Buying an apartment is expensive. Many citizens purchase housing on a mortgage. The state provides a number of support measures to Russians who have acquired property in real estate. One of the most popular is the possibility of using a property tax deduction. What are the features of its design? How big can the payouts be?
The essence of the deduction
What is a property tax deduction when buying an apartment? Citizens of the Russian Federation, who purchase residential property at their own expense, have the right to return 13% of the costs associated with the acquisition of housing. However, to realize this opportunity is permissible only if the citizen pays the state personal income tax, which is 13% of the salary or other source of income. With the corresponding deductions, a part of the expenses for the purchase of the apartment is formed. Thus, the payments in question are referred to as “tax payments”.
Reimbursable expenses
Buying an apartment may be accompanied by some associated costs. Such as, for example, the acquisition of building materials and finishing elements for repair, the remuneration of specialists of the appropriate profile. Actually, the two indicated types of expenses, along with those that reflect the amount paid for the apartment, can also be included in the tax deduction.
In some cases, it is also possible to count on the compensation of costs associated with the acquisition of a land plot for individual construction. The property tax deduction for buying an apartment also extends to the cost of paying interest to the bank on a mortgage loan. The main amount of debt is included in the cost of housing.
The right of citizens only
With what is the tax deduction when buying an apartment, we reviewed. Can only individuals who are natural persons enjoy the right to this kind of compensation? Yes it is. Returnees - this is only an individual. Personal income tax is the only type of tax that is taken into account when calculating the corresponding payments. For example, a VAT refund when buying an apartment in favor of the organization is not possible. Moreover, the apartment for which the deduction is issued should be located in Russia. Also note that only tax residents of the Russian Federation have the right to return personal income tax . That is, those citizens who live in Russia more days a year than abroad. If a person has non-resident status, then the tax he pays is 30%.
So, VAT refunds when buying an apartment and applying for a deduction for citizens who live abroad most of the time are legally impossible. But this is far from all the legislative nuances regarding the realization of the rights of Russians to the corresponding privilege when purchasing housing. Consider other notable aspects. For example, those related to determining the amount of deduction based on recent changes in the Tax Code.
Deduction amount and legislative nuances
How big can a property deduction be when buying an apartment? To answer this question very correctly, we have to study some of the nuances of the law. The fact is that until 01/01/2014, certain rules for calculating the amount of deduction were in effect, after which they were somewhat different. The changes are related to the adjustment of some provisions of the Tax Code.
As part of the relevant legislative reform, it was determined that the maximum amount of the deduction may be 13% of the amount of 2 million rubles spent in the process of acquiring one or more real estate (including repair costs and land). As for the interest on the mortgage, the maximum return on them after the reform is 13% of 3 million rubles paid to the bank.
What happened before the changes in the Tax Code? The main amount reflecting the cost of housing was the same - 2 million. But to get 13% of it in full, that is 260 thousand rubles, it was possible only for one property. Moreover, if the price of an apartment or house was less than 2 million, then it was impossible to get 13% of the difference between this figure and the legislative maximum. Regarding interest, however, no restrictions on the amount were established.
How do the two “regimes” relate to which the property tax deduction when buying an apartment is regulated? Does the law in this case have retroactive effect? It all depends on when the person first made the deduction for himself when buying an apartment.
If he did this before the amendments to the Tax Code came into force, then the rules that apply before the reforms apply to his case. That is, he can return a maximum of 13% of 2 million rubles from the cost of buying only one property and repair, if, respectively, are equal to or more than this amount. However, he will be able to return from the interest paid on the mortgage as much as they “run” - there is no upper limit. As long as a person sends a fee for a loan to a bank, he can receive a deduction calculated on the basis of the corresponding amounts.
If a person first applied to the Federal Tax Service in order to make a deduction when buying an apartment after 01/01/2014, then new wordings of the law will be applied to his case. That is, he is entitled to a deduction in the amount of 13% of 2 million - from the costs of purchasing one or more real estate, from 3 million - on mortgage interest.
Thus, the time period for buying a home - before or after the reform - does not matter. Most importantly, when a person applied for the first deduction. Now, actually, about how to do this in practice - apply to the Federal Tax Service for appropriate compensation.
Minus Order
Property tax deduction when buying an apartment, as a rule, is not paid at a time. Compensation is accrued once a year - in proportion to the personal income tax that was paid by the citizen to the treasury for the tax year. Theoretically, of course, a full-sized return of the required part of the costs is possible, but only if the personal income tax deductions from salaries or other incomes are equal to or exceeded 260 thousand rubles. If a tax deduction is made when buying an apartment on a mortgage and we are talking about interest, then the calculation of the amounts to be returned is carried out according to a similar principle - the amount of payments to the bank for the year is summed up.
So, the calculation of the amount payable when applying to the Federal Tax Service is based on the following criteria: addition of contributions under personal income tax and the bank for interest for the year preceding the one in which the citizen applies to the Federal Tax Service. You can apply for a refund when buying an apartment on any day. There is a version that this must be done before April 30, but this is not so. This date is the deadline by which the employer must provide the Federal Tax Service with information about taxes paid for their employees. For citizens themselves, in the general case, similar obligations do not arise. You need to bring a set of several documents to the Federal Tax Service. Which ones?
Documents
First of all, this is a tax return drawn up in the form of 3-personal income tax. She can be asked in the accounting of the employer company. There is another similar document - certificate 2-personal income tax, it reflects the salary for the year. It also needs to be invested in a common set of papers for processing a deduction.
The Federal Tax Service will need documents that confirm the citizen’s ownership of housing. You will also need a contract of sale for an apartment, or an agreement on shared participation in construction (if the house is still being built). If the new building is completed, you will also need an act of acceptance of finished housing. Although some experts believe that the Federal Tax Service should not require the last document at the same time as the contract of sale or “replenishment”. At the same time, a lot depends on the policy of specific territorial departments of the Federal Tax Service.
We have listed documents reflecting the ownership of the apartment to the owner. But the tax refund when buying an apartment is a financial transaction. The Federal Tax Service will require the provision of payment documents that will reflect the amount of expenses. This may be bank statements, receipts, checks, acts, etc., in some cases, a receipt from the seller that he received such a sum of money. If a tax deduction is made when buying an apartment on a mortgage, the Federal Tax Service will request a loan agreement with the bank. You will also need the details to which the Federal Tax Service will transfer the deduction.
Having prepared all these documents, you need to take a passport and visit the territorial department of the tax service. There, the specialists of the Federal Tax Service will issue a statement to be completed and attached to the rest of the papers. Some of the information can be transferred to the Federal Tax Service through the Gosuslugi.Ru portal, but the procedure for electronic interaction between the department and citizens is still not as debugged - you still have to make an “offline” visit to the structure. Having given the documents, you can wait until the deduction when buying an apartment is transferred to the specified bank details. The time period during which the Federal Tax Service must carry out the corresponding banking transaction is no more than 3 months from the date of receipt of the application.
Alternative scenario
There is another, alternative, option with which you can arrange a property tax deduction when buying an apartment. We have already said that the corresponding right arises from a citizen by virtue of his payment of personal income tax on salary and other income. But the law allows an alternative to the return of personal income tax on deduction - do not pay this tax. That is, the employer simply will not keep it, calculating the salary. In order to use this mechanism, you need to contact the Federal Tax Service, request there a document reflecting the right to deduction, and bring it to the accounting department. True, you can take it only once a year. And if a person changes jobs, then re-carry out this operation will not work. However, if a citizen is employed in several places, then personal income tax can not be paid at each. Non -payment of salary tax can last until the deduction reaches 260 thousand rubles, based on the amount spent on the apartment or threshold values (if the application is submitted before 01/01/2014) for loan interest. This option is also applicable if we draw up a property tax deduction when buying an apartment on a mortgage. Documents are the same as in the first scenario.
Note that receiving compensation from the Federal Tax Service within the framework of this scheme involves non-payment of personal income tax only for current labor compensation. If a person has “unrealized” deductions in the past, you will have to act in the framework of the first option.
Dates for limitation
There are no restrictions as to when to apply for a tax deduction. It doesn’t matter how long ago the purchase of the apartment was completed. At the same time, the personal income tax paid on income is taken into account only for the three years that precede the time when a person applies for deduction to the Federal Tax Service.
Deduction - for personal expenses only
The right to deduction when buying an apartment from a citizen arises only if the housing was purchased by him at his own expense. You can not return personal income tax under this mechanism if the apartment was donated by someone or bought for a subsidy from the state or from the employer. Documents provided to the Federal Tax Service should clearly confirm the fact that the citizen incurred the costs associated with the purchase of housing.
It is possible, of course, that part of the costs of acquiring an apartment or a house a person took upon himself, but at the same time he took advantage of state support. In this case, the deduction is calculated based on the amounts that the citizen personally spent. In practice, such a scenario is possible if the payment of the apartment in certain proportions was carried out at the expense of maternity capital. In this case, the amount received from the state is deducted from the total, which reflects the cost of acquiring housing. The result is a base for calculating the financial deduction.
Apartment in a house under construction
What are the nuances of the tax deduction when buying an apartment in a house under construction? The main difficulty here is that some types of shared construction contracts are designed so that a citizen, by the time the property is not completed, is by status a co-investor, but not the owner of the property.
The contract of acceptance of the finished housing, until the house is completed, the contractor will most likely not give him. In order to be able to draw up a tax deduction when buying an apartment, documents must confirm ownership. Without them, the Federal Tax Service will not have the right to promote the realization by the citizen of the corresponding privilege.
Deduction and mortgage
What features are characterized by the tax deduction when buying an apartment on a mortgage, not counting those that we noted above? The key nuances in this case relate to the collection of documents. The first thing that the Federal Tax Service requires is a loan agreement. Next - payment sources. To confirm the amount of mortgage payments that were made during the year, a citizen needs to contact the bank with a request to receive an extract, which should separately reflect payments on the principal and interest. These are the basic documents that are needed in order to draw up a tax deduction when buying an apartment on a mortgage.
There are a number of nuances. It relates to what criteria a loan agreement must meet, on the basis of which a property tax deduction is made when buying an apartment in a mortgage. Does the bank in which the citizen took the loan matter? Experts believe not. Moreover, a loan can be issued in a non-banking financial institution. The most important thing is that he has a purpose. That is, the contract with the bank should indicate that the person is obliged to send borrowed funds to buy such and such an apartment, house or build them (or make repairs).
Is it possible that a person will draw up a tax deduction solely on the basis of interest on a mortgage? That is, for example, in those cases when he does not yet have on hand an act of transfer and acceptance of the apartment and other necessary documents that officially confirm the right of ownership? Experts believe that such a practice is impossible. Moreover, when a person applies for a deduction to the Federal Tax Service, in the first place, payments are calculated on the basis of the cost of buying an apartment and repair. As soon as 13% of 2 million or that amount, which reflects the corresponding costs, is transferred to the citizen, only after that mortgage interest is taken into account.
Joint and shared ownership
In some cases, a person buys housing on the basis of shared (or joint) property. In this case, the citizen retains the right to receive a deduction. But the "formulas" of his calculus will depend on what type of relationship takes place - nevertheless it is shared or specifically joint ownership. In the first case, the financial base for calculating the amount of personal income tax return will be proportional to the share of ownership. That is, say, if an apartment costs 3.5 million rubles, and a person owns 20% of it, then the Federal Tax Service will calculate a deduction in the amount of 13% of 700 thousand rubles.
If the property is joint, then the owners will have to agree on the distribution of the size of the financial base for deduction, as well as formalize their compromise formally by submitting an appropriate application to the Federal Tax Service. It is possible that it will not be possible to agree, in which case justice can be established by a court. Note that with shared ownership, it is somehow impossible to redistribute the financial base for deduction.
Tax deduction for retirees
In some cases, the question arises of how a tax deduction is made when a pensioner buys an apartment. According to what standards is interaction with the Federal Tax Service carried out in this scenario? The fact is that with a pension a person does not pay personal income tax. And if it is the only source of income for a citizen, then in general there are no grounds for receiving a deduction. But there are options whereby you can still count on some compensation for the cost of buying a home. Which ones are the most likely?
- The first option is that a pensioner works in parallel. In this case, he has the legal right to fully exercise the corresponding right to deduction in the framework of all those procedures that we described above.
- The second option is that a pensioner has completed transactions in which the state needs to pay personal income tax in the amount of 13%. This may be, as an option, the sale of other real estate. And in this case, the deduction right for the acquired apartment and the obligation to pay tax on the sold one can be mutually compensated.
- , - , , . , . , - .
,
, , , . , , , - , , . , , " ". , , - - . , , , .