How can a woman entrepreneur go on maternity leave

All entrepreneurs have the right to receive financial support and social services, including the whole set of "maternity" payments for women. But the very procedure of their design, the formula of calculation is rather complicated, so on this issue it is necessary to dwell separately.

In order to receive hospital and maternity benefits from the Social Insurance Fund, it is sufficient for a female entrepreneur to pay a single social contribution in a timely manner and to have no debt. The FOP in relation to itself is both an insurer and an insured person. Therefore, the candidate will have to make two-in-one payments: on the one hand, to draw up the same documents as the hired employee, and on the other - a package of documents, which is issued by the employer. The whole procedure can be divided into several stages.

Step 1. Obtain a temporary disability sheet (maternity hospital leave)

After the 30th week of pregnancy, the doctor, on the account of which the woman is registered, must issue a decree (hospital) letter, which gives her the right to issue leave. Recall its duration is 126 calendar days (70 days before birth and 56 days after). In case of complications, the term is increased by another 70 days. The hospital letter itself is the main document upon which the whole procedure begins.

Step 2: Check that there are no arrears of ESAs, fines and penalties

It is imperative that you apply to the tax office of the FOP for verification of the payment of the ESA, taxes and to obtain a certificate of non-debt. To do this, you must write an application and submit it to the tax office. We recommend that you issue it in duplicate so that your date of filing and entry number remain on your list. If there is a debt, they will send you a letter stating it. Having received a waiver, it is necessary not only to repay all the debts in the shortest possible time, then to get a certificate on the absence of the debt. If available, the Fund will not consider the maternity payment documents. The certificate is issued within 5 days from the date of receipt of the application and is valid for 10 days. Help and application templates can be found in here.

Step 3. Open a special account

You need to open a special account to receive social payments at your bank. The ordinary current FOP account is not appropriate for these purposes. If such an account was previously opened and received funds from the Fund, no notification is required. Together with the following documents, the account opening notice will need to be submitted to the Social Insurance Fund and its details must be specified in the statement of calculation.

Step 4. To prepare the necessary documents

- a protocol on the appointment of maternity benefits, which will be issued by the social insurance commissioner at the Fund. It is drawn up in the same manner as for employees, and is signed by the entrepreneur, since in this case, in relation to himself, he acts as the insurer and the authorized person;
- statement-calculation, the form of which was approved by the resolution of the Board of the Social Insurance Fund dated July 19, 2018 No. 12. An explanation of its completion is provided on the Foundation's website (http://www.fssu.gov.ua). The form can be downloaded here. This document requires the deduction of maternity allowance;
- Obtain a certificate from the tax office in which the FOP is registered, on the payment of the ERUs or prepare copies of the receipts for the payment of the ERUs for the 12 months preceding the beginning of maternity leave;
- make a copy of the hospital (incapacity sheet) by filling in the back.

Step 5. Calculating the maternity leave

Unfortunately, calculating maternity leave is the most difficult stage in FOP. As the calculation requires understanding: what amount of income should be taken, and it depends on what tax system the entrepreneur applies and from what income the ESA is paid; which billing period will be used depends on the length of service of the entrepreneur.

Step 6. Submission of documents to the Social Insurance Fund

The list of documents referred to in Step 4 is submitted by the FOP to the Social Insurance Fund (FSL) at the place of registration. In addition, he must submit:
- copy of passport;
- a copy of the identification number;
- a copy of the employment record;
- a copy of an extract from the State Register, confirming the state registration of the FOP.
When submitting the above documents, you must have their originals. The Social Insurance Fund accepts the application and within 10 working days must transfer to the special account of the entrepreneur the amount of accrued maternity leave. By the way, you should know that you can file documents with the FSL and receive maternity leave not only before childbirth, but also within 12 months from the day the vacation ends.

If "decree" works

Unlike employees, an entrepreneur woman does not make any applications for maternity leave or leave. If a sole proprietor has written a tax return for a single tax exemption, but continues to work in the decree, the tax exemption will not give. But the payment from the sickness insurance fund will still be recalculated. If employees are employed and the FOP is in a decree and manages from home, the income received is generally recorded in the accounting and taxed depending on the tax system chosen.

Features of payment of the ESA

If the entrepreneur pays the ESI on the quarterly results and the maternity leave begins in one month, the ESU will have to pay separately for the months preceding the start of the maternity leave. There is no amount of declarative ERUs. Further, already on maternity leave, FOPs continue to pay the standard amount of ESIs, regardless of whether they are active or sitting at home with their children.

Changes in the calculation of the EP

Units of the first and second groups, which have no employees, may not pay the EP for the full months that the hospital has to pay. To do this, they must file a tax return in a free form and a copy of the medical certificate. For the months that are the beginning and the end of maternity hospital, they pay the single tax in full. If a single tax has already been paid, it will be credited to future payments. This does not apply to entrepreneurs who have hired workers. It does not matter whether they work or not, earn income or not. The third group members, whether they have employees or not, pay a single tax also in the same amount as the maternity leave.

Reporting

As for reporting, there are no changes in this matter either. There is no provision in the legislation that would exempt FOP-decrees from reporting in a timely manner. All reports, as well as the decree, are submitted in the usual terms. If it is not possible to file in tax form in person, it is possible to issue a digital signature and send it electronically.

Natalia Shcherbak, consultant of the Private Entrepreneur newspaper