"Envelope" wages. Let's think about your future today!

State social insurance is a system of pensions, benefits, and other payments to citizens of the Republic of Belarus, foreign citizens, and stateless persons at the expense of the state non-budgetary fund for social protection of the population of the Republic of Belarus.

The right to state social insurance payments is acquired depending on the payment of state social insurance contributions to the budget of the state non-budgetary fund for social protection of the population of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the fund's budget).

State social insurance payments include:

- illness and temporary disability;

- pregnancy and childbirth;

- childbirth, childcare up to three years of age;

- disability;

- reaching retirement age;

- loss of a breadwinner;

- death of the insured person or a member of their family.

At the same time, the problem of wages being paid to employees "in envelopes" and not reflected in the accounting records of organizations remains relevant to this day. It is not uncommon for the actual wages of some employees of commercial organizations to be significantly higher than those reflected in accounting documents, with the difference being paid "in envelopes."

By paying wages "in envelopes," the heads of organizations effectively evade contributions to the fund's budget. However, it should be remembered that deceiving the state can sometimes be costly. By motivating an employee to agree to receive wages "in envelopes," the employer conceals the fact that the employee loses social protection. A citizen who agrees to work without a labor contract and, consequently, to receive wages "in envelopes," must understand that they are depriving themselves of the right to receive state social insurance payments.

It should also be noted that, in accordance with Article 51 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Pension Provision," periods of work, entrepreneurial, creative, and other activities are included in the work record for the accrual of an old-age labor pension, provided that mandatory insurance contributions were paid to the fund's budget during these periods in accordance with the legislation on state social security.

In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus of May 26, 2021, No. 112-Z "On Amendments to Codes on Criminal Liability," as of June 19, 2021, criminal liability for employers for evasion of accrual and payment of mandatory insurance contributions has been introduced by Article 243-3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus.

Criminal liability is provided exclusively for proven intentional actions related to the non-payment of mandatory insurance contributions to the fund's budget, provided that the amount of unpaid payments exceeds a large amount - 2.5 thousand base units (currently this amounts to 80.0 thousand rubles).

Officials of organizations that accrue mandatory insurance contributions on all payments to employees in accordance with the legislation, but do not transfer them to the fund's budget within the established deadlines, bear administrative responsibility under Art. 12.15 of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses.