Civil law contracts between employers and the self-employed may be recognized as employment contracts if the tax authorities identify cases where the self-employed actually work not for themselves but for an employer.

In this case, the employer minimizes obligations to pay insurance contributions and does not perform the duties of a tax agent for withholding and remitting personal income tax.

If an employer is found guilty of substituting labor relations, he faces the following fines (Article 5.27 of the CAO RF):

  • 50,000 to 100,000 rubles for organizations;
  • from 10,000 to 20,000 rubles for officials;
  • from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles for IEs.

The organization will also be obliged to pay personal income tax and insurance contributions for the entire term of the contract.

The following indicators are attributed to the systemic risks of organizations:

  • Duration of work – the employer’s use of the self-employed’s labor for three or more consecutive months indicates that the taxpayer is interested in a continuous labor process;
  • Sole source of income, salary characteristics and frequency of payments – the self-employed person receives regular payments in a fixed amount and only from the employer;
  • Mass enrollment and mass registration of income – these indicators indicate that the employer organizes the registration procedure for employees as NAPs. The registration process uses one e-mail address for all employees and one technical means for generating checks;
  • Presence of group transitions – transition of workers from one company to another, but already as self-employed;
  • Direct violations – means violation of a direct provision of the law: the prohibition on the provision of services by NAP payers to former (less than two years) employers.

If such actions are detected, the tax authority will inform the organization, suggesting that it voluntarily clarify its tax obligations by submitting the relevant tax declarations, which will avoid negative consequences in the form of additional personal income tax and insurance contributions, as well as penalties and fines. Otherwise, an audit may be organized in respect of the organization, which will be conducted by tax inspectors, including jointly with the labor inspectorate.

The Federal Tax Service will transmit information on organizations and IEs which work with the self-employed to the labour commission if all three of the following conditions are met in the aggregate:

  • an organization or IE cooperates with 10 or more self-employed persons;
  • the average monthly income from the organization for each self-employed person exceeds 20,000 rubles;
  • the average duration of a physical person’s work with an organization is at least three months.

From January 1, 2025, Rostrud has introduced a register of “unscrupulous” employers. The register includes companies and sole proprietorships that pay employees wages below the minimum wage and substitute employment relations with self-employed persons by means of a contractual agreement. Information contained in the register must be posted on the official website of the Federal Service for Labor and Employment.

Memo on working with the self-employed:

  1. Periodically check the status of the NAP payer on the FTS website (https://npd.nalog.ru/check-status/);
  2. Check if there is a contract with the self-employed, acts;
  3. After each payment, it is important to receive a check from the self-employed (generated in the “My Tax” application).

When concluding GPH contracts with the self-employed, it is necessary to comply with the legal requirements:

  • Companies and IEs may not enter into contracts for the performance of work and the provision of services with the self-employed if they are: employees of the client organization; former employees of the client organization and their employment contract was terminated less than 2 years ago.
  • The self-employed may not: conduct business activities in the interests of a third party on the basis of an assignment or commission agreement or an agency agreement; resell goods or property rights; deliver goods and accept or transfer payments for them in the interests of a third party; conduct activities under a simple partnership agreement (joint activity agreement) or property trust management agreement; be an arbitration administrator, mediator, appraiser, notary or lawyer.