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Publication date: 20.05.2024
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A case for personnel. Maternity benefit: how does its payment affect the insurance period?
SITUATION
Maternity allowance is paid in one month. How to calculate insurance experience?
DECISION
Paid leave in connection with pregnancy and childbirth is granted to working women on the basis of a certificate of incapacity for work issued by a medical institution.
Usually, the duration of such leave is 126 calendar days, of which 70 days are given before childbirth, 56 - after childbirth. If a woman had complications during childbirth or in the case of the birth of 2 or more children, an additional 14 calendar days of leave is granted. For women classified as 1-3 categories of persons who suffered as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, a leave of longer duration — 180 calendar days (90 — before childbirth, 90 — after) is granted.
The term of temporary incapacity for work due to pregnancy and childbirth ("from — to") is indicated in the form of incapacity for work issued by the medical institution. Accordingly, the employer can already determine the total number of calendar days of vacation.
Read also: Terms of consideration of leaves of incapacity for work for the appointment of assistance in connection with pregnancy and childbirth
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About the certificate of incapacity for work
In the Electronic register of sick leaves on the e-services web portal of the Pension Fund of Ukraine (hereinafter - PFU), such a sick leave sheet must receive the status "Ready for payment". Only after that, the employer can start calculating his payment and form an application-calculation for financing.
! The financing of maternity benefits is currently carried out by the PFU.Thus, the payment of maternity benefits is carried out immediately for all vacation days in the period closest to the day of the benefit appointment, established for the payment of wages at the enterprise, institution, or organization.
The procedure for calculating maternity benefits is carried out in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated September 26, 2001 No. 1266 "On calculating the average salary (income, financial support) for the calculation of payments under the mandatory state social insurance".
! Maternity allowance is 100% of a person's average daily wage.
Read also: Labor and social guarantees for pregnant women and workers with children: a reminder for the employer
About insurance experience
When calculating the average daily wage, it is necessary to follow the amount of the average daily wage (in our case, its minimum amount) and the amount of the accrued benefit for the month (in relation to the minimum wage; hereinafter - MZP), because it depends on this whether it is necessary to make an additional payment to basis of calculation of the single contribution on mandatory state social insurance (hereinafter referred to as SSI), which, in turn, affects the completeness of a person's insurance history.
Insurance length of service is the period (term) during which a person is subject to mandatory state pension insurance and for which monthly insurance premiums are paid in an amount not less than the minimum insurance premium.
Therefore, the time spent on leave in connection with pregnancy and childbirth is included in the insurance experience of a person, provided that he receives the appropriate benefit. In order for the insurance experience to be counted, a person needs to monitor the payment of the insurance premium separately for each month.
Social security (22%, and 8.41% for persons with disabilities) is paid by the employer in one sum at the same time as the maternity allowance in the month of the employee's leave due to pregnancy and childbirth.
In order to control the payment of the minimum insurance contribution, it is necessary to distribute the benefit by month. How to do this is described in subsection 2 of paragraph 2 of Chapter IV of the Instruction on the procedure for calculating and paying a single contribution to mandatory state social insurance, approved by Order No. 449 of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine dated April 20, 2015 (hereinafter, Instruction No. 449).
Read also: Is maternity benefit paid to a woman who is on leave to care for a child up to three years old?
Therefore, the average daily salary must be multiplied by the number of calendar days of each month for which it is calculated. Here, a situation may arise that the amount of maternity benefit per month will be less than the MZP established on the date of the insured event.Therefore, if, after the monthly distribution of the amount of pregnancy and childbirth benefits, such an amount for a full month is less than the amount of the MZP, the ESR is calculated as the product of the MZR, established by law for the month for which the specified amount is calculated, and the ESR rate of 22%.
Instruction No. 449
Subitem 2 of Item 2 of Chapter IV
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The calculation of a single contribution for persons who are on leave due to pregnancy and childbirth and receive assistance in connection with pregnancy and childbirth is carried out for each month separately as follows:
the average daily amount of assistance in connection with pregnancy and childbirth is determined by dividing the accrued amount of such assistance by the number of days for which it is accrued;
the amount of benefit in connection with pregnancy and childbirth, which falls on each month separately, is determined by multiplying the average daily amount of such benefit by the number of calendar days of each month for which it is calculated;
the amount of the single contribution for the employer is determined by multiplying the calculated amount of benefits in connection with pregnancy and childbirth for each month separately by the amount of the single contribution established by the Law for the specified category of payers (22 percent, 8.41 percent, 5.3 percent, 5, 5 percent).
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EXAMPLE
The minimum average daily wage from January 1, 2024 — UAH 233.25. Multiplying it, for example, by 29 calendar days of February, we get the amount of accrued assistance of UAH 6,764.25, which is less than the MZP (UAH 7,100). Therefore, the employer must make an additional payment to the Social Insurance Institution for the following month:
UAH 7100 – UAH 6764.25 = UAH 335.75;
UAH 335.75 · 22% = UAH 73.87.
Only then will this month be credited to such a person in full to his insurance experience.
Thus, it is necessary to monitor the observance of the minimum base of the EES for each month of the person's vacation.
We remind you that from April 1, 2024, the minimum wage will increase to UAH 8,000, so the minimum average daily wage will be UAH 262.81.
Read also: Early retirement: who has the right to it
If during the period of the employee's stay on leave due to pregnancy and childbirth, the MHP has changed and the amount of benefit for a month has become less than the minimum base, then the additional calculation of the ESU for such a month and all subsequent months of leave is carried out in accordance with the new amount of the MHP.
It should be noted that for persons with disabilities, it is not necessary to carry out any additions to the minimum base of the ECV.
EXAMPLE
The employee was granted maternity leave from October 16, 2023 to February 18, 2024 (126 calendar days). The employee works at the main place of work and is not a person with a disability.
According to the calculation for the previous 12 calendar months of work, the average daily wage is UAH 222.00.
Pregnancy and childbirth benefits in the amount of UAH 27,972.00 have been accrued, of which:
— October 2023: 16 days. · 222.00 = 3552.00;
— November 2023: 30 days. · 222.00 = 6660.00;
— December 2023: 31 days. · 222.00 = 6882.00;
— January 2024: 31 days · 222.00 = 6882.00;
— February 2024: 18 days · 222.00= 3996.00.
For 10 working days of October 2023, wages in the amount of UAH 3,664.56 were accrued.
Let's calculate the amount of the additional charge for the EUV, taking into account that the MZP in 2023 was UAH 6,700, and from January 1, 2024 it is UAH 7,100. Accordingly, the minimum social contribution for the year was UAH 1,474 (6,700 · 22%), and from January 1, 2024 — UAH 1,562.00 (7,100 · 22%).
work and receive wages or take unused annual leave and she will be credited with "vacation pay". Therefore, it is better to control the amount of her earnings in the month of the end of the leave due to pregnancy and childbirth (ie, in February 2024) and, if necessary, make an additional calculation of the EUV to the minimum insurance contribution.
It is also worth noting that tax officials in their consultation from category 201.04.01 of the section "Questions and answers from the Knowledge Base" of the ZIR (zir.tax.gov.ua) note: "In the event that the disability certificate expires within a month, where is the amount of temporary incapacity for work does not exceed the amount of the minimum wage established by law for the month for which the wage (income) is calculated, the amount of the ESS is calculated as the product of the amount of the minimum wage and the ESS rate of 22%".
Read also: A person who lacks several months of insurance experience can "buy it up"
Regarding the display of maternity benefits in the report from the EES
In Appendix D1 to the Tax Calculation of the amounts of income accrued (paid) for the benefit of taxpayers — natural persons, and the amounts of tax withheld from them, as well as the amounts of the accrued single contribution, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine dated January 13, 2015 No. 4 (hereinafter - Tax calculation), maternity allowance is displayed in the month of its accrual with the distribution of amounts by month. The number of calendar days is also set separately for each month of vacation.
The category code of the insured person is "42".
The amount of additional accruals to the EUS base is displayed as a separate line in column 09 of Appendix D1 of the Tax Calculation by accrual type "13".
