The tax legislation of the Russian Federation provides citizens with a significant privilege: the annual return of a portion of the personal income tax paid as expenses for the purchase of housing. This phenomenon is often referred to as a “property tax deduction”.
This kind of privilege has been granted to Russians for many years, but discussions related to the nuances still do not cease. return personal income tax. Very many citizens of the Russian Federation do not have reliable information that allows them to file an application for a property tax deduction without errors, despite the rather strict regulation of this procedure. There is no unequivocal understanding of what amount of payments people are entitled to expect.
Part of the controversy is due to the fact that the legislation governing tax deductions quite often, as experts say, changes. But there are other reasons for the difference in points of view on issues that reflect the interaction of citizens and the Federal Tax Service. How to get property tax deduction in full accordance with the law?
How many times can I deduct?
This issue is among the discussions. And this is not at all surprising. That's why.
Until January 1, 2014, the legislation of the Russian Federation contained a strict rule: a citizen can apply for a property tax deduction only once. The basis for receiving payments could be a transaction only on a single property, regardless of its value.
Since January 1, the rules have changed. Now, a citizen of the Russian Federation can file any number of deduction statements reflecting transactions for any number of real estate objects, but only until the moment when the total amount of expenditure bases does not reach 2 million rubles.
It would seem that everything is clear. But discussions continue. The fact is that each of these rules contains a number of additional explanations. Amendments to the law that entered into force on January 1 are not retroactive, that is, if a person bought real estate before amendments to legal acts and had already submitted an application for deduction, then the rules in the previous edition apply to his transactions. The situation will be completely similar if a citizen purchased an apartment before January 1, 2014, but decided to submit a deduction application after the amendments to the law were made.
An important point: the legislation prescribes to maintain a "benchmark" in the acquisition of housing not from the moment the transaction is completed, but from the date of receipt of the certificate of ownership.
How much will they pay?
One of the most common questions asked by Russians when making out payments to compensate for personal income tax: "What is the amount that citizens are entitled to expect to receive?"
According to the wording laid down in the Tax Code, a property deduction can be paid on the basis of various correlations with figures of the form of 2 million rubles, as well as 3. There is a completely erroneous opinion: this is the amount that a citizen has the right to expect when contacting the Federal Tax Service. Of course, the fact that such a point of view was formed in the midst of a simple layman is partly guilty, as many experts believe, and the legislator himself, who introduces formulations that are quite confusing and not always clear to the average citizen.
2 million rubles - this is the maximum amount of the expenditure base (the amount of funds spent by a citizen on the purchase of an apartment), based on which the final financial tranches to be transferred from the accounts of the tax inspection in favor of the applicants are calculated.
The owner of the property is entitled to rely only on 13% of this amount, that is, 260 thousand rubles.
The figure of 3 million appeared relatively recently - in January 2014. We have already talked about the amendments made to the Tax Code (property deduction in all its nuances is regulated by this legislative act). We said that innovations should be interpreted based on the date of a real estate transaction. Therefore, you need to take into account the figure of 3 million only if the apartment was purchased upon the introduction of amendments to the Tax Code.
3 million is the maximum size of the mortgage interest payment base (a citizen’s expenses for servicing a loan issued by a bank for the purchase of housing). The owner of the property (the one who issued the loan) has the right to calculate, respectively, 13% of this amount, that is, 390 thousand rubles.
How was it before amendments to the law? The value of the mortgage payment base was unlimited. Therefore, if a person is looking for a plus in the fact that he made a deduction before amendments to the law, then only in that he will be able to get the maximum return on interest to the bank. If he, of course, used a mortgage.
How to calculate the exact figures for property deduction? Let's look at some very simple examples.
Citizen Sidorov bought an apartment in Kolomna near Moscow for 2 million 500 thousand rubles. and is going to use the legal right to receive a deduction. His personal expenses for the purchase of housing amounted to 1 million. He took another half from the bank as part of the mortgage program.
The expenditure base for the purchase of an apartment by citizen Sidorov is 1 million. It does not exceed the statutory value of 2 million. Therefore, the property owner is entitled to return, based on the costs incurred, 13% of 1 million, that is 130 thousand rubles.
To determine the size of the mortgage payment base, drawn up for a citizen Sidorov, we look at the contents of the loan agreement with the bank.
The conditions in it are as follows: 10% per annum, loan term - 30 years. That is, taking a loan of 1.5 million, Sidorov will have to give the bank the same amount plus interest - about 3 million 200 thousand rubles.
The last figure will be the size of the mortgage base. It is more than 3 million established by law. Therefore, the maximum that citizen Sidorov can count on is 13% of the legislative limit, that is, 390 thousand rubles.
With how to calculate the size of the property tax deduction, we decided. We pass to other nuances.
Law and payment
Consider a number of examples that will help us understand the basis of which “formulas” determine the right to receive a property tax deduction and its specific value in accordance with changes in the law that entered into force in 2014.
If a person purchased housing in 2012 for 1.5 million rubles, and in 2013 he applied for a deduction, then, in accordance with the norms of the law then in force, he has the right to receive 13% of the expenditure base, i.e. 195 thousand rubles Despite the fact that the expenditure base is far from the maximum according to the law (another 500 thousand rubles remain), one can no longer expect to receive the balance, even if you buy one or more real estate in 2014 or later.
If in the same 2012 year, an apartment was bought for 1 million rubles, and at the same time, an application for a tax deduction for this property was never submitted, then there is no need to rush it now. Even despite the fact that from January 1, 2014 the new rules of the law became relevant, the maximum that can be expected from a transaction made 2 years ago is 13% of the expense base for that apartment, that is, 130 thousand rubles. Even if you buy real estate in 2014 or later, you will no longer be able to get a second deduction right. What can be done in this case? Wait for new real estate transactions in order to get full 260 thousand rubles from them.
Is it possible to get the entire deduction at once?
Theoretically, yes. But, as we said above, in the practice of the Russian tax inspectorates, the standard time interval in which all tax transactions go is a year.Therefore, in order to expect to receive a property tax deduction in an amount equal to the maximum that the law gives, a citizen must have a large salary. Sufficient for personal income tax in the amount of 13% transferred from it to exceed or be equal to 260 thousand rubles. (for the main expense base). It is easy to calculate that the required size of the annual "pay" in this case is 2 million rubles. (or about 167 thousand rubles per month). But this applies only to the main spending base.
If we are talking about the return of personal income tax at the expense of interest paid by the bank, then you can only receive the amount that is calculated based on actual payments to the credit and financial institution during the year. That is, if a citizen took 1.5 million rubles from the bank. at 10% per annum for 30 years, then subject to annuity (uniform) payments, he will pay the bank about 13.5 thousand rubles. monthly, or about 162 thousand rubles. in year. Immediately get 390 thousand impossible. Only 13% of the amount actually paid is actually returned, that is, about 21 thousand rubles. This is logical: it is quite possible that the citizen will repay the mortgage ahead of schedule, while the amount of interest payments to the bank may not reach 390 thousand rubles.
Three-year payroll
There is, however, one caveat. The fact is that Russian legislation allows you to summarize the income earned over several years - in the interval between the moment of buying a home and filing an application for a property tax deduction. But no more than three. That is, for example, if an apartment was purchased in 2010, and an application for deduction was filed in 2014, then it is possible to record income for 2013, 2012 and 2011. And in this case, it is much more realistic to get the amount of payments close to the maximum established by law. Of course, the amount of actual interest payments to the bank (if it was a mortgage) for three years will also be significantly higher, and it will be possible to return more.
Deduction Documents
This nuance, in turn, is accompanied by a relatively low intensity of discussions, since the list of documents is fairly standard. In order to apply for a deduction, you must provide to the tax office:
- contract of sale;
- tax return (form 3-NDFL);
- certificate type 2-NDFL (it reflects the size of the salary);
- an application in the prescribed form (where the details of the bank account will also be indicated, where to transfer the deduction).
Recently, an application for deduction can be filed electronically through the Gosuslugi.ru portal. However, experts say that this mechanism is far from perfect: in a virtual form, only a statement is accepted. Other documents must be brought offline.
When to apply for a deduction?
This can be done on any day of the year following the time when the apartment was purchased (or a previous application has been submitted). It is believed that this should be done only after April 30th. Not at all. You can apply at least immediately after the January holidays. April 30 is the date by which declarations of the type 3-NDFL are required to be submitted to the tax. It exists, rather, as a guideline for employers who, by law, need to provide such securities to the Federal Tax Service annually.
It is also worth noting that if for some reason the department did not have a properly executed tax return before April 30, it will not be possible to receive a property deduction. This case, of course, is very rare, but, as lawyers note, it sometimes occurs. It is mainly associated with errors made by the accounting department, less often with deficiencies in the employees of the department. But, as experts say, the Federal Tax Service, as a rule, makes it possible to quickly replace the 3-NDFL form with the correct one.
How long to wait for payments?
The maximum period during which the department of the Federal Tax Service is obliged to study the documents submitted by the citizen for the tax deduction and pay it to the bank account specified in the application is 90 days.If there are errors in the papers provided by a person, the tax authority is obliged to notify about this within 5 days from the date of receipt of the application.
Deduction and shared ownership
Appeal to the wording of Art. 220 "Property tax deductions", which is available in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, will allow us to answer another debatable question. It sounds like this: "How to" divide "the payment of personal income tax if the apartment is registered for several people in joint or shared ownership?" Do “doleviks” have a right to a property tax deduction at all?
On the second question, the answer is clear: yes. It does not matter whether a person owns real estate individually or with someone else. The answer to the first question depends on what form of ownership is involved. Joint and shared ownership are not the same thing. In the first case, the apartment does not have a percentage “delimitation”. In the second, each person has a de jure share calculated in a specific figure.
If the apartment is jointly owned, then the expenditure base is determined as a percentage of the transaction amount, the specific value of which is determined by the property owners, having agreed among themselves. And if you can’t find a compromise, then through the court. Providing a property tax deduction is a question where significant figures sometimes appear, and not always the property owners manage to agree. In the case of "dividing" the expenditure base for the costs of an apartment in accordance with the rules relevant for joint ownership, the documents submitted to the Federal Tax Service also include an application for voluntary redistribution of shares, signed by all property owners.
If it comes to the second option, the percentage is calculated based on the actual share in the ownership of the apartment. For example, if real estate was bought for 3 million, and one of the owners owns 40%, then he has the right to receive a payment calculated on the basis of 1 million 200 thousand.
Sold the apartment - will there be a deduction?
Another popular subject for discussion: is there a property tax deduction for the sale of real estate? Yes, it is, but it is a completely different form of relationship with the Federal Tax Service. Just a similar name. The property tax deduction of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation that regulates this format contains the norms according to which the seller of real estate has the right to rely on benefits when paying personal income tax on income from the sale of property. There are specific conditions, numbers that reflect this kind of preference.
The first option to deduct from the sale is to reduce the revenue base by the amount prescribed by law. Now it is 1 million rubles. A simple example. If the apartment was sold for 3 million rubles, then it is necessary by default to pay the state upon the transaction 13% of the proceeds, that is, 390 thousand rubles. But it is possible to use the property tax guarantee of 1 million guaranteed by the Tax Code. That is, 13% of 2 million will already have to be paid. This is much less - 260 thousand rubles.
The second option for obtaining a deduction is possible if you can prove to the tax that the apartment was bought, say, for 2.5 million rubles. (through an agreement with the seller, banking documents, etc.). In this case, it is possible to reduce the base of payments not by 1 million, but by all 2.5.
