employment relationship. What do you need to correctly register a future seller as your individual entrepreneur?

Instructions: how to register a seller as an individual entrepreneur

The employee must bring you:

passport or other identity document;
work book (if your company is the first job for the seller, then you must create a work book for him yourself);
insurance certificate state pension insurance (SNILS);
military registration documents.

It will be better if the seller also provides a medical record. If you sell food products and drinking water, this requirement is mandatory (Article 213 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, order of Rospotrebnadzor dated May 20, 2005 No. 402), but for the rest of the range of goods the exact list is not defined in the legislation. The Labor Code states that professions whose representatives require regular medical examinations are determined by the constituent entities of the federation. But in our situation we are not talking about a profession, but about the type of goods. Therefore, even if your future employee has to sell bicycles, it is better that he has a book. And it’s even more worth taking care of this if your employees will sell children’s products, cosmetics and perfumes.

It is the responsibility of the seller to issue a medical book, but the employer must finance medical examinations (Article 34 Federal Law dated March 30, 1999 No. 52-FZ, Article 213 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). This can be interpreted in such a way that you will have to pay the employee for the medical book itself, since this document confirms that the owner has undergone a medical examination and tests.

Make copies of the documents provided to you and keep them in the employee’s personal file.

It is not necessary for a future salesperson to write a job application, but it is not forbidden.

An employment contract must be concluded with the employee. The legislation does not declare a specific form of this agreement; each employer can draw up his own. But the Labor Code of the Russian Federation specifies certain requirements for it. A sample and form of an employment contract between an individual entrepreneur and a seller can be downloaded on our website. The contract must be drawn up in two copies - one remains with you, the other is taken by the employee.

The hiring of an employee must be formalized by an order. Within three days from the start of work, the employee must be familiarized with it against signature. Please note that the date of the order cannot be earlier than the date of execution of the employment contract, since the order itself is drawn up on the basis of the contract.

At the same time, even before signing the employment contract, the employee, also against signature, must be familiarized with the internal labor regulations and other regulations that are related to his labor activity. In particular, this could be labor instructions seller, bonus regulations and other documents.

And after the order to hire a new employee is issued, it is necessary to make an entry in his work book, as well as issue a personal employee card in the T-2 form.

Seller's liability

Registration of a seller, both in an organization and an individual entrepreneur, is usually not limited to those mandatory items that are already listed above.

In addition to the employment contract, you also need to conclude an agreement on full individual financial responsibility with the seller or cashier. If you have several sellers, an agreement on full collective financial liability is concluded, which implies that in the event of damage, liability is divided equally among all employees with whom such an agreement is concluded.

The law does not oblige you to enter into such agreements with your sellers, but it is worth doing so for your peace of mind for your goods and money. If such agreements are not concluded, then, in the event of damage to your property due to the fault of the seller, he will bear limited financial liability, which cannot exceed his average monthly earnings (Article 241 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). When concluding an agreement on full financial liability, the employee is obliged to compensate for the damage in full (Articles 242 and 243 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The list of professions with whose representatives it is possible to conclude agreements on full financial responsibility has been approved by law. It can be found in Resolution of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated December 31, 2002 No. 85. This list includes the profession of cashier. The profession of the seller as such is not included in it, but you can conclude this agreement with the seller, since this employee performs duties that are also included in this list, namely, work on the sale, storage and preparation for sale of goods.

According to Article 243 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, full financial responsibility is assigned to the employee in the following cases:

the employee, according to the law, is held financially liable in full for damage caused to the employer;
shortage of valuables entrusted to the employee on the basis of a written agreement or a one-time document;
the damage was caused intentionally;
the damage was caused while under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other toxic substances;
the damage was caused as a result of the employee’s criminal actions established by a court verdict;
damage as a result of administrative misconduct;
disclosure of information constituting a secret protected by law;
the damage was not caused while the employee was performing his job duties.

Financial liability cannot be recovered if the damage was caused due to force majeure or as a result of the employee’s self-defense, or if the employer did not provide adequate conditions for storing property.

We would like to add that it is prohibited to conclude agreements on full financial liability with employees under 18 years of age.

On our website you can download samples and forms of agreements on full individual and collective liability, the provisions of which comply with the law.

Material damage is identified during inventory. It is important that the inventory procedure is properly completed. Documents that prove the seller’s guilt are inventory acts, written explanations of the seller himself, as well as other employees, memos and primary accounting documents. In case of a shortage, the employee can compensate it voluntarily, or, if he refuses, damages can be recovered from him through the court. By agreement with you as the employer, the employee has the right to reimburse material damage in installments. In this case, the employee will be required to provide you with a written undertaking for damages specifying the timing of payments.

If you are registering an employee for the first time

If the seller is your first employee, then after formalizing an employment relationship with him you will need to register as an employer with the Pension Fund Russian Federation, as well as the Social Insurance Fund.

You must contact the FSS within 10 days after concluding an employment contract with the seller. It is better to prepare the documents that you will need for this in advance. This is an application for registration with the Social Insurance Fund as an employer, copies of the registration certificate individual(individual entrepreneur) for registration with the tax authority, a certificate of registration as an individual entrepreneur, your passport, as well as the employee’s work book and a certificate of opening a current account, if you have already opened one.

If you overstay the 10-day period for registering with the Social Insurance Fund, you will have to pay a fine of 20,000 rubles.

The period for registration with the Pension Fund is 30 days after concluding an employment contract with an employee. You will need an application for registration with the Pension Fund of Russia as an employer, copies of a certificate of registration as an individual entrepreneur, a certificate of registration with the tax authority, your passport and an employment contract with the employee.

If you are late in submitting documents to the Pension Fund, you will be fined 5,000 rubles (up to 90 days of delay) and 10,000 rubles (over 90 days).

Both funds must register you within 5 days. You will receive notices with assigned employer registration numbers.

In the future, registering a seller will become easier for you as an individual entrepreneur, since the registration procedure with the Social Insurance Fund and the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation only needs to be completed once.

How to register a seller for a probationary period

A separate agreement with the seller regarding the trial period is not drawn up. This condition is stipulated in the main employment contract.

The duration of the trial is indicated not only in the employment contract, but also in the hiring order. Those days when an employee is absent from work (for example, due to illness) are not counted towards the probationary period.

If you decide to dismiss an employee during probationary period, then you must notify him of this in writing against signature three days before the end of the work. The notice must indicate the reasons for dismissal. The seller himself will also be required to notify you as the employer of his unwillingness to continue working three days before ceasing his activities. If the seller is dismissed during the probationary period severance pay he is not paid. You can also decide to hire an employee on a permanent basis before the end of the probationary period, and then this period can be reduced.

Let us add that according to the law, a salesperson during a probationary period has the same rights as other employees. He cannot be underpaid, deprived of lunch breaks, and so on. You can find out more about the conditions and duration of the probationary period.

How to register a seller under a contract

It is illegal for the seller to sign a contract. A work contract does not belong to labor contracts, but to civil contracts, and the Labor Code of the Russian Federation prohibits the conclusion of civil contracts if they actually regulate labor relations (Article 15). And the liability here may be the same as in the case if the seller is not registered with an individual entrepreneur.

The difference between an employment contract and a work contract is that in relations under a work contract it is not the process of work that is stipulated, but its result. In this case, the employee himself chooses the ways in which he will achieve this result and is not obliged to be present on the employer’s premises. The seller must be in the store and comply with your work routine, which cannot be reflected in the contract. In addition, under a contract agreement, the customer pays the contractor a remuneration based on the result of the work, and an employment contract implies that you pay the employee a salary twice a month. There are a few more nuances - ensuring working conditions that are mandatory under an employment contract, but not under a contract, and so on.

Since the contract does not imply the right of the contractor to paid sick leave and vacation, as well as marks in the work book, several years ago many entrepreneurs preferred to register employees in this way. However, since the end of December 2013, a rule has appeared in the Russian Labor Code prohibiting this.

And if you register your seller under a contract, and he goes to court, then the law will be on the seller’s side. According to Article 11 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, your relationship with the employee will be recognized as an employment relationship, and then you will have to pay him all vacation pay, sick leave, and so on. An employee in this situation is protected not only by the Labor Code, but also by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Article 5.27) - at a minimum, administrative sanctions await you. More details about them in the next section.

If the seller is not registered with an individual entrepreneur

Many entrepreneurs ask what fine they face if the seller is not registered. You will probably have to upset some people, but in this case you will face more than just a fine.

If you do not want to take on the obligation to pay sick leave and vacations to the seller, as well as to pay taxes for him, the temptation not to register the seller is very great. It is clear that an individual entrepreneur wants to reduce costs as much as possible. However, today Russian legislation protects workers well, and if you try to do this, you take a lot of risk.

According to Article 66 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employer is obliged to conduct work books for each employee who worked for him for more than five days, and this is the employee’s main job. Thus, if it is discovered that an employee is working for you without registration or if he is registered under a civil contract (for example, a contract), the law will be on his side.

According to the above-mentioned Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, evasion from drawing up an employment contract entails the imposition of an administrative fine of 5,000 to 10,000 rubles. Until the end of December 2013, if such a situation was discovered, the entrepreneur could also be forced to suspend his activities for up to 90 days; now such a measure is not provided.

However, you should not think that you can get away with only a small fine for being an unregistered employee. In this situation, since you do not pay taxes for an employee, the tax authorities will also be interested in you and will add their own monetary penalties (Articles 123 and 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Moreover, criminal punishment may follow. If it is proven that you have committed a crime of tax evasion, you will have to pay a fine of 100,000 to 300,000 rubles, you may face forced labor for up to one year, arrest for up to 6 months or imprisonment for a term up to one year. If it is recognized that tax evasion was committed on a large scale, the fine, as well as the terms of forced labor and imprisonment, will increase. This is stated in Article 198 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Special cases

Does an individual entrepreneur need to register his wife as a salesperson?

Yes, if you are an individual entrepreneur and your wife works as a salesperson in your store, you need to formalize an employment relationship with her. This also applies to other close and distant relatives who work for you. In this case, the law does not care at all whether you are related to your employee - the seller must have social and labor guarantees, and taxes must be paid for him.

The director himself works instead of the seller. How to apply?

If you are an individual entrepreneur and decide to work as a seller yourself, then by law you do not have to register yourself in any way. Norms Labor Code apply to the individual entrepreneur only as an employer, and in relation to himself the individual entrepreneur is not an employee. Accordingly, you cannot enter into an employment contract with yourself, pay your own salaries and perform other actions related to employees. So, you can easily replace the absent seller or driver without fear of consequences.

Informal employment – ​​what is it?