How to pay dividends?

Dividends are the profit of an organization that canbe divided (shared) between shareholders or participants in the company. In order to pay dividends, an enterprise must be profitable, while having net assets exceeding the statutory or reserve capital. The founders of joint-stock companies pay dividends on shares, and the participants of LLCs - in proportion to the shares in the authorized capital.

How to pay dividends if the company has signs of insolvency (bankruptcy) or prerequisites for their early appearance? In this case, payment of dividends will be considered illegal.

There are two forms of dividend payment: monetary and natural. Money is paid in cash or in a non-cash way. The natural form of payment of dividends assumes receipt by the participants of the company of any other property of a legal entity. To participants-legal persons basically the dividends are paid by transfer to the bank account.

Terms of dividend payment

The Articles of Association must define what isdividends, how to pay them. It is common to pay dividends on the results of the work for the year, but interim payments for the quarter, six months, nine months can be made. In this case, at the initiative of the head or by decision of the board of directors, an extraordinary meeting of the founders is convened, at which the question of dividend payment and the amount of net profit to be distributed is decided. The minutes of the general meeting of the founders and the order on the distribution of net profit are drawn up.

Dividends to the sole founder

The sole founder independently acceptsdecision on the amount of net profit to be distributed on dividends, how to pay them, in what terms. This decision shall be executed in writing in the proper order. In other respects, the payment procedure does not differ from the usual procedure when there are several founders.

Dividends with simplified taxation

Organization and individual entrepreneurswork on the simplified taxation system, the legislator did not have to keep accounting in a general form, but without determining the amount of net profit and calculating the volume of net assets, it is impossible to determine the dividends, how to pay them. If a company or an individual entrepreneur has decided to pay dividends, then they are required to keep accounting in a general form in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Dividends and taxes

If an entity pays dividends by physicalpersons, it automatically becomes a tax agent for personal income tax. When dividends are paid, the tax agent deducts the amount of income tax and transfers it to the budget. The amount of tax is calculated for each payment separately for each person. At the same time, the individual's income for standard tax deductions is not reduced to calculate the tax.

For each payment of dividends, a certificate is prepared2-NDFL, which must be submitted to the tax authorities before April 1 of the year following the reporting year. The amount of dividends is not subject to a single social tax, the amount of dividends can not be accrued from insurance contributions from accidents at work and pension deductions are not withheld.