Return of 13 percent from the purchase of an apartment: general return rules

Many Russians are aware of the fact that the state returns to citizens part of the funds spent on the purchase of housing. But often even those who have celebrated housewarming for a long time are in no hurry to receive the tax payment due to them. Many simply do not have a clue how to do it right and where to turn. Someone fears that he will not be able to build a scheme of interaction with the state and understand the intricacies of the necessary documents. But this opportunity should not be neglected, because the amount is rather big and helps to save money on the arrangement of new housing and other needs. The tax legislation of the Russian Federation implies such an option to alleviate the tax burden of citizens as a return of 13 percent from the purchase of an apartment.

But it should be understood that this amount is not a "present" from the state. The acquisition of real estate is the basis for the return of tax on income already paid in a certain amount. Below we will tell you what needs to be done to process a refund from the purchase of an apartment or a room in an apartment, a cottage, a residential building or a land plot for construction, a townhouse or a share in any of the above objects, including those still under construction.

All individuals who receive wages or other income are considered income tax payers (otherwise it is also called personal income tax - personal income tax). Such citizens monthly transfer 13% of their wages to the country's budget - as a rule, the employer does this for them. Each taxpayer once in a lifetime has the right to recover the property personal income tax deduction by issuing a refund of income tax on the purchase of housing. How does this happen?

1. You buy real estate by registering it as a property.
2. You receive confirmation of payment of personal income tax in the current tax period.
3. Create and submit to the tax office a declaration on the return of 13% from the purchase of real estate.

The state provides special conditions for people who are on a well-deserved rest. This category of citizens also has the right to receive a property deduction. Given that pension payments are tax-free at 13%, retirees can roll back the refund to previous years they were still working, as long as the rollover is three years and no further.

From this article you will find out whether pensioners are exempt from taxes, what are the exemptions for transport and land tax for citizens on pensions and types of state social assistance in this area.

We emphasize that these rules apply only to . A resident of Russia is a person who lives on its territory for at least 183 days during the next 12 months in a row. The exception is short-term trips not exceeding six months in a row and related to receiving medical care or education, business trips for the purpose of extracting hydrocarbon resources from deposits in the seas. Absence in the country for more than a year without losing the status of a resident is permissible for:

1. Military on duty.
2. Employees of law enforcement or government agencies.
3. Representatives of local governments.

Who is not entitled to a tax refund?

The property tax refund is not available for persons who are not residents of Russia. This circumstance does not exempt from the need to pay taxes on income if they work in a company operating and registered in Russia. Also, the state does not imply payments to citizens of the Russian Federation who bought real estate outside the country.

Another important point - the tax is refunded only upon purchase or. On the purchased plot, you can build a bathhouse, in which, in fact, you can live all year round, but officially this will not be considered real estate in the residential segment.

Those who bought property from their parents, children or other relatives, as well as the employer - those who are considered "interdependent persons" cannot claim the right to receive a deduction. This paragraph is designed to protect the state from payments to fraudsters who use their connections to save money within the family or close circle. It will not be possible to reimburse your expenses even if one person paid for the property, and another became its actual owner - neither the new owner nor the person who financed the purchase will be able to claim a 13% refund.

Getting a tax deduction for housing bought for a child

Often a family acquires a living space, the owners of which are also children. Otherwise, the apartment is issued only for a minor, as a "safety parachute" for the future. In this case, the parents spend their own money, and therefore are entitled to receive a tax deduction instead of the child. Let's take a quick look at the possible situations:

Situation 1. A parent buys a home in which the child(ren) owns a share.

In this case, an adult can file a declaration for a tax refund both from his share in the living space and from the share of a minor.

Situation 2. Both spouses have shares in the apartment, as does the child (children).

Each of the spouses or both of them can increase their share of payments at the expense of the "children's". This option involves attaching the relevant application to the package of documents for the tax. In this case, the deduction can be issued to other family members who have the right to own property.

Situation 3. The child(ren) is the sole owner.

The parent who paid for the property out of his own pocket is fully entitled to receive a tax deduction.

Important! The consent of the child is not required in order for the parents to claim the tax refund. At the same time, the minor does not lose the right to receive 13% of the cost of housing purchased independently in the future upon reaching the age of eighteen. If an adult has exhausted his right to receive payment earlier, then he cannot receive a tax refund for a child.

Payments: how much to expect?

The real costs of buying a home, allowing you to issue a property deduction, are limited to two million rubles (for housing purchased before 2008 - one million rubles). It is easy to calculate - the maximum amount that you can return to your budget is 260,000 rubles. The value of two million rubles is fixed for the entire territory of Russia, despite the fact that housing prices fluctuate enormously in different settlements.

The balance can be used in the future if the value of the property does not reach the maximum. An apartment bought for 1,300,000 rubles gives a person the right to later receive a deduction in the amount of 700,000 rubles when buying another home. This is convenient, for example, for purchasing housing for a child. Until the moment he reaches the age of majority, a parent can receive a refund for his apartment. Receiving the amount of the balance can be transferred to the next year if in the current period the actual income is less than the amount of the established limit.

Article No. 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation says that it is possible to return a tax deduction not only from the value of the real estate itself. Actual costs may include:

1. Purchase of building and finishing materials.
2. Payment for the work of repairmen and other work related to the finishing of new housing.
3. Costs associated with the development of estimates and project documentation.

Refunds for the above items should be expected only if the contract for the purchase of housing indicates that it is provided in a rough finish (incomplete form) and is unsuitable for stay until the repair is completed.

Is there a statute of limitations for refunds?

The state does not impose restrictions on the receipt of a tax deduction. The only caveat is that income tax is refunded for no more than three past years. Example: the taxpayer bought the housing in 2008, and he decided to apply for a refund only in 2017. According to the letter of the law, funds will be returned only for the period from 2014 to 2016. The balance of the deduction will be carried over to the next year and will continue annually until the amount is exhausted.

Important! Citizens can return the tax only for a specific period in which they became the owners of real estate. Example: an agreement on shared ownership in a house under construction was concluded in 2013 (and money for housing was transferred), and the act of acceptance was transferred three years later (as was the entry into rights). Under such circumstances, it is possible to receive a deduction only starting from 2016. Accordingly, if the deduction is not used in full, it will be paid in subsequent years. But it is impossible to receive payments for 2013, 2014 and 2015.

When should a tax return be filed?

There is an opinion that you need to have time to submit a package of documents that is necessary to receive property tax before April 30 - this is not true. This rule applies to those who, by law, must declare their profits (from the sale or lease of any property). The declaration for the deduction can be submitted at any time during the entire calendar year, regardless of when the property was purchased. But, the refund will be made only for the past year after its end (for example, payments for 2017 will begin only in 2018).

List of documents to be submitted to the tax office

A correctly completed declaration for is the main document required for the state to return 13% of the cost of an apartment or other living space to you. We will figure out how to do this correctly and without errors, since deviation from the rules may result in a refusal to provide a deduction for property.

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation puts forward four main requirements for such declarations:

1. 3-NDFL must be executed in the form approved by the order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated December 24, 2014.
2. Documents must be attached to the declaration confirming the facts of the acquisition and full payment of real estate, as well as the fact that the taxpayer is the owner.
3. Filing a declaration in order to receive a 13% deduction is permissible for the entire next period (if a home was purchased in 2017, you can provide 3-personal income tax until December 2018).
4. You can transfer the document to the tax office by coming there on your own or by sending an official representative. It is also possible to submit a document through the website of public services of the Russian Federation or by a letter containing an inventory of all official papers placed in an envelope. How to make an inventory, we will tell in

Having chosen the last option, you need to take care of the notification of delivery to the addressee - it is important to fix this moment for the timely receipt of money.

Pages required to fill out

In order to receive 13% of the purchase of housing without delay, you must fill out the minimum information on the pages of the form. The required fields are listed below, the rest are usually set to "0".

First of all, to fill out 3-NDFL, you will need information about the OKTMO code. You can get information about it on the Internet by adding the query "at the address" to the abbreviation. The search engine will offer classifiers grouped by locality, allowing you to quickly find a specific code.

Please note that eleven character spaces are allotted for writing the code, but if the code includes a smaller number of characters, dashes should be put instead of the rest.

Table 1. Step-by-step instructions for filling out the 3-NDFL form

The completed 3-NDFL declaration must be accompanied by:

1. A document certifying the purchase of real estate (purchase and sale agreement).
2. Help in the form (upon request will be issued at work).
3. Evidence of the right to housing.
4. Checks, receipts and other certified payment documents with which you can confirm expenses for the purchase of real estate and repair and finishing work.
5. Statement of the desire to return the tax deduction (written in the name of the head of the tax office at the place of your registration).
6. If housing is purchased for a minor, you must provide his birth certificate.
7. When it comes to real estate owned by spouses, a marriage certificate will be required.

Return personal income tax if the property was bought on credit

In a situation where a citizen attracts credit funds for the purchase of real estate, special rules are provided. For mortgage housing, the return is calculated based not only on its value, but also taking into account interest to the bank.

In this case, the actual expenses are covered in an amount not exceeding three million Russian rubles. To resolve this issue with the tax, some more official papers must be added to the above documents:

• statements from a credit institution on the transfer of funds from the seller to the buyer;
• checklists for receipts.

Note that article No. 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation states: "If the amount of interest in the period is higher than the amount of the citizen's income, unreimbursed mortgage interest is transferred to the next year." The transfer is possible until the full reimbursement of all interest and the end of the loan agreement. Important: you will not be able to adjust bank contributions and revise mortgage interest, as a resident of the Russian Federation can apply for a refund only once.

We will tell you more about how to return mortgage interest through tax in ours.

Video - Mortgage tax deduction

The time frame for the government to return the money

The law establishes a clear procedure for how and when the property return will be in the hands of the taxpayer. You can decide on your own how to receive the funds due to you: at the tax office or at the place of work. Let's figure out how long the property pledge returns to the taxpayer and talk about the pros and cons of the above options.

Getting money from the tax office

After you have brought a standard package of documents, the tax authorities will check the data that you entered in the Z-NDFL declaration, and other papers. Employees have three months to do this. Within ten days after that, you will receive information that you have paid taxes in excess. Then you will have to visit the institution again, writing an application demanding that you return the amount indicated in the declaration form.

In the document you need to specify your bank details for the transfer. If you do not have them, all you need to do is open an account in any form that is convenient for you (bank card, passbook, current account). It is there that the money owed to you for the entire year in which the acquisition of real estate is made will “fall”.

A plus: This option will appeal to those who want to receive the entire amount in a single payment.

Minus: the need to fill out a lot of documents and expect payments.

Getting money at work

Employees who wish to receive a refund of property tax at work will have to enter the documents listed above in the article into the tax office, with the exception of Z-personal income tax. The latter causes the greatest difficulty for citizens, in this case, the collection and submission of papers will be faster and easier. After the inspection specialists check them and confirm your right to receive payment, you must pick up this document and transfer it to the accounting department. This notice will serve as the basis for the withdrawal of 13% from the employee's salary, which is a tax on the income of an individual.

When the points related to official papers are completed, you will receive 13% more monthly until the total amount of these payments reaches the amount of the due tax deduction. If the required amount is not paid within a year, you will need to visit the tax office again to repeat the procedure.

A plus: monthly at your disposal is a free amount of money;

Minus: constant visits to the tax office and the transfer of notifications to the accounting department.

Summing up

The state provides the opportunity to return the funds one-time, so you need to dispose of it wisely. The procedure seems complicated and even frightening at first - having figured it out, any citizen will be able to cope with the property tax on their own. This article reveals the answers to any questions that a person may have when thinking about returning 13 percent of the purchase of real estate for the first time. Now you need to prepare the necessary documents, make an appointment with a tax inspectorate specialist and decide how best to receive money.