Which bank to apply for a salary card in - expert advice. The procedure for transferring wages to an employee’s card
Transferring salary to another person's cardeka- a fairly common phenomenon in labor relations, but it is poorly covered both in legislation and in legal literature. In our article we will reveal the main nuances of this issue.
Regulatory justification for transferring salary to another person’s card
General provisions defining the procedure for payment of earnings are contained in Art. 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) and Art. 5 of Convention No. 95 of the International Labor Organization “Regarding the Protection of Wages”, adopted in Geneva on 07/01/1949 and ratified by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 01/31/1961 No. 31 (hereinafter referred to as the Convention).
According to Part 3 of Art. 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the salary is transferred directly to the employee (in cash or to his bank account). However, there may be exceptions if a different procedure is established:
- laws at the federal level (part 5 of article 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
- a specific employment contract (Part 5 of Article 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
- by a court decision (Article 5 of the Convention).
Thus, an example of the establishment by federal law of conditions for payment of earnings other than standard ones is paragraph. 3 p. 1 art. 30 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). By virtue of this norm, the trustee has the right to receive the earnings of a citizen whose legal capacity is limited by a court decision due to an addiction to gambling or due to alcohol or drug addiction.
As for the employment contract, due to the general provisions on contracts contained in Art. 421 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, any transaction is carried out according to the principle of freedom, that is, the parties independently determine the terms of the agreement and conclude it without coercion. Consequently, both employees and employers can decide on the procedure for remuneration (i.e., the latter have the right not to include in employment contracts a condition on the possibility of transferring wages to the card of another citizen).
Don't know your rights?
The last basis on which an employer is obliged to transfer his employee’s money to another person is a court decision. A typical example of such a case is the payment of alimony.
How to receive a salary on another person’s card and arrange it correctly?
So, if the above grounds exist, we can talk about transferring earnings to another citizen’s card. At the same time, it is important to understand that the law or a court decision automatically creates the prerequisites for this, while the article in the employment contract begins to work only after receiving a corresponding application from the employee (a sample of such an application can be downloaded on our website).
However, there are some subtleties in applying the procedure in question:
- The application must be written at least 5 working days before the settlement date.
- The employee must indicate whether he trusts another person to receive all payments due in connection with the employment relationship. After all, in addition to salary, there are also various bonuses, compensations, interest and other charges.
- A power of attorney to receive income is not required. In this case, we are talking about non-cash transfers, so it will be enough that the employee indicates in the application the surname, first name, patronymic of the recipient and the full details of his card and account for the salary transfer.
- It is permissible to transfer only part of your earnings to another person’s card only if such a possibility is provided for in the employment contract.
- Some employers claim that if a salary is transferred to another person’s card, all expenses and commissions are made at the expense of the employee, since the recipient’s card will not be included in the salary project in any case. This issue is not regulated by law, however, due to the general provisions of the contract discussed above, the following conclusions can be drawn:
- all conditions must be stipulated in the employment contract;
- if the corresponding condition exists, the employer has the right to pay commissions at the expense of the employee;
- if this condition was omitted, then making any extra deductions from earnings is prohibited.
- Not a single law provides for the possibility of relatives receiving wages due to an absent citizen. Only if this is indicated in the employment contract and there is a personal statement from the employee, one of the relatives can receive the salary of the missing person.
Thus, the possibility of transferring wages to another person’s card should be provided for in the employment contract. If there is no such condition, then the agreement must first be amended. Next, the employee can write a statement if he suddenly needs this function. It is important to understand that if such an article is not accepted by the employer, the employee does not have the right to demand the transfer of his earnings to a third party card.
Non-cash payments with hired personnel can be implemented within or using personal cards of employees. In the first situation, the organization signs an agreement with the selected banking structure on the issue of cards for employees, the procedure for servicing them and the amount of commission payments. The second option is less convenient for the employer - it is no longer possible to transfer money to the entire team in one payment; there are no guarantees that funds will be credited to a person’s account on the same day.
Is it legal to transfer salary at the request of an employee to someone else’s card?
The degree of legality of paying an employee’s earnings to his personal card or third party account should be assessed according to the following standards:
- Labor Code (Article 136);
- International labor law, expressed in Convention No. 95 (Article 5);
- Civil Code.
Compulsory transfer of payments to third party cards is possible subject to special conditions for the operation. If a person suffers from addiction (alcohol, drugs, cannot give up gambling), by a court decision measures may be applied to him to limit his legal capacity. In this situation, according to Art. 30 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a guardian is appointed over a citizen, who is entitled to receive the earnings of his ward.
The transfer of part of the income in favor of third parties is mandatory in cases of payment of alimony or repayment of accounts payable under writs of execution. Convention No. 95 allows, at the request of the employee, to credit all funds earned by him to the name of other persons.
NOTE! The Labor Code of the Russian Federation focuses on the need to pay income specifically to the employee, but the code does not prohibit fulfilling the employee’s will to change payment details in favor of third parties.
Actions to transfer employee income to other people's current accounts may be considered unlawful in the following situations:
- non-compliance with freedom of choice (clause 1 of Article 421 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), if pressure was exerted on one of the parties to the transaction;
- when the employment agreement between the employer and employee contains wording prohibiting transfers to bank cards outside the framework of the salary project;
- if a local regulatory document addressing issues of labor law contains restrictions on the employer’s ability to make transfers to cards that are not related to the salary project.
IMPORTANT! Earnings that are transferred to a third party’s card at the employee’s will cannot be equated to deductions due to the absence of signs of deduction (Article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
The amount of income that will be credited to other people's current accounts is determined by the employee. This may be part of the salary or its entire amount. The percentage is indicated by the employee on the application form. The application must be drawn up in the name of the head of the organization paying the salary. In it, the employee indicates information about himself and his desire to transfer the funds he earned monthly to the bank details of a third party in a certain amount.
When forced to write off income to third party cards, a court decision serves as justification. To ensure the legal legitimacy of the operation, the document states:
- payment deadline;
- the amount to be compensated;
- details for transferring funds to the recipient's current account.
The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation explained in its Determination dated April 21, 2005, No. 143-O, that the employer has the authority to satisfy the employee’s request to transfer his earnings to third parties or to refuse. The right to refuse an employee’s request is provided for by the norm according to which the payment of wages occurs on the principle of consistency of interests of all participants. The participants are the employee and his employer. If one of the parties, for certain reasons, is not ready or cannot implement the wishes of the other, then it has the right not to do so.
Design nuances
If there is a voluntary expression of the employee’s will to transfer the amounts of his earnings to a third party’s bank card, the company must obtain documentary evidence. The form of written confirmation of the employee’s wishes is a statement drawn up and signed by him personally. Application rules:
- The document is submitted to the employer before the date of payment of wages (submission deadline is 5 days before the day the funds are transferred).
- The wording should explain what types of payments are covered by the wish to transfer to another person’s account: salary, bonus, vacation pay, compensation accruals, or all types of income.
- It is prescribed in what amount income should be transferred to a third party: in full or as a percentage of the total amount of earnings.
- The frequency of payments is fixed: monthly, with each payment, once a quarter.
- For non-cash payments, it is not necessary to draw up a power of attorney, but the application must indicate the necessary personal data about the recipient of the funds: his last name and initials, bank details of the card or current account for crediting funds.
When considering an employee’s application, the employer is guided by the content of the concluded labor agreement and the collective agreement in force at the enterprise. If one of the documents provides for the possibility of going beyond the salary project and making transfers in favor of third parties (who do not have an employment relationship with the company), then the application may be granted. At the stage of agreeing on details, the issue of covering the costs of commission services is clarified.
REMEMBER! In situations with forced transfers based on court decisions or writs of execution, the employee is not required to complete an application. The document serving as the basis for payments is received directly by the employer from government agencies.
When generating a payment order for the forced transfer of funds in favor of third parties, the employer must indicate in the purpose of the payment:
- for whom the funds are transferred;
- the fact of making deductions;
- use as a base for withholding wages;
- what document is the basis for deductions.
In accounting, the transfer of an employee’s earnings according to the details he has declared will be reflected in account 76. It is necessary to open a separate sub-account for it, in which the amounts of settlements and deductions based on employee statements are supposed to be accumulated. The following invoice correspondences apply:
- D70 – K76 when deducting the principal amount from earnings;
- D70 – K73 – entry to reflect the withheld amount of bank commission for transferring funds in favor of other persons;
- D76 - K51 - when the salary, at the request of the employee, is transferred according to the details of third parties.
Controversial issues with taxation and accounting for payments
Difficulties with transferring earnings to personal cards of employees or in favor of third parties are due to the confusing mechanism for accounting for commissions to banks and possible delays in transferring amounts through third-party banking structures. For an accountant, difficulties may arise due to different deadlines for crediting money to bank cards. If you send salaries to all employees on the same day with the simultaneous payment of personal income tax and contributions, it turns out that:
- some staff will receive money on the same day;
- employees whose income should be credited to others or to their personal cards, but in other banks, will receive money with a delay, which may cause conflicts.
The second nuance is payment of bank commission. If the employee has agreed in writing to withhold funds from his income and direct them to pay remuneration in favor of the banking organization for the transfer made by it, the employer has the right to take advantage of this. It is not prohibited to pay the commission at the expense of the employer.
Expenses for settlements with the bank must be included in the tax base according to the norms of clause 29 of Art. 270 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. If funds are transferred to card accounts that do not relate to the salary project, then the amounts for their servicing cannot be taken into account when calculating the income tax base. These amounts are equivalent to payment for goods intended for personal consumption by employees. Similarly, the funds spent on opening cards and their re-issuance are taken into account. The amounts of remuneration charged by the bank when transferring salaries reduce the income tax base (clause 25, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code). This position was voiced in the Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated March 22, 2005 No. 03-03-01-04/1/131.
Sometimes there are situations when the bank illegally debits earned money from your salary card to pay off overdue debt, depriving you of the right to a judicial review of this moment, as well as your livelihood for half a month or a month. It will not be news to anyone that only after a court decision has entered into legal force and enforcement proceedings have begun, up to 50% can be withheld from your salary to pay off the debt(s) on the loan (Part 2 of Article 99 of the Law "On enforcement proceedings"). Banks very often violate this provision and act as both a judge and a bailiff. The second part of the problem is that the accounting department does not want to transfer your salary to a card of another bank, or give you cash through the cash register. The first option can be explained from banal laziness to some kind of agreement between the bank and the management of the enterprise, because employees receiving salaries may turn out to be borrowers of this bank in the future. Moreover, the bank solves an important task for itself - checking the solvency of a potential borrower. He doesn’t even need to take a personal income tax-2 income certificate from you, since all your income on the card and expenses are visible at a glance. The second option is not beneficial to the accounting department due to the fact that someone needs to go to the bank and receive your salary in cash - this is a waste of time, laziness and all this is because of you ALONE. Realizing that reality differs from the dry theory described in the laws, we nevertheless decided to write about the legal regulation of this moment, which refers us to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Labor Code of Russia). Many accounting departments really don’t like it when employees know and defend their rights. Knowing the Law allows you to feel confident in this situation. Paragraph 3 of Article 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation reads: "Salaries are paid the employee, as a rule, at the place where he performs the work or is transferred to the credit institution specified in the employee’s application, under the conditions determined by the collective agreement or employment contract. The employee has the right to replace the credit institution, into which the salary should be transferred, informing the employer in writing about changes in the details for transferring wages no later than five working days before the payday." As can be seen from this article, the legislator has provided for the possibility and method of changing the bank on whose card the employee would like to receive a salary. All refusals and references to the fact that our enterprise or institution or firm cooperates with only one or two banks, provided that you are officially registered under an employment contract, are illegal. You, as an employee, have every right to choose the credit institution through which you would like to receive your salary. Many will perceive any clashes with accounting as something negative, which can complicate their life at work, but remember that if you have significant loans and, accordingly, payments, then it will be very difficult for you to receive the money you earn. The bank will write off all debt that it deems necessary, including all fines, etc., specified in the agreement; moreover, sometimes you will not be able to use your card, since automatic debiting of funds when money arrives in your account is not automatically turned off when the bank I took everything I wanted for now. The decision is yours, we just want you to have the opportunity to legally defend your rights competently (and this includes a link to the article of the Law). Let us repeat that if the situation with changing the bank and issuing your salary in cash is very bad and the accounting department does not make any concessions, you need to notarize it and transfer the opportunity to receive your salary to your relative.
Paying wages using bank cards is becoming an increasingly common way of paying staff. This is due to the fact that non-cash payments to employees allow employers to significantly reduce costs when working with cash. However, do you always correctly establish in personnel documents the conditions for transferring wages in non-cash form?
Why you can’t force your salary to be transferred to cards
The procedure, timing and place of payment of wages are regulated by the Labor Code. The salary is paid to the employee, as a rule, at the place where he performs the work or is transferred to the bank account specified by the employee. The conditions for calculating wages are determined by a collective or labor agreement. Thus, as a general rule, the employee must receive wages cash at the organization's cash desk.
When deciding to pay wages using bank cards, you should determine all the necessary conditions in the collective agreement or think about including them in employment contracts with employees.
remember, that you cannot force an employee to open an account and receive a bank card. By virtue of the Civil Code, citizens are free to enter into an agreement and coercion to enter into an agreement is not allowed.
Civil legislation gives the employer the opportunity to open a bank account in the interests of a citizen (). However, the employee may waive his rights under such an agreement, and the employer will not be able to transfer wages to the account opened for him. In addition, by virtue of the Civil Code, the employee can terminate the contract and close the bank account at any time.
Attention!
When concluding an employment contract with an employee, remember that you do not have the right to include in it a condition that wages are paid only in non-cash form
The employer must remember that even in cases where the collective agreement provides for a non-cash method of transferring wages, the employee’s refusal to conclude a bank account agreement and receive a card is not a violation of labor discipline and cannot be the basis for the imposition of any penalties. If, at the same time, the employer decides not to pay the salary of such an employee in cash in cash, this is considered a delay in wages and will entail financial liability to the employee in accordance with the Labor Code.
What terms should be included in contracts with employees?
In the "Forensic Navigator" section
It follows from this norm that neither the conditions for the transfer of wages, enshrined in a collective or labor agreement, nor the bank account agreement within the framework of the salary project are not sufficient reasons to pay the employee wages to this account. Funds transferred to a bank account that is not designated by the employee are not legally considered wages. The employee must indicate the bank account details when submitting the application, and he has the right to indicate any account opened in his name and change the details of this account.
Thus, wages can be transferred in non-cash form to a bank card only on the terms of a collective agreement and (or) an employment contract with the employee (additional agreement to the contract), as well as on the basis of the employee’s application for the transfer of wages according to the details specified by him.
If these conditions are not met, this is considered a violation of current labor laws. Which will entail administrative liability for the employer in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses (a fine in the amount of 30,000 to 50,000 rubles or administrative suspension of activities for up to 90 days).
How to convince employees to switch to bank cards
Often in practice, employees refuse to switch to a cashless payment system. The reasons are completely different: from the habit of receiving money at the cash register to the desire to oppose your opinion to the wishes of the employer. As we have already said, you cannot force employees to get a bank card, but you can convince them to do so. How? let's consider several advantages of salary cards that can sway workers to your side:
- security of storage of funds (an employee can instantly block a lost bank card, thereby preventing third parties from accessing the money on it);
- speed and accessibility of receiving cash;
- access to funds on the card 24 hours a day;
- payment for goods and services in Russia and abroad;
- the ability to top up your mobile phone account, pay for housing and communal services and make money transfers;
- control over all operations using the Mobile Bank system;
- access to preferential loans;
- the possibility of receiving additional payments (pensions, social benefits, etc.) to the bank card.
We transfer personal data to the bank
When concluding bank account agreements, the employer sends the bank personal data of employees, copies of their documents and information about the procedure for translating their names into Latin, and sometimes information about average earnings. It must be remembered that the processing of personal data (in this case, transfer to third parties) is permitted only with the written consent of the employee (Clause 1, Article 6 of the Federal Law “On Personal Data”) (see sample).
Law against practice
What happens if...
Employers often make this mistake, forgetting that the organization is liable for late payment of funds to the employee’s account, just as for delayed payment of wages. For such a violation, the employer will pay interest on amounts not transferred on time for each day of delay (Anna BARANOVA, analyst of the online salary calculation service “Eureka” SKB Kontur (Ekaterinburg):
If an employee categorically does not agree to receive a salary in non-cash form, he may not write an application to transfer money to the card. In this case, the employer is obliged to pay wages in cash through the cash register on time.
Related documents
Document | Will help you |
---|---|
Determine the conditions under which salaries can be paid in non-cash form |
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Make sure that the employee cannot be forced to enter into a bank account agreement |
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Remember that an employer may be held administratively liable for violating labor laws |
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Check whether the procedure for working with personal data is followed when transferring information about employees to credit institutions |
The material was prepared by Lyubov CHIBRIKOVA, HR Manager of LLC “Fish Processing Plant “For the Motherland”” (Kaliningrad Region)
Today, almost all companies use plastic cards as a means of transferring salaries to employees. This is because the benefits of this payment option are felt not only by the heads of organizations, but also by employees.
Benefits for employees from using salary plastic cards
The main argument of an employee who would not like his salary to be transferred to a card is that he more often uses cash. But this problem was quickly solved: in every city you can withdraw cash. It is enough to find an ATM of the bank that issued the card.
In addition to this, other advantages of salary plastic cards can be noted:
- a number of banks, when issuing a salary plastic card, also offer a credit card with a fairly good limit, or one salary card performs both of these functions at once;
- for those who need borrowed funds, it will be much easier to get a bank loan for a salary project;
- you can track what amounts, as well as on what days, were debited from the card using Internet banking or the bank’s service in the form of SMS notifications;
- if you wish, you can determine the amount of funds that will remain untouched on your salary card each month (an excellent feature for those who save money for specific purposes).
Along with this, you can set additional settings, thanks to which monthly payment of utility bills or payment for mobile communications will take place automatically.
Benefits for employers from using salary plastic cards
When employees are credited to bank cards where the organization's current account is opened, the deduction process is simplified.
In this case, the accountant sends two things to the bank at the same time: to transfer salaries and.
In addition, transferring funds from a company account to employee accounts within one bank is much easier, since transferring to another financial institution takes much longer.
The process of maintaining documentation is also simplified. Payroll and orders are being replaced by payroll, on the basis of which you simply need to prepare a register for the bank. But the most important thing is that you can forget about the need to deposit funds.
The procedure for introducing salary plastic cards at an enterprise
In order for employee salaries to be transferred to plastic cards, the organization must enter into an agreement with the bank. Moreover, the best option is when the employee accounts and the enterprise account are opened in the same bank.
If we talk about bank commissions, then in this case it is paid by the enterprise.
After this, the company employee must confirm his consent to transfer wages to the card by writing a corresponding statement.
This is an important point, since the employer does not have the right to unilaterally make a decision and force employees to switch to a new form of remuneration. He can only try to resolve the issue in his favor through persuasion.
So, the agreement is signed, and the employees’ accounts are opened in the same bank as the organization’s current account. In this case, the bank will require the following documents:
- list of company employees;
- written consent of employees to charge wages to the card (applications);
- information about employees that will be required to open cards (usually you need to fill out a bank application form);
- salary payment schedule, which must be signed by the head of the company;
- information about the employee who is responsible for the process of accrual and transfer of funds and can, if necessary, answer questions from bank employees (this may be the chief accountant or payroll accountant).
The above list may vary depending on the internal rules of a particular bank. But, as a rule, transferring employee salaries to plastic cards mainly requires these documents.
And finally, employees of an enterprise may express a desire to open an account and receive a plastic card in the bank that they have chosen themselves. This is allowed, but the commission for transactions on the account will already have to be paid by the cardholder.
After all procedures for opening accounts are completed, the employee responsible for transferring wages must provide bank employees with two copies of the register, which indicates the amounts of funds and the list of employees, twice a month. Moreover, the bank returns one copy with its seals and marks. These documents serve as the basis for the bank to transfer funds to employees' accounts.
We work with Sberbank, which has simplified document flow. At the moment, printed payroll registers have been cancelled. It is enough to prepare the register file in electronic form, then it is signed with an electronic signature and sent through the client - the bank.
Rules for transferring wages to plastic cards
These rules are not much different from the cash procedure. Thus, the enterprise must take into account that:
- payment of wages to employees must take place twice a month on days approved by the organization’s standards, for example, a collective agreement;
- employees can count on in case of late payment of wages;
- those employees who leave for vacation are entitled to transfer their vacation pay in advance (three days in advance);
- if the payment date coincides with a weekend or , wages must be paid the day before.
And, of course, the transition to transferring employee wages to plastic cards does not relieve the employer of the obligation to pay funds on time.
Otherwise, measures may be applied to him, both administrative liability (if this happened for the first time or the delays are insignificant) and criminal liability when the employer delays payment for more than two months and a similar situation has already arisen before.
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