How to account for the cost of mobile communications. Cell phone reimbursement

For the prompt solution of production issues, enterprises need cellular communications more than ever. Like any type of expenditure, these should be clearly regulated for proper control and accounting. At the same time, we mean that compensation implies the return of part Money employee for using their own phone for business purposes. In addition, the employee, on his own behalf, concludes an agreement with a mobile operator. If all these actions are taken over by an organization, then this is already a corporate cellular communication. Then there is no need for compensation for cellular communication. In this article, we will consider what compensation is provided for mobile communications to employees.

Compensation of mobile communication to employees: h legislative framework

The validity of this expense item is spelled out in Article 164 of the Labor Code, which prescribes compensation in monetary terms for the costs incurred by the employee as a result of the work process. Article 188 of the Labor Code stipulates the following cases additional payments employees:

• for the use of personal property (in this case, a mobile phone);
• depreciation of this property.

Important! If the cost of a mobile phone is less than 40 thousand rubles, then depreciation is not charged on it, and the cost of the phone is written off at a time to material costs enterprises.

Among other things, the company must separately pay the costs of using cellular communications. Articles 41, 45 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation state that the collective agreement, as well as regulatory and local acts, should describe in detail issues regarding such payments. Their size must be discussed bilaterally between the employee and the enterprise and made a separate item in labor contract or additional agreement.

The legislation clearly spells out the requirements for the economic justification for the inclusion of such compensations in the expense items. Otherwise, the company may be held administratively liable.

Reasonableness of expenses for cellular communication

In addition to documentary evidence of this type of cost, it must be economically justified. The concept of economic feasibility is not fixed in the tax legislation, there is no clear regulation on how to conduct one's financial and economic activities. The taxpayer independently assesses the economic efficiency, necessity and rationality of reimbursement to employees for cellular communications.

If during the audit the tax authorities have controversial points, then more often the inspectors are repelled by a subjective assessment economic activity enterprises. There will be no doubts about organizations whose employees regularly go on business trips and work issues are mainly resolved by phone. For a quick solution to working moments, a fixed connection (if any) may not be enough, therefore, when defending the inexpediency of using additional cellular communications, such an argument will not be enough.

If an organization clearly sees and can confirm the increase in income due to the use of cellular communications, the control tax authorities will not be able to make claims regarding this cost item. Otherwise, it may not be taken into account at all, as a result, the taxable base of the enterprise will increase, and various penalties may be applied to it.

Documents to confirm expenses for cellular communications

Any item of expenditure must be documented, especially such an "intangible" as compensation for cellular communications. To legitimately account for the costs associated with its payment, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, in a letter dated July 27, 2006 No. 03-03-04 / 3/15, formed the following list of necessary documentation.

Document's name	What should be written
Order of the head of the organization	A list of jobs that involve frequent phone calls. A list of employees who are entitled to this compensation may also be included here.
Due Instruction of the Worker	Justification for the need to use cellular communications
Employment contract and agreement to it	The conditions and procedure for paying compensation may be prescribed, or a fixed amount for the use of a cellular communication worker may be indicated.
Agreement with a mobile operator and billing details	An agreement in the name of the employee, as well as full detailing of invoices, excluding inclusion in the calculation compensation payments employee personal conversations.

Mobile phone rental from an employee

Renting a personal mobile device from an employee is a fairly common practice. Relationships can be documented in two ways:

• conclude a lease agreement for a mobile device (Article 606-625 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), in which it is necessary to prescribe the lease term, as well as the amount and terms of payment. You can avoid additional red tape with the execution of the contract and write down all these points in the employment contract or supplementary agreement;
• conclude an agreement for the gratuitous use of property (in this case, a mobile phone) of an employee and / or set an amount of compensation for this use.

Detailing the account of the telecom operator

Detailing the account by the telecom operator is real document, on the basis of which, one can judge how much the employee actually said, and for what exactly he should be compensated for the money. However, no one can legally oblige you to provide this document.

The issue remains controversial in view of the various opinions:

• The Ministry of Finance, together with the Tax Authorities, advocates the inclusion of detail in mandatory list documents;
• some arbitration courts say that this document is not necessary when establishing the expediency of including compensation for the use of cellular communications in the cost price.

Is compensation subject to income tax and contributions?

Compensation for the use of cellular communications for business purposes is not subject to:

• personal income tax;
• compulsory health insurance contributions;
• accident insurance premiums.

There is an omission here that personal calls were not taken into account for expenses. If there was a use of a cellular (SIM card) in addition to the work process for personal purposes, the amount of compensation that falls at the time when the employee made personal calls should be subject to personal income tax.

Things are different when a personal mobile phone rental agreement is concluded. The amount of rent payments will be subject to personal income tax, since it is an additional income of the employee.

Example! The company has entered into a mobile device rental agreement with an employee. The amount of monthly rental payments is 500 rubles. The contract stipulates a fixed amount of compensation for the use of cellular communications of 1,500 rubles. In this case, 500 rubles will be subject to VAT (13%), the amount of tax will be 65 rubles. It also makes transfers to insurance funds.

Employee cell phone compensation limits

When entering into an agreement on compensation for cellular communication, organizations and the employee can negotiate through negotiations the allowable limit of expenses for cellular communication. Therefore, compensation will be carried out only within this limit. For example, the compensation limit is 2000 rubles, and the employee spent 2350 rubles on negotiations per month. Thus, he will be reimbursed only 2,000 rubles.

Reflection of expenses in accounting documentation

The accountant includes certain expenses in cost items only if they were aimed at making a profit. Otherwise, the tax authorities will exclude them from the cost.

Compensation for cellular communication assumes that the contract with the operator is concluded in the name of the employee. Thus, he pays for communication, submits the relevant documents to the employer, and he reimburses him for the money spent.

Regardless of the tax regime, compensation for cellular communication is reflected in tax accounting as payment for communication services.

Corresponds to the following accounting entry:

Wiring	Operation
Debit 20 (26, 44) - Credit 73	Cellular charges included
Debit 73 - Credit 50 (51)	Cellular communication expenses are compensated to the employee

These costs will be included in the cost. If the organization does not pay VAT. Otherwise, compensation for cellular communications cannot be taken into consideration due to the absence of an invoice from the cellular operator to a specific organization.

Frequently asked Questions

Question #1. When hiring a sales representative, an employment civil contract was concluded between the employee and the employer. Due to the nature of the work and the lack of corporate communication, all working moments are decided on a personal mobile phone. Can an employee claim compensation for the use of cellular communications.

Answer. No, it cannot, since reimbursement of expenses for cellular communication is possible only with official employment. Otherwise, the employee is not entitled to this kind of payment.

Question #2. Neither on the balance sheet of the enterprise, nor on its balance sheet, the enterprise has mobile devices. At the same time, there is a cost item for compensation of expenses for cellular communications. Will the validity of these costs raise doubts with the tax authorities.

Answer. With a high degree of probability, the tax authorities will perceive the presence of expenses for cellular communications and the absence of expenses for use mobile devices suspicious and may exclude this cost item from the cost calculation.

Question #3. For the accounting department of the enterprise, the employee provided details of telephone conversations in order to exclude time for personal calls from the calculation. Is it worth worrying about the correctness of the data presented, and who else might be interested in the availability of such documents?

Answer. All supporting documentation available in the accounting department is sent to the tax authorities, which conduct a thorough check of literally every line in detail. Therefore, if you decide to provide such a document, you need to make sure that every figure in it will not raise doubts.

Question #4.What are the limits of compensation payments for the use of cellular communications.

Answer. It will not be possible for an enterprise to set unlimited limits, therefore, it will not work to endlessly reflect large amounts of compensation on the balance sheet in order to reduce the taxable base. Regulatory authorities strictly monitor the amount of compensation and, if it does not correspond to economically justified costs, they can exclude costs from the calculation of the cost.

Question #5. Is it possible in budget organization use cell phone reimbursement?
Answer. In any organization, if you justify the expediency of using cell phones for business purposes from an economic point of view, it is possible to take into account such costs.

Question number 6. Will work calls on holidays and weekends be taken into account when calculating compensation?
Answer. If the contract specifies the amount of the limit, then it does not matter at what time the calls were made. If the report goes after the fact, then if the expenses incurred correspond to paragraph 1 of Art. 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the tax authorities will not find fault with this.

L.V. Chkhutiashvili, Auditor, member of the Moscow Region Institute of Safety, Ph.D. economy Sciences

Work mobile phone, when the employer provides the employee with a device and / or pays mobile communication, is a common occurrence. How to correctly account for the cost of purchasing mobile phones and paying for communication services?

An employer can go two ways, providing employees with mobile communications:

1) connect them to the corporate tariff, thereby fully paying for mobile communications;

2) pay or compensate for expenses at the rate used by the employee.

In both cases, various options are possible: the employer can purchase telephones and issue them to employees with or without sim cards, can issue only sim cards, can transfer the number used by the employee to a corporate rate, can pay (compensate) expenses for mobile communications at the rate used by the employee, in whole or in part.

income tax

By general rule expenses for mobile communication can be taken into account when taxing profits on the basis of subparagraph 25 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. However, as we can see, the range of expenses for providing employees with communication services can be quite wide, and not all of them can be written off on the basis of this norm.

As stated in paragraph 1 of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, any expenses recognized in tax accounting must be justified and documented. Justified costs are understood as economically justified costs, the assessment of which is expressed in monetary terms. Documented expenses mean expenses confirmed by documents drawn up, among other things, in accordance with the law Russian Federation. Expenses are recognized as any costs, provided that they are made for the implementation of activities aimed at generating income.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has repeatedly pointed out that the taxpayer himself determines the validity and expediency of costs (Determinations of 04.06.2007 No. 366-O-P and of 12.16.2008 No. 1072-O-O). The Ministry of Finance of Russia agrees with this (letters No. 03-03-06/1/341 of May 21, 2010 and No. 03-03-06/1/14 of January 21, 2010).

In Decree No. 8905/10 dated March 9, 2011, the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation indicated that the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not contain provisions that allow the tax authority to assess the taxpayer's expenses from the standpoint of their economic feasibility. Subjects entrepreneurial activity have autonomy in making management decisions. The reasonableness of expenses should not be assessed in terms of their expediency.

Mobile phone

Starting to account for the cost of mobile communication, first of all, it is necessary to reflect the cost of purchasing a mobile phone in accounting. It is from the price of the phone ( we are talking about the price of the phone itself, excluding the cost of the SIM card), the procedure for accounting for its cost for profit tax purposes will depend.

Phones worth more than 40,000 rubles. relate to depreciable property, the acquisition costs of which reduce taxable profit through the depreciation mechanism (clause 1, article 256 of the Tax Code).

If the cost of the device is less than 40,000 rubles, the organization has the opportunity to write off the costs of its purchase at a time. Such amounts are included in the composition of material expenses in full on the date the telephone is put into operation (subclause 3, clause 1, article 254 of the Tax Code).

The transfer of mobile phones to employees must be carried out according to a separate statement signed by employees who, from the moment they receive the phones, are responsible for their safety and will be required to return them upon dismissal from the organization. Can an employee take the phone with them, receive it as a gift, or redeem it at the residual value from the organization? These issues are always resolved individually by agreement of the parties.

When an employee uses his personal mobile phone for work conversations, the organization can compensate him for the use, depreciation (depreciation), as well as expenses associated with the use of such property, the amount of which is determined by agreement of the parties to the employment contract (Article 188 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The use of personal property of an employee for official purposes should be conditioned by his official duties, the nature of his work. This is indicated by the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia in letters dated 08/06/2010 No. 2538-19 (p. 3), dated 03/12/2010 No. 550-19, dated 05/26/2010 No. 1343-19.

As noted in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 2, 2006 No. 03-05-01-04 / 43, the amount of reimbursement of expenses must correspond to economically justified costs associated with the actual use of the employee’s personal property for the purposes of labor activity. The organization must have documents (or their duly certified copies) confirming both the ownership of the property used and the expenses incurred when using this property for business purposes.

Confirmation of both the fact that the costs are of a production nature, and that the ownership of the property used belongs to the employee, should be the relevant administrative documents. The amount of reimbursement can be:

Determined by an agreement between the employee and the employer in writing in the form of a separate document (letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 02.03.2006 No. 03-05-01-04 / 43 and dated 02.11.2004 No. 03-05-01-04 / 72);

Be recorded in the job description of this employee, which indicates the need to provide the employee in the relevant position with mobile communications (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 05.23.2005 No. 03-03-01-04 / 1/275) or in the employment contract itself (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 31.12 .2004 No. 03-03-01-04/1/194).

For these expenses to be economically justified, it is necessary to prove that the employee used a personal mobile phone for work purposes. The production nature of such expenses can be confirmed by such documents as an employee’s memo describing the reasons for talking from a personal cell phone, detailed account details, an order or instruction from the manager to pay for the cost of calls.

SIM cards

A SIM card, in fact, is a tool with which you connect to mobile services. This means that the costs of purchasing SIM cards can be written off on the basis of subparagraph 25 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as expenses for payment for communication services.

As a rule, an organization purchases SIM cards when it enters into an agreement with a mobile operator to connect to a corporate or business tariff. However, not all cards can be activated, and the amounts credited to the accounts can be used. A SIM card can be given to an employee or lost. Therefore, the cost of purchasing sim-cards in tax accounting is taken into account as material expenses of the organization.

If, according to the rules of the mobile operator, the cost of the SIM card is fully or partially credited to the subscriber's account and will be spent on paying for communication services in the future, such a cost (part of it) of the SIM card must be reflected in tax accounting as it is spent on the basis of the accounts of the telecom operator (subclause 3, clause 7, article 272, clauses 1 and 2, article 318 of the Tax Code). If the amount paid for the SIM card is not credited to the subscriber's account, the organization can take into account such expenses at a time at the time of purchase.

The transfer of sim cards, as well as mobile phones, to employees must be carried out according to a separate statement signed by employees.

Mobile payment

It would be rational for an organization to set limits on the payment of calls to employees connected to corporate communications and fix them in an employment contract or in a separate local normative act. However, you should sign an agreement with the telecom operator. In this case, the organization will be able to take into account the amount of the invoice within the established limit in general business expenses.

The Ministry of Finance in a letter dated 27.07. 2006 No. 03-03-04/3/15 recommended the following methodology: “In tax accounting, an employee's excess of the established limit will be taken into account as part of other expenses only after the employee reimburses the specified costs to the company. At the same time, the compensation paid by the employee will be taken into account for tax purposes in income from sales. So, the cost of products, works, services of the organization will not include the costs of personal conversations of employees on mobile communications.

Employees should be familiarized with the order against signature, according to which conversations on personal topics on the office phone should not be conducted. If telephones connected at unlimited rates are used by employees for both production and personal conversations, the organization must approve the maximum amount of expenses reimbursed to the employee. This amount may vary depending on the position held by the employee. This approach is fully consistent with the position of the Ministry of Finance, set out in the letter of October 13, 2006 No. 03-03-04/2/217.

Most organizations that pay their employees for mobile communications prefer to connect to a corporate tariff plan. This allows you to significantly save on the cost of paying for cellular services. This is both economically beneficial - the company receives large discounts from the servicing telephone company, and practically - expenses are displayed in documents in one amount, which is convenient for conducting an invoice. Such tariffs provide preferential calls between employees of the same organization and much more.

The procedure for accounting for mobile communications costs depends on which tariff plan was chosen by the organization: unlimited or with per-minute (per-second) billing.

Expenses of the taxpayer for postal, telegraph and other similar services, expenses for payment for communication services, computer centers and banks, including expenses for facsimile and satellite communication services, Email, as well as information systems(SWIFT, Internet and other similar systems) relate to other costs associated with production and sales. This is stated in subparagraph 25 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The Ministry of Finance of Russia and the courts allow to take into account the costs of mobile communications at unlimited tariffs for the purposes of calculating the tax base for income tax (letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 06/23/2011 No. 03-03-06/1/378 and dated 10/13/2006 No. 04/2/217, decision of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North Caucasus District of October 27, 2009 in case No. A32-246/2008-12/27). The main thing is that such expenses should be economically justified and documented (clause 1 of article 252 of the Tax Code).

Tariff plans are usually expensive and not every organization can afford them. A fixed monthly fee, as a rule, allows employees of the organization to freely communicate only within the region where they are located. Long distance and international calls are charged separately.

Most organizations choose tariff plans with per-minute billing and set a limit on the compensation of mobile calls (internal limit). The employee is informed about such a limit and the procedure for reimbursement of expenses for mobile communications within the organization against signature.

As a rule, a special order is issued for these purposes. The maximum amount of funds paid by the organization may be indicated in the employment contract with it (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated 05.10.2010 No. 16-15 / [email protected]).

It should be noted that the Ministry of Finance of Russia is of the opinion that even those calls that are made within the corporate limit may not be made for business purposes. This means that in order to confirm the expenses for mobile communications, the following documents are required (letter dated 19.01.2009 No. 03-03-07/2):

A list of positions of employees approved by the head of the organization who are provided with mobile communications for work purposes;

Agreement with the operator for the provision of communication services;

Detailed accounts of the telecom operator (for which numbers, when and for what amount negotiations were conducted with subscribers).

Letter No. 03-03-04/3/15 dated July 27, 2006 of the Ministry of Finance of Russia, on the basis of which letter No. 20-12/83834.1 of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated September 20, 2006, was issued, explains that the detailed invoice form must contain detailing the total amount of payment for the services provided by the mobile operator in the context of individual sub-accounts opened for each subscriber number assigned to the taxpayer, including: telephone numbers of all subscribers, dates and times of negotiations, tariffication of the service.

However, it is not enough to have a decryption indicating the numbers with which negotiations were conducted, it is also necessary to prove that these numbers belong to counterparties. The telephone numbers indicated in the transcript must appear in official correspondence, contracts, acts of work performed, waybills, invoices, etc.

This is difficult task. Often, representatives of contractors use cell numbers that are not included in the contracts, or even personal phones. Not surprisingly, printouts for specific office phones are not enough documentation for analysis.

The tax legislation does not contain requirements for mandatory confirmation of mobile expenses by such a document as the account of the telecom operator. Most courts in recent times come to the conclusion that the absence of this document is not a basis for excluding the amounts transferred to pay for mobile communications from the composition of expenses that reduce taxable income (decrees of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated June 22, 2010 in case No. KA-A40 / 6056-10, dated January 29 .2010 No. КА-А40/14759-09-2, Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Central District dated March 6, 2009 No. А35-4080/07-С8, Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated December 24, 2009 No. КА-А40/12845-09-P, Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Ural District dated 08.12.2008 No. F09-9153 / 08-S3, FAS of the North-Western District dated 06.27.2007 No. A42-5778 / 2006).

The organization must issue an order with a list of employees or positions of employees who, in connection with their professional activity You need to use a mobile phone to work. The order should indicate the numbers of mobile phones and SIM cards assigned to specific employees, the purpose of using mobile phones (letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 19, 2009 No. 03-03-07 / 2 and dated June 5, 2008 No. 03-03-06 / 1 /350).

This condition should also be reflected in the relevant job descriptions, employment contracts. In addition, in the employee's job description, it can be fixed that in order to perform job duties(due to the traveling nature of the work due to official needs) he needs a mobile connection.

The official position of the Ministry of Finance of Russia is that the costs of cellular services at unlimited tariffs for employees are taken into account when taxing profits within the limit established for an employee, based on his official duties, an internal local act of the organization (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 13.10.2006 No. 03-03-04 / 2/217). At the same time, in the Decree of the FAS SKO dated October 27, 2009 No. A32-246 / 2008-12 / 27, the court recognized the company's costs for providing its employee with unlimited mobile communications as reasonable due to the fact that he needs it to perform his official duties.

The organization cannot take into account the cost of over-limit calls as expenses for income tax purposes (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 13.10.2010 No. 03-03-06 / 2/178). An exception may be the issuance by the head of the organization of a special order, in which the standard for the cost of mobile communications in this month for a particular employee increases in connection with the need for service.

Otherwise, the excess amount is either deducted from the employee's salary or paid at the expense of net profit. In this case, if the employee compensates for the overspending, the amount of excess by the employee of the established limit will be taken into account as part of other expenses for tax purposes only after the employee reimburses the specified costs. In this case, the amount of compensation paid by the employee will be taken into account for tax purposes in income from sales (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 19, 2009 No. 03-03-07 / 2).

Based on Article 272 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, expenses are recognized in the reporting (tax) period in which they arise, based on the terms of transactions (for transactions with specific deadlines) and the principle of uniform and proportional formation of income and expenses (for transactions lasting more than one reporting period). (tax) period).

When an organization compensates an employee for the cost of cellular communications associated with a personal mobile phone, it considers them as expenses that reduce taxable income.

VAT, personal income tax and insurance premiums

The provision of mobile communication services on the territory of the Russian Federation is recognized as an object of VAT (Article 146 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). A cellular operator (if it is a VAT payer) is obliged to issue an invoice to the organization for mobile communication services, including VAT, as well as draw up and issue an invoice in the manner prescribed by Articles 168 and 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The amount of VAT paid by the organization as part of the payment for mobile phones, SIM cards and mobile communication services, can be deducted from the budget on the basis of Articles 171 and 172 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Cash compensation for the use of a cell phone owned by an employee is not subject to personal income tax and insurance premiums within the limits established by the organization.

The use of a telephone with an unlimited business rate for official purposes is the basis for writing off the full amount of the monthly fee for mobile communication services as expenses and exempting from personal income tax and insurance premiums, since documented personal income tax expenses are not subject to taxation (clause 3 of article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) .

Based on subparagraph “i” of paragraph 2 of part 1 of article 9 of Federal Law No. 212-FZ “On insurance premiums in Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund and territorial compulsory medical insurance funds "the amount of compensation paid to an employee of an organization for the use of personal property (mobile phone) is not subject to insurance premiums if the use of this property is related to the performance of labor duties (traveling nature of the performance of labor duties, official purposes), in the amount determined by the agreement between the organization and such an employee (letter of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated 08/06/2010 No. 2538-19 (p. 3)).

As for the taxation of the amounts of compensation for mobile communications with personal income tax and insurance premiums, then if the employee conducted the conversations exclusively for official purposes, it will not be necessary to tax these payments with personal income tax and insurance premiums (paragraph 2 of article 9 of the Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212 -FZ, paragraph 3 of article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If the conversations were own interests the employee and the corresponding expenses he does not compensate the employer, from the indicated amounts he will have to transfer personal income tax and insurance premiums to the budget.

Accounting

In the presence of all the necessary primary documents confirming the costs of mobile services, the organization may include such costs in the cost of ordinary species activities on the basis of paragraph 5 of PBU 10/99 "Expenses of the organization". The specific method of their accounting depends on the specifics of the enterprise's activities (types of entrepreneurial activity carried out, the adopted accounting policy, management requirements for analytical data, etc.).

In accordance with paragraph 18 of PBU 10/99, expenses are recognized in the reporting period in which they occurred, regardless of the time of actual payment of funds or other form of implementation.

Expenses are recognized in accounting under the following conditions:

1) the expense is made in accordance with a specific contract, the requirement of legislative and regulatory acts, the customs of business;

2) the amount of the expense can be determined;

3) there is confidence that as a result of a particular operation there will be a decrease economic benefits organizations. There is certainty that a particular transaction will reduce the entity's economic benefits when the entity has transferred the asset, or there is no uncertainty about the transfer of the asset.

If at least one of the above conditions is not met in relation to any expenses incurred by the organization, the organization’s accounting records receivables(clause 16 PBU 10/99).

Here are examples of how expenses on mobile phones and cellular communications are reflected in the accounts.

Example 1	The trade organization Contact LLC purchased a mobile phone and a SIM card for its employee for 17,700 rubles. (including VAT - 18%). Debit 60 Credit 51 - 17,700 rubles. – payment for a mobile phone for an employee is included in sales expenses; Debit 10 Credit 60 - 15,000 rubles. – receipt (posting) of a mobile phone with a SIM card to the warehouse of the organization; Debit 44 Credit 60 - 15,000 rubles. – the phone is in service; Debit 19 Credit 60 - 2,700 rubles. – value added tax is reflected; Debit 68 Credit 19 - 2,700 rubles. – deductible value-added tax on a mobile phone.
Example 2	According to the invoice issued by the mobile operator, the expenses of Contact LLC for cellular communications amounted to 7,080 rubles. (including VAT - 18%). The following entries were made in the accounting records: Debit 60 Credit account 51 - 7,080 rubles. – monthly payment for mobile communication services has been made; Debit 44 Credit 60 - 6,000 rubles. – the cost of mobile communication services is included in the costs; Debit 19 Credit 60 - 1,080 rubles. – reflected value added tax on communication services; Debit 68 Credit 19 - 1,080 rubles. - Value added tax on communication services is accepted for deduction.
Example 3	According to the invoice issued by the mobile operator, the expenses of Contact LLC for cellular communications amounted to 7,080 rubles. (including VAT - 18%). The employee uses a personal mobile phone for work. By order of the head of the organization, a limit on the cost of mobile calls is set at 5,900 rubles. (including VAT - 18%). The cost of personal negotiations of employees of the organization is 1,180 rubles. (7,080 rubles - 5,900 rubles). This amount is deducted from the salaries of employees. The following entries were made in the accounting records: Debit 44 Credit 60 - 5,000 rubles. - the cost of communication services is included in the expenses in accordance with the limit established by the order of the head (5,900 rubles - 5,900 rubles x 18% / 118% = 5,900 rubles - 900 rubles); Debit 19 Credit 60 - 900 rubles. – reflected value added tax on communication services; Debit 68 Credit 19 - 900 rubles. – value-added tax on communication services was accepted for deduction; Debit 60 Credit 51 - 7,080 rubles. – paid for calls on mobile phones of OOO “Contact”; Debit 73 Credit 60 - 1,180 rubles. - reflects the debt of employees for personal calls from the company's office cell phones; Debit 70 Credit 73 - 1,180 rubles. - withheld from wages employees, the cost of personal negotiations exceeding the established limit (Debit 50, 51 Credit 73, if the payment to the cash desk or to the company's current account of the amount to be transferred for services to the mobile operator is reflected).

Regardless of the tax regime, compensation for cellular communication is reflected in tax accounting as payment for communication services. The following accounting entry corresponds: Posting Transaction Debit 20 (26, 44) - Credit 73 Cellular expenses are taken into account Debit 73 - Credit 50 (51) Cellular expenses are compensated to the employee These costs will be taken into account in the cost price. If the organization does not pay VAT. Otherwise, compensation for cellular communications cannot be taken into consideration due to the absence of an invoice from the cellular operator to a specific organization. Frequently Asked Questions Question #1. When hiring a sales representative, an employment civil contract was concluded between the employee and the employer. Due to the nature of the work and the lack of corporate communication, all working moments are decided on a personal mobile phone.

Employee cell phone compensation

Neither the tax legislation, nor the legislation on communications, nor the legislation on accounting contain requirements for mandatory transcription of the negotiations, receipt of detailed invoices and preparation of a report for each call. In addition, the content of the negotiations is a legally protected secret of communication (Art.

Attention

Law of July 7, 2003 No. 126-FZ). This means that the organization is not obliged to confirm the production orientation of these expenses by detailing the accounts. Thus, the organization has the right to justify the costs of paying for mobile services, in particular, the contract concluded with the mobile operator, payment documents, organizational and administrative documents of the head of the organization, etc.

P. This conclusion confirms the arbitration practice (see, for example, the decisions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated June 3, 2009 No. KA-A40 / 4697-09-2, dated February 24, 2009

Cellular communication for employees: nothing personal

Info

Insurance premiums Do not charge insurance premiums for compensation for the use of a personal mobile phone in production purposes organization allows the federal law No. 212-FZ "On insurance contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund and Territorial Compulsory Medical Insurance Funds" (hereinafter - Law No. 212-FZ). According to sub. "and" p. 2 h. 1 art. 9 of Law No. 212-FZ, all types of compensation payments established by the legislation of the Russian Federation (within the limits established in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation) related to the implementation of individual labor duties.

In a letter dated August 6, 2010

Compensation for employee expenses for cellular communication

Important

Rationale From the recommendation of Nina Kovyazina, Deputy Director of the Department medical education and personnel policy in health care of the Ministry of Health of Russia How to pay and reflect in accounting and taxation compensation for the use of an employee’s personal property (telephone, fax, computer, etc., except for a car) Use an employee’s personal property (telephone, computer, fax, etc.) e.) is possible not only on the basis of a lease agreement, but also by paying special compensation. This possibility is provided for in Article 188 Labor Code RF.

Documentation and calculation The payment of compensation to an employee for the use of his personal property may be provided for in special paragraph employment contract or in an additional agreement to it.

Reimbursement for personal phone use

If there is no decryption of the invoice for payment of communication services, determine the amount of expenses associated with production activities, impossible. Therefore, the condition of documentary evidence of expenses in this case is not met. A similar point of view is stated in the letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 5, 2008 No. 03-03-06 / 1/350, dated July 27, 2006 No. 03-03-04 / 3/15 and the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated 9 February 2005 No. 20-12/8153. If compensation is paid, personal income tax must be withheld from it (p.

3 art. 217 and paragraph 1 of Art. 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Also, on the amount of compensation, you need to accrue contributions for compulsory pension (social, medical) insurance and contributions for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases. This is due to the fact that this payment is treated as payment for a telephone services employee.

Use of an employee's personal phone for business purposes

In many organizations, employees use personal property (such as a cell phone) for business purposes, and the employer pays compensation for the use, depreciation of that property, and cell service costs incurred. How to reflect this fact in tax accounting, we will consider in this article 06/06/2011 the magazine "Tax Consultant" (St.

Tyumen) Author: Elena Orlova, tax consultant of CJSC "AuditSibMash" CG "Lex", member of the Chamber of Tax Consultants of the Russian Federation Required documents Payment of compensation for the use and wear and tear with the consent or knowledge of the employer and in his interests of the employee's personal property, as well as reimbursement of expenses associated with the use of personal property, are provided for in Article 188 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
In addition to compensation for the use of personal property, article 188 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation obliges the organization to reimburse the employee for the costs associated with its operation (for example, the acquisition Supplies). The procedure and amount of reimbursement of these expenses can also be established in the employment contract (supplementary agreement to it).

Situation: is it possible not to provide for the payment of compensation for the use of personal property of an employee in an employment contract, indicating the procedure and amount of its payment in the order of the head Yes, it is possible. When an employee uses personal property (telephone, fax, computer, etc.)

except for a car) for official purposes, compensation is paid to him, as well as expenses associated with the use of this property. The amount of reimbursement of expenses is determined by the agreement of the parties to the employment contract, expressed in writing.

How is a mobile phone employee compensated?

• job description of the employee;
• an employment contract or other written agreement between the employer and the employee, which establishes the amount and procedure for paying compensation;
• a copy of the employee's contract with a mobile operator;
• a copy of the bill for communication services, as well as bill details, as confirmation of the “working” nature of the calls.

Cell phone reimbursement is usually set by:

• in a fixed amount - in terms of compensation for the use of a personal cell phone;
• in the amount of actual expenses or within the established limit - in terms of reimbursement of expenses for cellular communication services.

The documented amount of compensation for the expenses of employees for cellular communication:

• not subject to personal income tax and insurance premiums (clause 3 of article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, subparagraphs "i" of paragraph 2 of part 1 of art.

Compensation to employees for the use of personal property

The procedure for posting expenses in accounting and tax documentation directly depends on the gradual decrease in the value of mobile phones due to their wear and tear. For example, mobile phones must be included in fixed assets if their value exceeds 40,000 rubles.
In such a situation, they are charged depreciation deductions covering the costs of maintaining it in working order. They must be properly documented in the company's documentation.
In the accounting documentation, the costs associated with the purchase of mobile phones, SIM cards are carried out under article RAS 6/01. They are entered on the balance sheet in the items for ordinary or other expenses at the purchase price, net of VAT. With the initial cost of mobile phones less than 40,000 rubles in accordance with article 254 tax code it is included in the costs.

Cell phone reimbursement

From the recommendation of Sergei Razgulin, Acting State Counselor of the Russian Federation of the 3rd class mobile operator, but also to compensate employees for the cost of calls from their personal mobile phone. Types of payments When using their own mobile phone at work, an employee has the right to receive two types of payments:

• compensation for the use of personal property (telephone) or income from leasing it to an organization;
• reimbursement for business calls.

BASIC: income tax When calculating income tax, include compensation for expenses for paying for official calls from a personal phone as part of other expenses (subclause

Cell phone reimbursement

Therefore, employers face the need to provide their employees with cellular communications, and to do this in such a way as to take into account the interests of employees and their own, and at the same time avoid claims from the tax authorities. How to do this - read the article. Providing employees with cellular communication is possible in two ways:

• Corporate cellular communication: an agreement with a cellular operator is concluded by the employer, and employees are issued SIM cards belonging to the employer for use.

• Compensation of employee expenses for cellular communications: each employee enters into an agreement with a cellular operator on his own behalf and uses a personal SIM card for business calls.

The chosen method (or a combination of them), as well as all the essential conditions for the use of cellular communications by employees for official purposes, must be fixed in a local regulatory act.

1. How to confirm the validity of the costs of cellular communications.

2. How to formalize employee use personal phones and SIM cards for official purposes.

3. In what order are expenses for cellular communication reflected in accounting and tax accounting.

The cost of communication services is one of those types of expenses that almost any organization and individual entrepreneur has. And an increasing share of these costs is occupied by cellular communication services. And this is not surprising, because cellular, or mobile, communication allows you to solve work issues much more quickly, and for some workers, the use of landline phone just impossible. So, for example, employees with a traveling nature of work, as well as whose work is associated with frequent business trips, cannot do without mobile phones in the course of their work. Therefore, employers face the need to provide their employees with cellular communications, and to do this in such a way as to take into account the interests of employees and their own, and at the same time avoid claims from the tax authorities. How to do this - read the article.

Providing employees with cellular communication is possible in two ways:

• Corporate Cellular: an agreement with a mobile operator is concluded by the employer, and employees are issued SIM cards belonging to the employer for use.

• Compensation for employee expenses for cellular communication: each employee enters into an agreement with a mobile operator on his own behalf and uses a personal SIM card for business calls.

The chosen method (or a combination of them), as well as all the essential conditions for the use of cellular communications by employees for official purposes, must be fixed in a local regulatory act. Such a document could be, for example, Regulations on providing employees with cellular communications.

In tax accounting, expenses for cellular communication services, including the payment of compensation to employees for expenses for cellular communication, accepted both for calculating income tax (clause 25, clause 1, article 264), and for the USN (clause 18, clause 1, article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). As a general rule, the cost of cellular communications must be economically justified and documented. At the same time, the procedure for documenting such expenses directly depends on the method of providing employees with cellular communications.

Corporate Cellular

To verify your corporate cell phone expenses, you will need the following: documentation(Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated 06/23/2011 No. 03-03-06 / 1/378):

• agreement with a mobile operator;
• invoice for services rendered;
• the list of positions of employees approved by the head of the organization using cellular communications to perform work duties. The specified list of positions can be fixed in a separate order or spelled out in the Regulation on providing employees with cellular communications.

In some cases, you also need:

• invoice - for VAT taxpayers in order to deduct "input" VAT (clause 1, article 172 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
• a document confirming payment for the services of a mobile operator - for organizations using the simplified tax system (clause 2 of article 346.17 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition to the listed documents, tax inspectors often request additional documents confirming the economic feasibility of spending on cellular services:

• job descriptions of employees using cellular communications, as confirmation that the use of cellular communications is necessary for the performance of their work duties;
• employment contracts ( collective agreement) with employees that specify the conditions for providing cellular communications or provide a link to the relevant local act (Regulations on providing employees with cellular communications);
• detailing bills for communication services, which indicate the telephone numbers of all subscribers with whom negotiations were conducted, as confirmation that the negotiations were of a working, not personal nature.

As for the detailing of bills for cellular services, the obligation of such a document is ambiguous. The Ministry of Finance in some letters indicates that detailing is mandatory (Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 19.01.2009 No. 03-03-07 / 2, dated 05.06.2008 No. 03-03-06 / 1/350, dated 07.27.2006 No. 03-03- 04/3/15). However, courts in most cases do not consider the lack of detail as a basis for not accepting cellular communication costs as tax accounting(Resolutions of the FAS MO dated 06.22.2010 No. КА-А40/6056-10, dated 01.29.2010 No. КА-А40/14759-09-2, FAS PO dated 05.23.2008 in case No. А55-10554/07). Basically, the courts refer to the fact that the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not contain a requirement for mandatory confirmation of communication costs with a detailed invoice. In addition, the detail contains only phone numbers, however, does not reveal the nature and content of the conversation (business or personal).

! Note: If you decide to "insure yourself" and confirm the validity of the costs of cellular services by detailing the bills, you must keep in mind that if there is a detail, it will certainly become the subject of a tax audit. So detailing should not just be attached to the invoice, but actually checked and cut off all personal conversations (that is, include a fee for them in tax expenses it is forbidden). It is advisable to reflect the fact that the detailing has been checked, for example, by putting a mark on the document itself indicating the date and signature of the responsible person.

Accounting for phones and SIM cards

With the "corporate" option of providing employees with cellular communications, SIM cards with "attached" phone numbers to them belong to the employer and are issued to employees for use. However, SIM cards by themselves, as you know, do not work: phones (or other devices) are needed. And here, as a rule, one of two options applies:

• telephones are purchased by the employer and given to employees for use;
• workers use personal phones. In this case, employees may be paid, either.

Often there is a third option: the organization does not have its own cell phones, and the use of personal phones of employees is not formalized in any way. At the same time, the costs of cellular communications are regularly accounted for on the basis of invoices issued by the operator. In this case, the legitimacy of accepting expenses for cellular communications is likely to be questioned by tax inspectors. However, taxpayers have a chance to prove their position. Firstly, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not contain a requirement for the mandatory availability of telephones for the recognition of communication costs (25, paragraph 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Secondly, the courts more than once took the side of taxpayers, confirming the legitimacy of accepting expenses for cellular communication for tax accounting even in the absence of telephones (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the SZO of April 24, 2007 in case No. A56-33529 / 2006; Resolution of the FAS MO of July 21, 2005 No. КА-А41/6715-05). And yet, in order not to give the tax authorities another reason for claims, it makes sense to take care of documenting the use of cell phones by employees.

As for SIM cards, the cost of their acquisition may be reflected in:

• as part of material expenses (clause 3, clause 1, clause 2, article 254, clause 5, clause 1, article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If the connection fee is greater than the amount credited to the account as an advance payment, then the difference will be the cost of the SIM card;
• if the entire amount paid upon connection is credited to the account, then the cost of the SIM card is zero, and the amount paid is taken into account as an advance payment for communication services.

Since SIM cards are the property of the employer and are transferred to employees for temporary use, it is advisable to keep an off-balance sheet of SIM cards with analytics by phone numbers and employees.

! Note: The transfer of a SIM card (and phone) to an employee must be documented. For this purpose, you can use the procedure for documenting the movement of inventories established in the organization, or develop and approve special forms of primary documents, for example, a magazine for issuing phones and SIM cards to employees. Documentation of the transfer of SIM cards to employees serves as proof that a particular employee uses a specific telephone number, and in the event that limits are set for mobile communication expenses, this will be the basis for collecting the amount from the employee in excess of the limit.

Establishing spending limits on cellular communications

In the case of providing employees with corporate cellular communications, the organization does not have the opportunity to selectively pay the cost of services to the operator: they will have to pay the entire amount indicated on the invoice, which the employees “slandered”. Therefore, in order not to overpay for personal conversations of employees, most often they set limits on the cost of cellular communications or use an unlimited tariff.

• Unlimited plan

The no-limit tariff has a significant advantage: you do not need to control the amount of expenses of employees, since the payment for communication services is fixed and does not depend on the number and duration of calls (subscription fee). In addition, as the Ministry of Finance explained, payment for cellular services at an unlimited tariff does not prevent them from being accounted for for tax purposes (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated 06/23/2011 No. 03-03-06/1/378).

However, in some cases, it is more beneficial for organizations to use a time-based tariff, and this, in turn, involves setting limits on mobile communication costs for employees. If such limits are not set, the entire benefit from using the time-based tariff may be crossed out. large quantity"extra" calls and, as a result, "extra" expenses.

• Setting limits

The fact of establishing limits on expenses for cellular communications for employees, as well as the amount of these limits, must be fixed in a separate order of the head or in the Regulation on providing employees with cellular communications and familiarize employees using corporate cellular communications with them.

Despite the fact that the setting of limits is primarily an internal measure aimed at disciplining employees, it should be borne in mind that for those who check the existence of limits it means only one thing: Cellular communication expenses exceeding these limits are not economically justified for the organization, and, accordingly, are not accepted for tax accounting purposes.

Of course, communication spending limits set for employees should be as close as possible to actual costs. But even this does not guarantee that the limits will not be exceeded. When exceeding the limit set by the employee cell phone costs are possible the following options actions:

1. Exceeding the limit is caused by business necessity (for example, using cellular communications on a business trip abroad, etc.).

In this case, it makes sense to make a one-time increase in the limit of expenses for cellular communications for a particular employee. The increase in the limit must be documented by issuing an appropriate order from the manager (the basis may be a statement or memo from the employee indicating the reasons for the overrun, as well as detailing the invoice for communication services, confirming the working nature of the calls).

1. Exceeding the limit is not related to the performance of labor duties (making personal calls from a work number, etc.).

The fact that the over-limit expenses for cellular communications are indeed personal, and not official, can be confirmed by the itemization of the bill. In this case, the amount of exceeding the limit:

• may be made by the employee on a voluntary basis or recovered from the employee in the manner of compensation for material damage caused to the employer (Chapter 39 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). With this option, the amount of exceeding the limit:
  • is not an employee's income subject to personal income tax;
  • not subject to insurance premiums;
  • is recognized as other expenses for tax purposes only after reimbursement by the employee. In this case, the amount of compensation paid by the employee (or recovered from him) will be taken into account for tax purposes in income (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation of October 13, 2010 No. 03-03-06 / 2/178).

! Note: the employer is not entitled to produce on his own initiative.

• can be "forgiven" to the employee. The amount of exceeding the limit, which is not reimbursed by the employee and is not collected from him, that is, paid at the expense of the employer:
  • recognized as the employee's income natural form and is subject to personal income tax (clause 1, article 2010, clause 1, clause 2, article 211 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
  • subject to insurance premiums (clause 1, article 7 of Law No. 212-FZ);
  • not taken into account in expenses for tax purposes (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation of October 13, 2010 No. 03-03-06 / 2/178).

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the provision of employees with cellular communications can be organized in the form of compensation for the costs of cellular communications. As a rule, with this option, compensation includes both a fee for the use of personal cell phones of employees for official purposes, and reimbursement of expenses for communication services.

The procedure for processing and taxing compensation for the use of personal cell phones is generally similar to the procedure applied to any other personal property of employees, such as cars. You can read more about this in the articles: and.

To confirm the validity of reimbursement of expenses for cellular communication, the following will be required: documentation(Letters of the Ministry of Finance of October 13, 2010 No. 03-03-06 / 2/178, of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of August 6, 2010 No. 2538-19 (p. 3)):

• a list of positions of employees approved by the head who use cellular communications to perform work duties;
• job description of the employee;
• an employment contract or other written agreement between the employer and the employee, which establishes the amount and procedure for paying compensation;
• a copy of the employee's contract with a mobile operator;
• a copy of the bill for communication services, as well as bill details, as confirmation of the “working” nature of the calls.

Cell phone reimbursement is usually set by:

• in a fixed amount - in terms of compensation for the use of a personal cell phone;
• in the amount of actual expenses or within the established limit - in terms of reimbursement of expenses for cellular communication services.

The documented amount of compensation for the expenses of employees for cellular communication:

• not subject to personal income tax and insurance premiums (clause 3 of article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, subparagraphs "and" clause 2 of part 1 of article 9 of Law No. 212-FZ, Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated 04.20.2015 No. 03-04-06 / 22274 );
• is accepted for the purposes of taxation of profits and under the simplified tax system, as expenses for payment for communication services (clause 25, clause 1, article 264, clause 18, clause 1, article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Accounting for the cost of cellular communications

	Credit
Corporate communication
20 (26, 44)	60	The cost of services of a mobile operator is reflected (in the part not exceeding the established limit)
73	60	The cost of services of a mobile operator is reflected (in the part exceeding the spending limit set for a particular employee)
50 (50, 70)	73	The employee reimbursed the excess amount of expenses for cellular communication
91-2	73	The excess amount of expenses for cellular communication is written off to other expenses (in case of non-reimbursement by the employee)
Cell phone reimbursement
20 (26, 44)	73	Compensated employee
73	50 (51)	Employee compensation paid

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Normative base

1. Tax Code of the Russian Federation
2. Federal Law No. 212-FZ dated July 24, 2009 “On Insurance Contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund”
3. Letter of the Ministry of Health and Social Development dated 08/06/2010 No. 2538-19
, .

A number of specialties are directly related to negotiations, including by telephone. Since the mobile is a tool needed to ensure work activities, cellular services are paid by the employer. Compensation involves a partial or full refund to the employee for communication services. Only business phone calls are reimbursed. The associated costs must be properly accounted for.

Normative base

The need to reimburse employee expenses related directly to work needs is spelled out in article 164 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Article 188 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation indicates cases involving compensation:

• Using employee property (for example, a cellular device) in work.
• Depreciation of property objects.

Depreciation on a cell phone will be charged only when the cost of the phone is more than 40,000 rubles. If its cost is less, the cost of purchasing a means of communication is written off as material costs.

The employer must also reimburse the employee's expenses directly for communication services. Articles 41 and 45 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation indicate that the procedure for such payments should be prescribed in a collective agreement, as well as in regulatory legal acts. The amount of payments is set bilaterally. The amount of payments must be specified in the employment contract. If the employment contract has already been drawn up, a clause on the amount of compensation can be written in the subsidiary agreement.

NOTE! The cost of cellular communication recorded in the account must be economically justified. Otherwise, the company will be held administratively liable. What does economic feasibility mean? This means that the use of cellular communications at work makes work more efficient and increases performance.

Papers to confirm spending on phone calls

Cellular communication expenses will be reimbursed only if they are documented. These documents are used for confirmation:

• Order of the head of the company. It should contain a list of specialties that are inextricably linked with telephone conversations. The order can also specify a number of employees who can be compensated.
• Job description of the employee. This document justifies the need for telephone conversations.
• Employment contract and supplementary agreement. They specify the conditions and procedure for reimbursement of costs. You can negotiate a fixed amount that will be paid to the employee.
• Contract with the operator, details of calls. Documents establish the actual amount of expenses.

The list of documents under consideration is established by the letter of the Ministry of Finance dated July 27, 2006 No. 03-03-04 / 3/15.

Key features of cost recovery

Compensation for the costs of cellular services involves the implementation of a number of actions. Let's consider some of them.

Renting a phone from an employee

If the activity of an employee is directly related to the use of a cell phone, then the device turns from personal property into a tool used by the company. Therefore, it is reasonable and legal to rent a phone from an employee. You can do this in two ways:

• Drawing up a telephone lease agreement on the basis of articles 606-625 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The document indicates the lease term, the amount of compensation and the procedure for their payment.
• Drawing up a contract for the free operation of the device.

It is not necessary to conclude a contract. All the necessary items can be written in the employment agreement.

Account detail

Account detailing is necessary in order to establish the actual time of telephone conversations. Therefore, based on the actual time, you can determine the amount of payments.

It must be said that the need to detail the account is not specified in legislative acts. There are different opinions on this matter. The Ministry of Finance and tax structures, as a rule, consider the presence of detailing necessary. Row arbitration courts On the contrary, they argue that the presence of this document is not at all necessary.

Mobile spending limits

To cut costs, companies usually set limits on cellular communications. There are the following options:

• Unlimited rate. Its main advantage is the absence of the need to control the spending of employees on cellular communications. Payments to the mobile operator will be fixed. Their size will remain the same regardless of the duration of telephone conversations.
• Setting limits. It is necessary in order to reduce the number of unnecessary calls. The amount of limits is established in the order of the head or in the relevant Regulations.

The presence of limits allows you to discipline employees. Calls above the limit are recognized as economically unjustified, and therefore are not taken into account for tax purposes.

How do limits work? Let's look at an example. The limit for telephone communication in the company is 3,000 rubles per month. The employee “spoke” in the amount of 3,500 rubles. In this case, only the amount of 3,000 rubles will be reimbursed. 500 rubles will have to be paid to the employee himself.

NOTE! It is important to set limits that correspond to actual costs. If the limit is too low, it will worsen economic efficiency. If the established limit is constantly violated, it makes sense to increase it.

Will personal income tax and insurance premiums be subject to compensation?

Reimbursement of expenses for communication services does not imply the accrual of insurance premiums. However, this applies to cases where the work phone was used only in work activities. If the employee made personal calls, the associated costs will be subject to personal income tax.

Personal income tax is also charged in cases where a mobile lease agreement has been drawn up. For example, an employer pays 500 rubles for renting a cell phone. An employee is paid a fixed amount of 1,500 rubles for using communication services. In this case, the amount of 500 rubles will be subject to personal income tax and insurance premiums. Personal income tax will amount to 65 rubles (based on the rate of 13%).

IMPORTANT! In tax accounting, reimbursement of expenses will be indicated as payment for communication services. This is true for any tax regime.

Compensation expense accounting

Mobile communication expenses will be included in accounting only if there is a condition: focus on making a profit. If the costs are not economically justified, the tax structures will remove them from the cost. Accounting involves the use of the following postings:

• DT20, 26, 44 KT73. Cell phone billing.
• DT73 KT50, 51. Mobile communication expenses were compensated.

IMPORTANT! Accounting as part of the cost can only be carried out if there is a primary document: an invoice from the operator indicating a specific company.

Payment options for communication services and accounting features

There are the following payment options:

1. Payment in advance. If cellular communication is paid in advance, the corresponding payments will be considered as advance payments.
2. Express payment cards. The disadvantage of paying by cards is that the lack of accompanying documents may cause complaints from the tax authorities.
3. Compensation. It is relevant for those cases when the employer has not concluded an agreement with the operator, and employees use personal SIM cards in their work. The costs of personal negotiations are included in other expenses on account 91.

As a rule, companies practice a method of compensation. Payment by express cards is irrelevant, due to the fact that this option is risky.