Russian law provides citizens of the Russian Federation with the opportunity to significantly reduce the burden of mortgages or to reduce the actual costs of buying an apartment through a completely formal mechanism for obtaining appropriate compensation. What is their nature? What are the ways to arrange such privileges?
The essence of compensation
Many citizens of the Russian Federation are wondering: "How to get compensation for the purchase of an apartment, which seems to be guaranteed by law?" Moreover, many Russians are not even aware of what this phenomenon is and what its nature is. We fix a key point: compensation after buying an apartment is generally possible only in the form of a tax deduction, which, of course, in form as a whole corresponds to the meaning of the term in question.
The fact is that a person receives money from the state in real terms, and this is possible only because he has acquired real estate. Yes, it’s actually compensation. However, from the point of view of the conceptual apparatus, it is not quite correct to call it that way, since another term is fixed in the legislation - property deduction when buying an apartment.
Of course, in the schemes of interaction of citizens with the state, as well as with municipalities, other compensations may be provided, one way or another connected with the acquisition of housing.
For example, this may be due to the reimbursement of part of the cost of buying an apartment due to the citizen's belonging to a certain social category.
And in this case, those Russians whose status meets the official criteria can actively resolve the issue of how to receive compensation for the purchase of an apartment in the manner of social support. Such a mechanism of interaction between a citizen and the state, as a rule, does not have any relation to taxes.
However, the most typical scenario is still associated with the interaction of citizens of the Russian Federation and the Federal Tax Service. The variability of the legislation, as well as the presence of several options for interaction with the tax authorities at once determine a number of ambiguous nuances characteristic of procedures for processing deductions for the purchase of housing. We will study them.
Right to deduction
Right to tax deduction when buying an apartment are Russians who bought property at their own expense, including with a mortgage. The corresponding type of payment is made by the Federal Tax Service. The fact is that the size of the deduction directly depends on the value of personal income tax on salaries and other income of a citizen. Right to property deduction when buying an apartment are Russians who are residents of the Russian Federation. The fact is that citizens with a different status pay fees to the Federal Tax Service at a different rate, and can’t expect to receive the corresponding payments.
Legislation Variability
The legislation regulating how the tax deduction is paid when buying an apartment changes quite regularly, as noted by Russian lawyers. So, in particular, in 2014, many of the existing legal norms were changed. This influenced the determination of the right to a tax deduction for certain categories of citizens.
So, for example, the Russians, who first applied to the Federal Tax Service for a tax deduction before 2014, can expect to reimburse part of the cost of buying only one apartment. In turn, if they made the appropriate payment after January 1, 2014, then the deduction calculation is possible from any number of real estate objects.It does not matter when the apartment is bought. The key criterion is the first appeal minus the Federal Tax Service.
This circumstance did not affect quite positively the citizens who bought housing and paid the amount with which the deduction amounted to less than 260 thousand rubles. Also, those citizens who indicated a lesser amount in the sales contract than in actual settlements with the seller of housing, obviously didn’t receive a profit — this practice is often found on the Russian real estate market. According to lawyers, many citizens did not know how to arrange the purchase of an apartment in the most correct way in terms of guaranteed receipt of the maximum amount of deduction. Thus, the key condition is the real amount of expenses in sales contracts.
Deduction
The tax deduction for the purchase of housing consists of three main parts.
Firstly, this is actually part of the cost of acquiring an apartment as a separate property. It is determined by a simple formula - 13% of the corresponding amount, reflecting the cost of housing. However, the maximum amount of deduction is limited to 260 thousand rubles. The number of real estate for which it can be calculated, as we noted above, depends on when the citizen filed the first application to the Federal Tax Service - before January 1, 2014 or after.
Secondly, tax compensation can be calculated on the basis of the amount of expenses for the repair of housing, but only if a person bought a new building. The formula is the same - 13% of the corresponding costs. Some experts are inclined to combine the first two parts of payments into one, since the maximum amount of tax deduction is 260 thousand rubles. distributed on both parts of the costs.
However, other analysts nevertheless separate repair costs into a separate category, since their legal nature differs from that which is typical for real estate purchase and sale transactions. In particular, the documents confirming payment for the repair will be completely different - these are sales and cashier's checks. The costs of an apartment, in turn, are recorded in bank documents - as a rule, these are account statements.
Thirdly, a property deduction when buying an apartment can also be accrued based on the costs associated with paying interest to the bank on a mortgage. The size of the corresponding payments is 13% of the actual amount of payments to the bank. However, the maximum amount of compensation for mortgage interest is much higher than for the cost of buying an apartment. It amounts to 390 thousand rubles if a person first deducted a deduction after January 1, 2014, and has no restrictions if a citizen applied to the Federal Tax Service in previous years. Thus, in the second case, a person has the right to receive the corresponding part of the deduction while paying the mortgage interest to the bank, even if everything was listed by the Federal Tax Service on the first two parts.
Thus, the total tax refund for the purchase of an apartment can amount to 650 thousand rubles, and if a person made a deduction before January 1, 2014, then more - in proportion to payments to the bank on mortgage interest.
Accrual and deduction procedure
Consider how the tax deduction for the purchase of housing is calculated and paid. There are two main schemes for implementing this procedure. First, a deduction can be made through personal interaction with the Federal Tax Service. In this case, the corresponding compensation is calculated based on the results of the tax period in which the person bought the apartment or who follows it. That is, if, for example, a citizen purchased housing in 2012, then he will be able to return money in the manner prescribed by law when buying an apartment from 2013.
Features of interaction with the Federal Tax Service
In a scenario involving interaction with the Federal Tax Service, a person can count on the calculation of the tax deduction once a year and its subsequent payment in one payment in an amount that depends on personal income tax deducted to the treasury in the previous tax period.Thus, the indicator determining the annual amount of compensation is income tax.
A fee is returned from the purchase of an apartment, the payment of which is assumed by the seller of the housing from the money that he received from the citizen who bought the property. Although there is no direct correlation here - no one checks whether the seller has paid personal income tax on the sale, but if we talk about the national scale of the tax system, the approximate format is exactly this.
So, turning to the Federal Tax Service, say, in 2015, a person can receive a deduction of 13% of his salary in 2014. But there is another scheme for obtaining a tax refund. It is carried out through the citizen's communication with the employer.
The fact is that a person pays personal income tax on a monthly basis from each salary. And if he bought an apartment, then the law allows him not to transfer the applicable tax to the treasury until the amount of those amounts that are not payable reaches the limit values defined by us above - 260 thousand rubles. for the main amount of expenses for the purchase of an apartment and 390 thousand for mortgage interest. Or if a person bought an apartment before January 1, 2014, then until that period until he pays the bank.
Note that if in a scenario involving communication with the Federal Tax Service, a person can receive a deduction only at the end of the tax year, then when interacting with the employer, the suspension of tax transfers is possible the next month after the necessary documents are required to receive compensation.
The specifics of calculating the amount of deduction
First of all, as experts say, the deduction is calculated on the basis of the amount of expenses for the purchase of an apartment, as well as, if relevant, for repairs. As soon as 260 thousand rubles. or another amount, amounting to 13% of the corresponding expenses, will be paid to the citizen, a deduction based on bank interest starts to be calculated.
Can I get the full amount of tax compensation at a time? Theoretically possible. But in this case, the person should obviously have a sufficiently large salary. In addition, the payment of interest on a mortgage is counted only within one year, and if a citizen expects a one-time refund of the deduction on an appropriate basis, then he must, therefore, pay off the entire mortgage within one tax period.
How to get compensation for the purchase of an apartment in the form of a tax deduction in practice? Consider the nuance reflecting the procedure for applying for the appropriate type of payment to the Federal Tax Service or to the employer.
The procedure for applying for deduction to the Federal Tax Service
If it’s more convenient for a person to receive payments from the Federal Tax Service after the tax year, then the algorithm of his actions for registration of this right will be as follows. First of all, it is necessary to fill out an application for a deduction from the Federal Tax Service in the prescribed form. Then prepare the following documents:
- declaration of 3-personal income tax;
- certificates in the form of 2-personal income tax from all places of work;
- documents confirming ownership of the apartment;
- bank accounts, statements - everything that confirms the costs.
All these documents at any time of the year that follows the reporting one in terms of documents should be referred to the territorial body of the Federal Tax Service. The statement also indicates the details of the bank account - the tax service will transfer the deduction to it, commensurate with the information contained in the 3-NDFL declaration. Buying an apartment is one of the most frequent reasons for Russians to contact the Federal Tax Service. Therefore, the scheme of relevant payments established by the department in a well-developed algorithm. If the documents are in order, then as a rule, no problems with obtaining a deduction arise. The FTS should review the documents within 3 months. If the tax authorities have any questions, they will send a clarifying request.
There is an erroneous point of view that documents can be sent to the Federal Tax Service only from April 30. This is not entirely true.This period is important for employers who provide information about employees to the Federal Tax Service regarding the correct payment of taxes. It is possible to submit documents to the Federal Tax Service to a citizen in order to apply for a deduction, if desired, immediately after the January holidays.
Procedure for processing a deduction through an employer
How to get compensation for buying an apartment through an employer? The algorithm is somewhat more complicated than in the previous scheme, however, the use of this method of processing the deduction has a significant advantage for many citizens - the equivalent to the salary supplement in the form of tax, which is not legally paid, appears immediately.
The main difficulty characteristic of the previous scheme, in which a deduction is made when buying an apartment - documents. When interacting with the Federal Tax Service, as we have seen, there are a lot of them. In order to make a deduction through an employer, in particular, a 3-NDFL declaration and a 2-NDFL certificate are not needed. Otherwise, the same package of documents.
Among the distinctive nuances - a deduction application will be in a different form. In it, in particular, it is necessary to indicate information about the employer as a tax agent - an entity that is entitled to transfer the relevant payments, in particular to personal income tax, to the state.
Note that some interaction with the Federal Tax Service within the framework of the scheme is still assumed. As soon as the necessary documents are collected, they must be taken to the tax office. They will be studied there, and if all the data is correct, a special notice will be issued within 30 days, which confirms the citizen’s right to receive a tax deduction.
The document received from the Federal Tax Service should be transferred to the accounting department of the employing company. Also, a citizen will need to write another statement - that he wants to legally not pay personal income tax on his salary as a deduction. From that moment, tax compensation for the purchase of an apartment will be “charged” through the legal payment of personal income tax along with salary.
Note that with both schemes, the citizen will need to repeat the corresponding algorithm every year. Or until he has exhausted the entire amount of the deduction for each of the parts - the cost of buying an apartment, repair and credit. Also, the need to repeat these procedures may arise if a person changes jobs.
Receive deduction in both ways
In some cases, a combined deduction algorithm is possible - according to both schemes. This is possible if, for example, a person bought an apartment in September. It turns out that under the scheme of interaction with the employer, he will be able to receive a deduction in the form of legal personal income tax together with his salary only for three months before the end of the year. For the previous nine months, the corresponding payment will be made out as part of the first scheme. In turn, at the beginning of next year, a person can use a mechanism within which it is possible to receive monthly deduction amounts with a salary.
It’s easy to get a deduction when buying an apartment. The key nuance is the correctness of those documents that are required when interacting with the Federal Tax Service and the employer. It is also important to prioritize the desired deadlines for obtaining deductions - at the end of the tax year or every month.
