Acsour
Starting from January 1, 2021, the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) will pay insurance benefits to employees directly. The Draft Law has been submitted to the State Duma for discussion.
If the law is adopted by the State Duma in the final reading and signed by the Head of state, these amendments will take effect at the legislative level from 2022. However, starting from January 1 next year, the system of payment of allowances by the SIF bodies will be in effect as part of a Pilot project involving all territorial entities of the Russian Federation.
The following types of social benefits will be paid directly:
Direct payment rules are not applied to settlements:
In order for an employee to receive allowance, he or she should fill in a statement in the form approved by SIF Order No. 578 dated November 24, 2017 and attach the necessary documents to it. The composition of such documents will depend on the type of payment assigned.
The employer within 5 calendar days from when the documents are received from the employee, enters the data in its part of the statement and sends the entire set of documents to the territorial body of the SIF at the place of registration in one of the following ways:
If the average number of employees is more than 25, the information should be submitted only in the form of an electronic register. With the smaller number, the form of providing documents is left to the company’s choice.
If the composition of documents is incomplete, the employer can provide the missing documents within 5 working days from when the notification from the SIF authorities is received.
The term of payment by the SIF of the Russian Federation for sick leave and other social benefits is 10 calendar days from when the documents from the company are received. At the same time, the initial payment of child care allowance will be transferred within the same 10-day period, and subsequent payments will be made monthly from the 1st to the 15th day of the month following the month for which the allowance is paid.
The payment of allowance to the employee shall be made by transfer of funds:
– to a bank account (bank card account) of the employee specified in the statement
– through a postal organization
– through another organization at the request of an employee.
Please note: if an employee would like to receive insurance payments via bank cards, then from next year such allowances will be transferred by the SIF authorities exclusively to the Mir card.
Employees can issue such a card independently at a branch of a bank in Russia. The list of banks that issue and service Mir cards can be viewed on the official website of the National payment card system (NPCS). After the card is received, the employee provides the employer with its requisites. If an employee has issued a similar card before, he or she can use it by also providing its requisites to the employer.
If the employee is categorically against using the Mir card, then first of all it is necessary to explain that such a change is a requirement of the legislation and otherwise the allowances may just not be transferred. An exception will be the payment of temporary disability allowances owing to an employee’s sickness. The transfer of such a payment to the Mir card is advisory in nature and the need for its issuance should be clarified in the territorial body of the SIF.
Employers will be held liable for non-compliance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on statutory social insurance regarding direct payments. The scope of liability depends on the type of offense committed:
| Offence | Liability |
| Refusal or failure to submit documents and information necessary for control to the SIF bodies within the prescribed time limit | A fine of 200 rubles for each non-submitted document |
| Submission of documents or information not in full or in a distorted form, which resulted in excessively incurred expenses for the payment of insurance coverage. | A fine of 20 % of the amount of excessively incurred expenses, but not more than 5,000 rubles and not less than 1,000 rubles. |
| Violation of the term for submitting information required for the assignment and payment of allowances. | A fine of 5,000 rubles |
| Refusal or non-submission of documents within the prescribed time limit, as well as submission of documents and information with errors or not in full | For officers, a fine of 300 – 500 rubles (clause 4 of article 15.33 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation). |
In the matters of payment of social allowances, please contact Acsour experts.
