What seems like a benefit today may turn into a loss tomorrow. It is no secret that employers, especially in non-state organisations, sometimes pay wages in two parts.

What seems like a benefit today may turn into a loss tomorrow.

It is no secret that employers, especially in non-state organisations, sometimes pay wages in two parts. The larger portion of the wage is unofficial ("in an envelope"), which the employer pays to the employee but does not document, and the smaller portion is official, from which state social insurance contributions are paid to the Social Protection Fund of the Population (hereinafter referred to as the Fund).

To motivate an employee to agree to "envelope" wages, the employer argues that they are looking out for the employee's interests: without tax payments, the wage amount paid to the employee in hand will be larger than the official one. However, the employer fails to mention that the employee loses social security.

Thus, the employer attempts to reduce labour costs, personal income tax, and contributions to the budget of the state extra-budgetary social protection fund of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the fund budget). However, such savings sometimes lead to the recovery from business entities of both the amounts of undercharged and underpaid taxes and contributions, as well as penalties for late payment.

This is a serious problem not only for the country's economy but also for every citizen receiving such "windfalls". Paying wages "in envelopes" is a violation of citizens' rights to benefits, pensions, and other social guarantees.

It is even worse when wages are paid entirely "in envelopes" and mandatory insurance contributions to the fund budget are not paid at all. Not every resident of our country, agreeing to "shadow" money, sees the other side of the coin. After all, when applying for a pension, employees will face difficulties:

- Firstly, periods of employment during which insurance contributions were not paid in accordance with the legislation on state social security will not be taken into account in the work record;

- Secondly, when calculating the pension amount, only those earnings from which mandatory insurance contributions have been paid will be taken into account. And, theoretically, the employee will only retain the right to recover damages from a dishonest employer through court proceedings.

Unofficially paid wages will also affect the amount of social benefits in case of health problems. The employee will not receive sick pay for temporary disability or for pregnancy and childbirth, or will only receive it based on the official actual wage.

Furthermore, in favour of legalising income, we will present some arguments related to the purchase of housing, cars, currency, payment for children's education, and other major expenses. After all, such transactions are under the control of the tax authorities, where a citizen will have to confirm their expenses by the availability of legal sources of income, i.e., the reconciliation of income and expenses and the reliability of the income and property information indicated in the declarations.

Thus, receiving a salary "in an envelope" negatively affects not only the budget of the fund from which pensions and benefits are paid, but also, first and foremost, the working citizen themselves.

The future of every employee is, above all, in their own hands! And it is up to them to decide whether to receive an official salary with personal income tax and mandatory insurance contributions to the fund's budget withheld, or to agree to the employer's condition of receiving a salary "in an envelope" and remain socially unprotected, depriving themselves of the right to receive social benefits and a decent pension for life.

Consequently, the citizen themselves should be primarily interested in the documentary оформление of labour relations.

A citizen who agrees to work without a labour contract and, accordingly, to receive wages without reflecting them in the employer's accounting records, must remember that they risk not receiving wages for the time worked, compensation for unused leave, the employer may dismiss the employee at any time, and in the future, such work will not be counted towards the length of service when assigning a pension.

In conclusion, we note that by working legally for an employer, a citizen receives social protection and a decent pension upon earned retirement.

In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus of May 26, 2021 No. 112-Z "On Amendments to Codes on Criminal Liability", the responsibility of employers for paying wages "in envelopes" has been increased in the Republic of Belarus, and since June 19, 2021, criminal liability has been introduced for evasion of payment of mandatory insurance contributions (Article 2433 of the Criminal Code), primarily related to the payment of wages "in envelopes". Criminal liability is provided exclusively for proven intentional actions related to the non-payment of mandatory insurance contributions, provided that the amount of unpaid payments exceeds a large size - 2.5 thousand basic units (currently - 72.5 thousand rubles).

As of today, 2 criminal cases have already been initiated on the grounds of paying wages "in envelopes" and incomplete payment of mandatory insurance contributions to