Tax consultant of the financial service INCOM-Real Estate Aina Zaitseva answers:
Based on the norms of the tax legislation of the Russian Federation, the right to a deduction when purchasing real estate arises at one of the moments: when purchasing secondary housing - from the moment of state registration of ownership; when purchasing a new building - from the moment of signing the transfer and acceptance certificate with the developer.
In this case, the deduction for the purchase is provided according to the rules of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation of the year in which the right to it arose. Due to the fact that your right to deduction arose in 2007, the maximum amount of property deduction for a purchase is limited to 1 million rubles.
If from 2007 to 2009 you did not receive a full deduction, then you have the right to transfer it to the following tax periods. The main condition for continuing to receive a property deduction is the availability of income taxed at a rate of 13%.
Can I get a tax deduction if I only work for 2 months?
Will I get my tax deduction for 2 years back at once?
Accordingly, if you have been officially employed since 2021, you have the right to continue receiving the deduction. You can also choose one of the priority methods for you: either receive a deduction at the end of the year from the tax office at your place of residence by submitting a declaration in Form 3-NDFL, or receive a deduction from your employer without waiting for the end of the year (for this you need to submit to the tax authority application for confirmation of tax deduction).
How is a deduction for past periods provided?
It doesn’t matter what year the apartment was purchased - you can apply for a deduction for it at any time, but you need to take into account one important nuance: if the deduction is claimed for housing purchased in previous years, the rules and limits that were in force apply to it at the time of purchase.
Let us remind you that today the owner can claim a deduction in the amount of 2 million rubles for the costs of purchasing housing, returning 260 thousand rubles from it. Personal income tax (2 million x 13%), and for mortgage interest - a deduction in the amount of 3 million rubles, returning 390 thousand rubles. tax (3 million x 13%).
Example
Citizen Petrov learned that the property tax deduction has no statute of limitations only in 2021. He decided to file a deduction with the Federal Tax Service for two of his apartments purchased in different years. The first apartment was purchased in 2007 using his own funds, the second was purchased with a mortgage in 2014. What deductions will Petrov be able to receive in 2021:
- Until January 1, 2014, a different version of Art. 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, according to which it was possible to claim a property deduction only for one piece of real estate once in a lifetime. If the cost of housing was lower than the deduction limit, the unused balance was lost, i.e., it was impossible to “raise” the deduction to its maximum amount at the expense of other objects. In addition, the maximum deduction amount until 2008 was 1 million rubles. If Petrov, in 2021, claims a deduction for the first apartment, the ownership of which arose in 2007, he will be able to take advantage of a benefit in the amount of a maximum of 1 million rubles, accordingly, he will be able to return no more than 130 thousand rubles. tax (1 million x 13%). By using this deduction (even partially), Petrov will completely exhaust his right to a property deduction for expenses on the purchase of housing in the future and will no longer be able to apply the benefit to the second apartment.
- For property acquired in 2014 and later, different rules apply: the deduction can be applied until it is completely exhausted to any number of acquired real estate. The deduction limit for acquisition costs for an apartment purchased in 2014 is the same as now - 2 million rubles, but Petrov will be able to use it only if he does not claim a deduction for the first apartment. Petrov has the right to claim a deduction for mortgage interest paid to the bank when purchasing a second apartment in any case, since he does not apply this deduction to the first apartment.
What is a property deduction
First of all, as mentioned above, home buyers have the opportunity to receive a portion of the funds spent on its purchase in the amount of 13% of its cost. True, the full cost of the apartment is taken as the tax base, and 2,000,000 rubles, if in the end the apartment cost more, then in any case compensation can only be received from 2 million rubles.
Thus, the maximum tax deduction is 260,000 rubles. You can receive compensation only from certain real estate objects, namely:
- apartments in a multi-apartment residential building;
- residential building;
- shares or rooms in an apartment;
- a plot of land with a property located on it;
- land plot for construction.
That is, from all of the above we can conclude that compensation can only be received from residential real estate or a land plot intended for construction; commercial or non-residential real estate is not subject to tax deduction. Only Citizens of the Russian Federation who are taxpayers can receive payments; this important condition is that the real estate must be purchased on the territory of the Russian Federation.
By the way, a very important point is that only taxpayers can receive the deduction. After all, the very concept of a deduction means a refund of income tax previously paid to the budget; accordingly, the unemployed cannot count on payment. It is worth paying attention to the fact that you can receive a tax deduction only once in your life for the first home you purchase. Moreover, if the first property was worth less than 2 million rubles, then the balance can be obtained when purchasing the next apartment, but in total the amount of property deduction cannot exceed 260,000 rubles.
Important! Pensioners can also count on a tax deduction provided that their retirement age occurs no later than 3 years after purchasing the property. In other words, only older citizens who have taken a well-deserved rest and completed their working career within 3 years can count on the payment.
Tax refund deadline
The Tax Code allows you to return income tax in two ways:
- Federal Tax Service;
- to the employer.
The payment period depends on the chosen option.
If the return is issued through the employer, then the time for consideration of permission by the tax service to receive funds is 30 calendar days. After granting permission to the accountant (manager), the employee begins to receive payments monthly in the form of additional funds to wages, which were previously withheld as income tax. They are paid until the due amount is fully repaid (260 thousand rubles).
Registration of compensation through the Federal Tax Service limits the period for receiving payments: it is 120 days. Of these, 3 months are given to review and process the documentation provided by the applicant, and another 1 month to transfer money to a current account or bank card.
Know! It is allowed to submit documents to the tax office in several ways, but the period for consideration and payment does not change, but remains the same - 4 months.
Quite often, taxpayers ask: how long will it take for them to receive their money?
In practice, inspectors process documents and transfer compensation much faster than 4 months. But there are cases when the deadline established by law has passed, but the funds have not been received, and the notice of refusal has not arrived either. Take action and contact the appropriate authorities.
How can I get a property deduction faster?
To receive compensation faster, you need to:
- Check the completed documents for accuracy.
- Submit your return in January or subsequent months.
- Do not wait for notifications from the Federal Tax Service, but send an application yourself indicating the current account.
After the desk audit is completed, payments will begin, but not earlier than in a month.
To speed up the process as much as possible, send the papers through the State Services website or the taxpayer’s personal account. As practice shows, electronic documentation is processed much faster than paper documentation. In addition, in your personal account you can track what stage the documents are at after submission.
Payout Basics
A citizen of the Russian Federation who purchased housing can claim reimbursement from the state of part of the funds that he spent on it.
The following costs for purchasing real estate may be taken into account:
- for the purchase of a residential house, apartment, room or share in them in a finished house or one that is under construction;
- for the purchase of construction and finishing materials;
- to carry out construction or finishing work;
- for connection to power grids, water supply and gasification, as well as the creation of alternative sources of their receipt;
- for the development of the project and related documentation.
In this case, costs can be taken into account only on the condition that they are supported by documents that justify the need for their implementation. For example, if a new apartment has been finished by the developer, you cannot claim compensation for finishing work.
The Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for two types of property deductions when purchasing housing, be it a room, apartment, residential building, land plot or shares in them:
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- housing deduction - in the amount of the actual amount that was spent on the purchase of real estate, but not more than 2 million rubles;
- interest deduction - in the amount that was spent on paying off interest on a mortgage for the purchase of real estate, but not more than 3 million rubles.
The state will reimburse 13% of these amounts that were actually paid by the citizen as personal income tax. Property deduction implies that the amount of tax deduction will be deducted from the amount of tax received.
When can you apply for a deduction?
The question of when you can apply for a tax deduction is decided depending on the addressee of the application. If, for example, the buyer of an apartment decides to return part of the tax through his employer, he has the right to submit a corresponding application immediately after registering ownership rights and receiving the appropriate certificate from Rosreestr.
When applying for a tax deduction through an employer, the tax refund scheme itself changes somewhat. In this case, there is no need to talk about the statute of limitations for a tax deduction not only for claiming rights to it, but also for year restrictions. If the claim for a refund of the tax paid is approved, the employer will simply stop withholding current income taxes from the salary.
The process will continue until the entire deduction amount is collected. Unfortunately, for most hired workers the process drags on for more than one year. If, a year after the start of withholding, the taxpayer decides to receive the remaining amount through the Federal Tax Service, he can skip another year and contact the Tax Service with a corresponding application.
But there is a recommendation period. It is associated with filing a tax return. If a citizen received income from a transaction, he is required to declare it. The deadline for filing a declaration is strictly defined and must be adhered to. It must be submitted from January 1 to May 1 of the tax period following the year in which the income was acquired. Failure to meet deadlines will result in penalties. If a citizen needs to submit a tax return, then it is better to combine filing an application for an income tax refund with it. Then you won’t have to contact the Federal Tax Service several times.
Statute of limitations for pensioners
Retired persons retain the right to apply for deductions when purchasing real estate, etc. But they do not pay personal income tax.
Accordingly, a situation may arise when there is simply nothing to return the tax from, because the amount has not been paid. Therefore, a different validity period for tax deductions is provided for pensioners. They can return income tax for the three years preceding the transaction, but only if they paid personal income tax during this period. For example, a pensioner purchased a plot of land in 2021. He is entitled to deduction for the years 2021 – 2021 (inclusive). Those. They are allowed not only to shift the time frame, but also to increase the period for which the tax is refunded. If for all other taxpayers it is three years, for pensioners it is four years.
This rule applies to those pensioners who have actually stopped working and paying personal income tax. In all other cases, a property tax deduction can be issued at their discretion. If the income in the previous three years was higher than in subsequent years, which means higher income taxes, you can choose them. If it was lower, then you are allowed to choose the period after the transaction, but then not four, but three years in a row will be taken into account.
According to Russian law, receiving a tax deduction for an apartment does not have a statute of limitations. Each resident has the right to refund paid income tax at any time after it arises. You can only receive a deduction for the years following the transaction. This provision does not apply to non-working pensioners. They are entitled to receive a deduction for the three years preceding the transaction.
