Federal Law No. 256-FZ of 2006 approved additional measures regarding the provision of state assistance to families with two or more children. Married couples in which the second, third and subsequent children were born, from the beginning of 2007 have the right to rely on state assistance. Additional state support for families, providing for the receipt of maternal (family) capital, is implemented one-time and exclusively for the purposes provided by law.
After the latest changes in family law, the President of the Russian Federation extended this program until 2021. In this regard, many families have a question: will maternity capital be indexed in 2018? Since before that, the amount of the certificate for a long time remained unchanged.
Conditions for the emergence of law
Based on Art. 3 of the Federal Law, the number of persons entitled to receive a certificate includes:
- a mother who has given birth or adopts a second, third and subsequent children from the moment the Federal Law is enacted;
- a mother who has given birth or adopts a second, third, and subsequent children from the beginning of the law, if before that she had not exercised her right to receive additional state support;
- a father who is the sole adoptive parent of the second, third and subsequent children, if before that he had not participated in the realization of the right to additional state support.
For these categories of citizens, the question of whether maternity capital is indexed will be relevant today. Parents who are deprived of their rights in court are not able to use the right to receive state support.
Law Transfer Terms
According to the current legislation, the right to additional state support is exercised by the father of the children (or their official adoptive parents) if there are the following reasons:
- death of mother;
- deprivation of parental rights;
- recognition by a court decision of the mother of the children dead or missing;
- mother's criminal acts against her children;
- the cancellation of the adoption of a child on the basis of a court decision.
In exceptional cases, the right to implement additional support measures arises for the child, if such a right is terminated by the mother for the reasons listed above and has not passed to the father due to the lack of grounds provided by law.
Distribution of family capital funds
The funds received in accordance with the requirements of the same law can be directed to the following needs of the family:
- Solving housing problems.
- Payment for the educational process of the child.
- Transfer of funds on account of the funded part of the future pension of mom.
- Spending on the needs of a disabled child.
- Transfer of capital to monthly payments.
It is also worth noting that after the latest changes that came into force in January of this year, the list of possible options for using the funds under this program has been expanded. Therefore, it is so important for many to know whether maternity capital will be indexed in 2018. In addition, the legislation allows you to distribute funds according to the certificate simultaneously in several areas permitted by law.
Indexation of family capital
The amount of one-time material support to families established by federal law is 250,000 rubles. However, on the basis of paragraph 2 of Art.6 of the Federal Law, the amount determined for payment is subject to annual review, taking into account the growth of the inflation index. As of the beginning of 2018, the amount under the family certificate amounted to 453,026 rubles and so far remains unchanged. Whether maternity capital is indexed in 2018 is still unknown. The amount is annually approved by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
Periodic indexation of the approved amount of capital allows you to bring the amount allocated to the family in accordance with the level of inflation in the country. The table below provides data for each year of the family support program.
Indexing the certificate received on hand
The mere fact of issuing the document to the recipient does not mean the immediate use of funds allocated by the state. It is for this reason that many families are in no hurry with the distribution of the allocated amount, expecting an increase in the amount of certificate payments. Is this position justified, and is maternity capital indexed after receipt?
In fact, the state support funds laid down by the budget are transferred from the moment the recipient applies for a certificate. In the period of time when the family decides to use the means of family capital, its value can be much larger than indicated in the document when handing it out. Therefore, those who are interested in whether maternity capital is indexed, after receiving the certificate, can count on the amount valid for the period of application to the PFRF for the use of funds.
State support is implemented in accordance with the value approved at the time of use of the certificate. Thus, if the child’s parents decided to direct the allocated funds to the chosen goals, then, for example, after a three-year period of time after the document is completed, the amount of capital will be equal to the amount set for the current year.
You can clarify the amount to be distributed at a specific point in time by directly contacting the PFRF branch at the place of registration of the recipient of the certificate or through the Internet resource (official website of the department).
Balance Indexing
Partial use of funds allocated by the state does not deprive the family of the right to use the remaining amount of state support for this program, even if the residual amount is insignificant. In this case, a reasonable question arises: are the residual maternal capital indexed? Indeed, for some families, the remaining amount lies for years.
The opinion of parents that indexing the remaining amount of funds and recalculating the full amount of capital are similar concepts is wrong. Only that part of family capital that is fixed as a balance will be indexed. Information about the current state of the account is contained in the database of the Pension Fund and is provided upon request of the certificate holder. Thus, the balance is indexed proportionally taking into account the inflation index for the current year.
You can calculate the amount of the balance in the presence of specific skills yourself. However, if you are not strong in mathematics and economics, it is preferable to contact a specialist in the FIU, indicating in the application a request to provide information on the state of the account of the recipient of state support, as well as request information about the allocation.
Those who are interested in the question of whether the received maternity capital, or rather its remainder, are indexed, should understand that the amount received and used is not subject to recalculation. They will only recount the amount remaining in the account in accordance with the rules established by law until the recipient decides to use these funds.
Certificate issuance
To obtain a certificate on hand, you must contact the appropriate department of the Pension Fund with the following documents:
- passport and its copy;
- statement of the established form;
- SNILS;
- birth certificate or adoption of children;
- a document confirming the citizenship of the Russian Federation for the born (adopted) child, if the parent is not a citizen of the Russian Federation.
To consider the application, sufficient copies of documents are available, the originals are provided only for comparison and are not withdrawn by the authorized body. After confirming the information provided, the certificate is handed to the recipient in person or sent by post.
Period of exercise of law
Regardless of how much time has passed since the birth of previous children, the right to receive capital arises from the moment of birth or adoption. Disbursement of the allocated funds is allowed after the child reaches the age of three, except in cases of distribution of capital for the needs associated with the acquisition of housing at the expense of mortgage loans. In such cases, the direction of the amount allocated under the certificate is allowed immediately after the paperwork. For example, if the allocated amount or part of it is planned to be directed to:
- payment of an initial installment on a mortgage loan;
- payment of interest or the amount of the principal debt on a previously issued loan.
According to statistics, a large number of families use the funds just for the implementation of debt obligations for the purchase of housing. The rest of the recipients who did not use state support immediately wonder whether maternity capital is indexed after receiving the certificate.
Prospects for the implementation of the program
Currently, the program for providing additional assistance to families is valid until the end of 2021. Consequently, families in which a child is born or will be adopted in the current year have the right to receive a certificate. The value of the certificate as of the beginning of 2018 remains within the previously approved limits, i.e. 453,026 rubles. Those who are interested in whether maternity capital is indexed should know that, according to the head of the Pension Fund, recalculation of the established amount is not planned until 2020.
Such a decision is connected with the difficult economic situation in the country, as a result of which the federal budget lacks the necessary funds for implementing social programs. Thus, according to the current legislation, all previously allocated funds, as well as the amounts on the balance, must be indexed. Only those amounts of family capital that are already directed to the needs of certificate holders are not subject to indexation.
It is hard to say how long this program will last. The final provisions of the federal law provide for the duration of the program for additional support to families until the end of 2021, therefore, the right to allocate funds from family capital is available to families in which the second, third and subsequent children will be born or adopted until December 31 of the year specified in the law. To date, the issue of extending the period providing the opportunity to use additional support measures for families has not been finally resolved. Among the possible options, the following was also considered: a change in the procedure for allocating funds to certificate holders in the form of fixed annual payments until the child reaches the age of majority, and that child, after the birth (adoption) of which the family acquired the right to receive assistance from the state.
Was regional maternity capital indexed
In a number of regions of our country, local support is provided to families. As a rule, payments from the budget of the subject are made for the birth of a third and subsequent children. Regional capital may be issued in the form of:
- cash amount
- alternative care.
Anyone who is interested in whether maternity capital is indexed locally should understand that such support is rarely recalculated. Most often, the amount of assistance remains stable for the entire duration of the program.
Conclusion
For most of the young families in our country, the implementation of the state support program opens up new opportunities for not only improving the living conditions of the family, but also the quality of life of children. Not surprisingly, the question of whether maternity capital is indexed is so relevant for most families. At the moment, we can say that theoretically recalculation of both the entire amount and the balance can be made. But according to the government, until 2020 the amount of federal state support has been frozen and will remain unchanged.