How is the maternity allowance (M&R) calculated? Once, every woman planning to experience the joys of motherhood has to deal with this issue. In 2018, a lump-sum payment to expectant mothers is provided for the period of preparation for the birth of a child and after his birth. Only those ladies who are socially insured and officially employed are entitled to receive maternity benefits. Unemployed women, with the exception of those recognized as such after the liquidation of the enterprise less than a year ago, are not eligible for payment.
General calculation procedure
Compared to previous years, the scheme for paying benefits has not fundamentally changed. The statutory amount is paid to mothers for the full period of B&B leave. This allowance plays the role of compensation, which is accrued to a woman for the fact that she will not be able to perform her duties and receive a salary according to the staffing table - from 30 weeks of gestation.
Calculating the maternity allowance is quite simple: the average daily wage is multiplied by the number of days of the antenatal and postnatal sick leave. In standard cases, a woman is paid 70 days before the preliminary date of delivery and 70 days after it.
In accordance with tax laws, a one-time maternity allowance is not taxed. No fees from these payments are withheld, nor is personal income tax (personal income tax) paid. The legal possibility of receiving benefits is guaranteed by a pregnant woman employed by federal laws, and the procedure and calculation conditions are regulated in a ministerial order published in 2009.
By the way, the right to 1 maternity allowance belongs not only to Russian women, but to foreign citizens who have a permanent residence permit in the Russian Federation. An important condition in this case is that a woman must be officially employed under an employment contract.
Who is entitled to such a payment
The Russian laws clearly spell out who can receive the benefit. The circle of persons applying for payment on BiR includes:
- pregnant women insured by the Social Insurance Fund in the event of temporary disability, working under a labor contract or employed as personnel of a military structure, state diplomatic mission in a foreign country;
- pregnant women who do not have official employment due to liquidation or reorganization of the enterprise, from which no more than 12 months have passed;
- ladies who are expecting the birth of a baby who have stopped attorney or notarial activity, individual entrepreneurship and who do not have the status of unemployed;
- members of the fairer sex, employees of the internal affairs bodies, customs, units of the Ministry of Emergencies under a fixed-term contract;
- students studying at the inpatient department in educational and scientific institutions of commercial and state ownership.
Can a spouse receive benefits?
Maternity benefits cannot be reimbursed for another person. Only the expectant mother can be the payee. If a woman studies, works for hire, or is a civil servant, money is paid at the place of primary employment.
Domestic legislation does not exclude the possibility of processing the majority of federal and regional payments by any other person, for example, a spouse. But when paying maternity leave, the benefit is solely for the mother, who actually carries and gives birth to a child. So, for example, only women are entitled to receive assistance from the state in the adoption of an infant younger than three months of age. If the baby’s mother does not work officially and the father is employed, he will also not be able to receive these payments.
Who should finance the payments
Before asking yourself how the maternity allowance is calculated, you first need to decide who to turn to for legally entitled money. As noted earlier, at the place of official employment (work, public service or study), a pregnant employee must contact the personnel inspector with a request for payment of maternity leave. In addition, the expectant mother must present a formalized antenatal hospital certificate.
As soon as the payment is made, the employer sends a report to the Social Insurance Fund on the payment of employee benefits for B&D, after which these funds are transferred in full by the Fund to the personal account of the employer. Thus, in fact, maternity benefits for women are paid from the Social Insurance Fund.
Even an employee dismissed less than a month ago has the right to apply for the payment to the employer. This rule also applies if:
- a woman was forced to move to another locality after her military husband;
- she has a disease confirmed by the MSEC Commission that makes it impossible to live or work in this region;
- the employee is forced to look after a disabled person of group I, which is her close relative.
If an employee is simultaneously registered with several employers and worked only with them during the previous two years, she will be able to receive payments at each job, but in cases where a woman has been employed in different places for the same period, she will be able to make payments for bi one of the current places, at your discretion.
How to get money directly from the FSS
It also happens that a pregnant and officially employed woman cannot receive the amount due to her by law. The employer refuses to transfer the maternity allowance due to the fact that, for example, a legal entity can go through the bankruptcy process, and therefore the company simply does not have money in the account. The same difficulties will arise for employees of the company whose accounts are seized or the new actual location is unknown. If the organization closed at the time a woman applied for benefits, there is only one way out - go to court.
So, if the employer for some reason does not pay maternity funds, the woman will have to file a lawsuit. For a decision to be made in favor of the plaintiff, it is extremely important for her to prove the impossibility of receiving benefits at the place of main employment. For a woman who is in the eighth month of pregnancy or has just given birth, it is quite difficult to take an active part in litigation. The law provided for this nuance, therefore, a claim can be filed no later than six months from the last for the postpartum sick leave.
If the court makes a positive decision, the baby’s mother will be able to apply for B&R benefits through the FSS. As soon as the court decision becomes legal, it is necessary to submit an application to the territorial administration of the Fund. Women living in the regions who take part in the trial project under the symbolic name “Direct Payments” can bypass the stage of court hearings.
When can I apply for and receive cash benefits?
The amount of payment is calculated for a certain period during which the woman will actually remain on the decree. How are maternity benefits calculated? A crucial point in this matter is the period after which a woman has the right to go on maternity leave and at the same time to receive money.
With a normal, healthy one-year pregnancy, expectant mothers leave for a prenatal hospital for a period of 30 weeks. Women who expect the birth of two or more babies go on maternity leave at 28 weeks, and mothers living in regions officially recognized as victims of the Chernobyl disaster or Mayak PA at 27 weeks. The right to an earlier maternity leave arises for women on the fact of preterm birth that occurred during the period from the 22nd to the 30th week.
Going on maternity leave, it is important not to forget about meeting deadlines. Maternity allowance can not be issued immediately, but, as already noted, six months after the end of the decree. If the deadline was missed for a valid and independent of the woman's reason, she will have to prove her right in court. The plaintiff will once again be given the opportunity to apply for benefits if the reason for missing the deadline was:
- natural disaster, fire;
- prolonged illness and stay in the walls of a medical institution for six months or more;
- forced change of residence;
- death of a family member.
The procedure for the appointment and processing of payments
So, where do you start with your maternity allowance? The FSS or the employer will be the last resort where a pregnant employee will have to go. Upon reaching the 30-week period, a woman should come to the antenatal clinic and receive a sick leave, which will indicate the preliminary date of birth and the terms of the decree. In addition to the sick leave, you need to get a certificate stating that the woman was registered in the ZhK at an early date. This document will entitle you to receive one more lump sum payment. And only when there is a certificate of incapacity for work and a certificate on hand, you can proceed to the next stage.
A woman must apply to the personnel department at the place of work, study or service to apply for maternity leave. Disabled mothers eligible for benefits must go to the Social Insurance Fund.
An application for the allocation of benefits is compiled simultaneously with maternity leave. A woman can go to the antenatal hospital on the same day that is indicated on the sick-list (from the 30th week of pregnancy) - this is what most employees do. To correctly calculate the maternity allowance, the first day of maternity leave is considered the first day of paid sick leave. However, those women whose well-being allows them to continue working right up to childbirth can continue to perform their duties. Then the unused part of maternity leave will disappear, but the allowance will be assigned from the date indicated on the disability certificate. Money is calculated from the day of actual departure, but this does not apply to employees who have premature birth - in this case, the payment is considered for the full period.
In general, funds are allocated for a standard 140-day sick leave. If the birth took place with complications and severe consequences for the health of the woman or her child, the sick leave is extended, and on its basis the payments are recounted. Missing funds are transferred to the employee’s account.
When the money for maternity leave will be credited to the account
Legislation clearly defines the period of consideration of an application for the payment of maternity benefits. The maximum term for the appointment and calculation of the amount is not more than ten days after the employee's request. Money will be credited to the account in the near future, as a rule, on the day on which the company usually accrues payroll. Those who apply for benefits through the FSS usually have to wait longer. And although the application is to be considered within 10 days, payment to the account will be received no earlier than in the month following the month of application submission. The payment is transferred to the pregnant woman’s bank account or sent by postal order.
How is the maternity allowance calculated?
If desired, each woman will be able to calculate how much approximately the funds will have to be transferred to her. When calculating the maternity allowance, the FSS is based on the average daily wage of the applicant, therefore it is impossible to name the universal amount of this payment. The salary of the employee is taken into account, which was paid to her every month for the two years preceding maternity leave. So, for example, in 2018, the data for 2016-17 are taken for the calculation base.
To calculate the exact amount, there is a special formula that is used by accountants of all organizations and enterprises. The allowance is equal to the average daily income for the previous 24 months, multiplied by the sum of the days of the antenatal and postnatal sick days. To determine the average salary for one working day, all earnings for the estimated two-year period are divided by 730 or 731. Therefore, the result should be multiplied by:
- 140 (70 + 70) - if the pregnancy is singleton and proceeds normally;
- 156 (70 days before childbirth and 86 after childbirth) - if the employee provides a certificate confirming birth complications;
- 194 (84 days before birth and 110 after) with multiple pregnancy.
This amount will be the total. The peculiarity of calculating benefits is not only the woman’s right to apply for payment simultaneously to two employers who have been registered as an employee over the past 24 months, but also the opportunity to indicate other years of the calculation period, if from the previous two years she was in parental leave. When adopting a newborn, the allowance is paid to the foster mother on the 70th subsequent date of adoption of the days, and when adopting twins - by 110.
The size of the maximum and minimum payments
There are certain frameworks in which the size of the accrued allowance should be. In 2018, for employed women, the minimum maternity benefit is 43,675.80 rubles. The amount is calculated based on the established lower threshold for average daily earnings - 311.96 rubles. Similarly, you can determine the minimum amount of the maternity allowance for women awaiting the birth of twins - this amount will be 60 521, 62 rubles.
A restriction also exists for recipients of large wages. The largest daily salary for calculating benefits is the amount of 2017.80 rubles. What maternity allowance can a woman receive if her daily salary is higher than this? In ordinary uncomplicated labor, the amount will be 282,493.15 rubles.
List of main documents
The first thing that a worker who plans to go on maternity leave will need is a sick leave received at the antenatal clinic and signed by the manager. With this certificate of incapacity for work, you need to go directly to the personnel department of the enterprise where she is employed. In a personal case, a B&R leave is issued along with maternity allowance, but the employee will have to write two applications - for leave (in the standard situation of 140 days) and for receiving maternity benefits. The minimum amount of payment may be accrued if a woman has worked in this enterprise for less than six months.
In addition to applications and a sick leave, it is also required:
- income statement in the form 182n - it is presented at the time of drawing up the allowance and is provided at the main place of work;
- documentary evidence that the woman did not receive benefits at the place of registration;
- notarized extract from the work book;
- a certificate from the employment center on the recognition of a pregnant woman as officially unemployed (instead of her, you can provide information about the closure of the IP, the termination of advocacy or notarial activity) is required for presentation to the Social Insurance Fund, if the reason for dismissal was the liquidation of the enterprise.
The FSS territorial representation must be contacted with the original passport. The applicant must take into account that in case of a recent change of surname, the passport must contain updated information. Otherwise, documents for the payment of benefits will not be accepted.
There are no standard forms for the preparation of the application, but its general structure looks like this:
- the name of the company in which the pregnant employee works, or the FSS department;
- surname and initials of the head making the decision on the assignment of benefits;
- last name, first name and patronymic of the applicant in accordance with the passport;
- passport data (series, document number, issuing authority, date of issue);
- information about the place of registration and actual residence;
- the contents of the application requesting maternity leave and accrual of funds;
- Date of the first and last day of sick leave;
- ( );
- , .
. . , , . , . , .
With the execution of the order, as a rule, there are no problems, since the accounting department of any organization knows how to draw it up correctly. A copy of this document is handed over to the employee, and on the main copy she must put her signature on familiarization with the decision.
What other benefits are supposed to be pregnant in the regions of the Russian Federation
In some regions of Russia, in addition to the basic maternity allowance, municipalities provide additional payments. Funds are allocated from local budgets on various conditions. For example, in Chuvashia, financial assistance in connection with pregnancy and childbirth can only be received by unemployed women, graduates of educational institutions and people with disabilities. The amount of the Chuvash benefit is very modest - a woman is charged about 326 rubles. for each month of gestation, starting from 12 weeks.
For future mothers who have an income below the subsistence level, the regional authorities of the Volgograd region allocate a monthly allowance of 500 rubles. Poor categories of the population are also taken care of in other constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Local surcharges with the wording “for food” from the regional budget are carried out in Tomsk, Penza, Ulyanovsk regions. The amount of monthly benefits for pregnant women varies between 300-600 rubles.
In addition to municipalities, on their own initiative, the employer can establish a surcharge for a pregnant employee. However, in this case, the allowance will be taxed on the income of individuals, so most entrepreneurs make this payment in accounting as material assistance. The payment on the initiative of the employer should not exceed 50 thousand rubles.
Completion
Payment in connection with pregnancy and childbirth is due to employed women, civil servants, as well as female students, graduate students who receive full-time education. The contributions to the Social Insurance Fund are deducted from the income of these women, which means that they have every right to take advantage of assistance in case of temporary disability. The allowance is issued simultaneously with maternity leave at the place of main employment. Women dismissed from the company due to its liquidation should apply for a payment to the FSS territorial department.