When selling an apartment or a house, a separate room and even a summer house, individuals are required to contribute 13% of the amount received to the budget. It is clear that this is unlikely to please anyone. However, a tax deduction for the sale of an apartment will significantly reduce the tax.
First of all, it is worth determining that the deduction is the amount that can be deducted from the tax base (property value), but not from the tax due. In other words, if the deduction is equal to 1 million rubles, the tax benefit will be only 130 thousand rubles (and the entire million, as citizens unfamiliar with tax nuances often think).
Size of property deduction
To determine the amount of property benefits, it is necessary to proceed from the length of stay of the property in the ownership of the taxpayer. If the apartment was purchased more than three years ago, you won’t have to pay tax at all.
If the tenure is less than three years, you can reduce the tax base in one of the following ways:
- In the amount of 1 million rubles, moreover, if the property was purchased under a special loan, all interest paid can also be added to this amount. We emphasize once again that the tax deduction for the sale of an apartment concerns only the value of the property, that is, if it turned out to be less than 1 million, the tax base is considered zero, and in this case no tax refund is required.
- For the entire amount of the costs of the purchase of property currently being sold. These include directly the acquisition costs, interest on the target loan, as well as repair costs if the apartment was purchased under the contract without interior decoration.
But how to determine the tenure? For this, it is necessary to build on the method of its preparation. If the apartment was purchased under a contract of sale, exchange, gift or rent, you should be guided by the date of registration of the contract. However, if the property is located in a cooperative house, the date of commencement of ownership will be the day the full redemption of the monetary unit is considered. In the case of new buildings, the reference date is the day of receipt of the certificate of registration of ownership. And in the case of inheritance of real estate, the start date of the tenure will be the day of the testator's death.
Deduction for an apartment in shared or joint ownership
During the sale of property in shared ownership, the property tax deduction for the sale of an apartment will be distributed among the co-owners in proportion. For example, if the share of one of them is 1/6 of the house, and the other is 1/4, the deductions will be received in the amount of 600 and 400 thousand rubles, respectively. In cases where the apartment is jointly owned, the amount of reduction of the tax base is distributed among the owners by personal agreement.
Personal income tax for the sale of several apartments
Often there are situations when in one year a taxpayer sells more than one apartment or, for example, a house and a summer house. In this case, you need to know that the tax deduction for the sale of real estate of 1 million rubles in a calendar year is provided once for the entire tax base, regardless of the amount of property sold. But to reduce the tax base for the sale of real estate by the amount of confirmed income can be in respect of each property.
Example : Ivasin P.R. in 2012 sold two apartments for 980 thousand rubles and 2 thousand rubles, bought in 2011 for 900 thousand and 1800 rubles, respectively. Depending on the method of obtaining the deduction, personal income tax will look like this:
1) 1 million rubles for the entire amount of income: ((980 + 2000) - 1000) * 13% = 257.40 thousand rubles.
2) In the amount of expenses for the first apartment, a fixed amount - for the second: (980-900) * 13% + (2000-1000) * 13% = 140.40 thousand rubles.
3) In the amount of expenses for both apartments: (980-900) * 13% + (2000-1800) * 13% = 36.40 thousand rubles.
It is easy to notice that the amount of tax payable directly depends on the chosen method of reducing the taxable amount.
Deduction Procedure
The Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes that the tax deduction for the sale of an apartment can be provided an unlimited number of times. That is, if you already sold the property in 2012 and received a deduction, when selling property in 2013 you will again get the opportunity to reduce the sales tax.
You can take advantage of the deduction on the basis of an application, a 2-NDFL certificate, a sales contract, copies of a certificate of registration of law and all available payment documents. To receive a tax deduction for the sale of an apartment, the taxpayer must, before April 30 of the next (after the one in which the sale took place) year contact the IFTS office at the place of registration with a completed 3-NDFL declaration.