When is it necessary to pay tax when exchanging an apartment and how to calculate it?

The essence of the apartment exchange agreement in 2021

What is an exchange agreement and how does it differ from a purchase and sale agreement? The answer to this question can be found in Art. 567 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which states that an exchange agreement is an agreement by virtue of which each party undertakes to transfer one product into the ownership of the other party in exchange for another.

Unlike a purchase and sale, an exchange agreement has a dual character: each of the parties to the agreement is simultaneously recognized as both the seller of the goods that it undertakes to transfer and the buyer of the goods that it undertakes to accept in exchange.

Main features of an apartment exchange agreement in 2018

The main features of the apartment exchange agreement include the following:

• The relevant rules on the purchase and sale of real estate (if this does not contradict the essence of the exchange) apply to such an agreement;
• If the exchange agreement does not specify the value of each exchanged object, then they are considered equal;
• The costs associated with concluding an exchange agreement, as a general rule, are borne by the owner of the proposed property;
• The ownership of the exchanged real estate is considered to have occurred after each of the parties to the agreement has completed the procedure for state registration of the transfer of ownership rights;
• If the terms for the transfer of the exchanged goods do not coincide, the rules on counter-fulfillment of obligations are applied to the contract (Article 328 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation)

Do I need to pay?

The tax service does not particularly carefully check the payment of taxes when registering civil transactions.

Don't underestimate this. There is always a possibility that in the future, when registering new transactions with this real estate, a situation with tax evasion will arise.

The fine in such a situation will be many times higher than the insignificant amount of tax.

When can you not do this?

Provided that a free and equivalent transaction is carried out between persons having citizenship of the Russian Federation, taxes can be avoided. This leniency does not apply to foreigners or non-residents of the country. The tax fee will not be charged when exchanging real estate that has been owned for more than 3 years .

What to do if the property has been owned for less than 3 years?

Let's figure out whether tax is paid during such an exchange of an apartment. The amount of tax depends on such factors as ownership of real estate for up to 3 years. When concluding an agreement for the exchange of living space that has been owned for less than 3 years, the tax amount will be 13%. It is worth considering that taxes are assessed on an amount that exceeds 1 million rubles.

If you have enough time, it is better to wait a little to avoid unnecessary costs for paying taxes.

Attention! If a citizen has not paid a percentage of the tax and is late in payment, then he is assessed a fine of 5% of the tax amount, but not less than 1000 rubles.

Apartment exchange agreement in 2021: pros and cons

Like any other transaction, a real estate exchange agreement has both pros and cons:

Advantages of an exchange agreement

• The agreement is concluded in simple written form, notarization of the transaction is not required;
• If real estate objects under an exchange agreement are recognized as equivalent, this allows one to avoid unnecessary procedures associated with calculations;
• Recognition of an exchange agreement as invalid leads to the return of the provisions that existed before the conclusion of the agreement.

Disadvantages of an exchange agreement

• If the properties are of unequal value, one of the parties will have to pay the difference in price;
• The beneficiary under the exchange agreement must pay a tax in the amount of 13% of the surcharge amount.

The concept of property deduction

When exchanging an apartment with an additional payment, do I need to pay tax? What is a tax deduction when exchanging an apartment with an additional payment? When exchanging apartments, if the owner has owned it for no more than three years, he has the right to receive a property deduction . This opportunity is provided for in Article 220 of the Tax Code.

However, the deduction applies to an amount not exceeding one million rubles . If the transaction amount is slightly higher, then only the previously indicated amount is subject to deduction.

Let's calculate the amount of tax deduction.

If the transaction amount is 3 million rubles, then 1 million rubles is the deduction amount. You shouldn't touch him.

But of the remaining 2 million, the parties proportionately pay a tax of 13 percent in half. In this case, the tax deduction can be applied only once .

Learn more about the possibility of obtaining a property deduction in this video:

Parties to the apartment exchange agreement in 2018

In accordance with the current civil legislation, the parties to the real estate exchange agreement may be:

• Individuals (citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens and stateless persons);
• Legal entities and individual entrepreneurs (Russian and foreign);
• Subjects of the Russian Federation and municipalities;
• State.

It should be noted that the question of the participation of the state in the barter agreement causes heated debate in the scientific literature - some authors do not recognize the state as a possible party to the barter, others are inclined to the opposite point of view.

Form of apartment exchange agreement in 2021

As mentioned above, an apartment exchange agreement is drawn up in simple written form with the obligatory indication of the following points:

• Date and place of conclusion of the contract;
• Data of the parties to the agreement (full name, place of residence, passport details);
• Description of the apartments (address of the residential building, entrance, floor, apartment number, total and living area, number of apartment levels, etc.);
• Data of title documents for each property;
• Cost of exchanged apartments;
• The amount of additional payment that the owner of the lower cost apartment must make;
• Responsibility of the parties for violation of obligations under the barter agreement;
• Settlement of disputes;
• Signatures of the parties to the agreement.

How to reduce income when calculating taxes

When calculating the tax, you can reduce the amount of income received from the exchange of an apartment by one amount (at your choice):

• or for a property deduction for real estate sellers in the amount of RUB 1,000,000. It will have to be used if the exchanged apartment was received for free (for example, by inheritance or privatization);
• or the cost of the apartment transferred in exchange. This method is beneficial to use if the exchanged apartment was purchased and the amount of purchase costs exceeded RUB 1,000,000.

You cannot use both methods simultaneously for the same apartment.

Reduce by deduction

Everything is simple here. You reduce the amount of income by 1,000,000 rubles. If it does not exceed this value, you do not need to pay tax. If it exceeds, tax is paid on the excess amount.

Example An apartment was purchased in 2021. It is exchanged for another apartment of equal value. At the time of exchange, the apartment has been owned for less than 5 years. When calculating tax, income received under an exchange agreement is reduced by a deduction for real estate sellers - 1,000,000 rubles.

Situation 1 According to the exchange agreement, the apartments are valued at 850,000 rubles. The cadastral value of the apartment is 790,000 rubles. In this situation, your income is the cost of the apartment that is indicated in the exchange agreement - 850,000 rubles.

The amount of taxable income will be: 850,000 - 1,000,000 = 0 rub.

Do they pay tax when exchanging an apartment in this case? No. If there is no income, there is no tax. But you must file a tax return in any case.

Situation 2 According to the exchange agreement, the apartments are valued at 1,350,000 rubles. The cadastral value of the apartment is 980,000 rubles. In this situation, your income is the cost of the apartment that is indicated in the exchange agreement - 1,350,000 rubles.

The amount of taxable income will be: 1,350,000 - 1,000,000 = 350,000 rubles.

When exchanging an apartment, you need to pay tax in the amount of: 350,000 x 13% = 45,500 rubles.

Apartment exchange agreement in 2021: typical mistakes

The most common mistakes when drawing up and concluding a real estate exchange agreement include the following:

• Unclear indication of the subject of the contract (the property is not specified or cannot be identified);
• Lack of information about the powers on the basis of which a representative of one of the parties acts;
• The price of the exchange agreement is expressed in foreign currency;
• The validity period of the exchange agreement is not specified;
• The procedure for settlements between the parties is not defined;
• The issue of losses and penalties for violation of obligations has not been resolved;
• The procedure for changing and terminating the exchange agreement is not stated;
• Bank details and other data of the parties to the agreement are not indicated.

Registration of an apartment exchange agreement in 2018

As a general rule, an apartment exchange agreement is subject to state registration and is considered concluded from the moment of such registration.

To register a transaction, the parties to the agreement must contact any branch of Rosreestr and provide the following package of documents:

• Application from the party to the contract for registration of the transfer of ownership of old property and registration of ownership of new real estate (the application can be completed on the spot);
• Apartment exchange agreement;
• Certificates of ownership of the exchanged apartments;
• Cadastral passports for exchanged apartments;
• Notarized statements of spouses regarding consent to the exchange (if necessary);
• Consent of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities (if necessary).

Note! Addresses and telephone numbers of Rosreestr offices in Moscow can be found on the website rosreestr.ru.

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Period of ownership of the apartment transferred in exchange

Income received from the sale or exchange of property that has been in your possession for a long time is not subject to tax. Long term is considered:

• if the apartment was acquired before 2021 - 3 years or more. 3 years is 36 consecutive months;
• if the apartment was acquired in 2021 or later (for example, in 2021 or 2021) - 5 years or more. 5 years is 60 consecutive months.

There are exceptions to this rule. The 3-year period always applies to apartments that were received:

• by inheritance;
• as a gift from a close relative (for information on who exactly is considered a close relative, see Article 14 of the Family Code);
• under privatization or rent agreement.

A three-year period is also applied when selling a single residence.

Thus, 2 dates are important to you:

• the first is to obtain ownership of the apartment;
• the second is the registration of ownership of your apartment to the new owner.

To avoid paying tax, the difference between these dates must be 36 or 60 months or more.
Duration of ownership of the exchanged apartment

How to determine the date of receipt of property

In most cases, ownership of real estate arises at the time of its state registration and entry into the state register of rights to real estate and transactions with it. You can find the date of such registration:

• in the certificate of ownership (if any);
• in an extract from the state register of real estate rights (it can be obtained from the MFC at the location of the apartment).

This rule applies to apartments:

• purchased under a purchase and sale agreement;
• received in exchange under a barter agreement;
• received from local administrations in connection with the demolition of dilapidated housing;
• received through privatization.

There are exceptions to this rule. They relate to inheritance (the apartment is considered owned from the date of death of the testator) and real estate received in a cooperative (the apartment is considered to be owned from the day the share is paid in full). In these situations, the date of state registration of property is not important.

Another exception concerns apartments acquired under an equity participation agreement (DDU) or assignment of rights. For such real estate, the tenure period is counted from the moment of full payment of the contract. The date of ownership is also not important here.

Attention! The time of your residence (registration) in the apartment does not play any role. The only important thing is the time that the exchanged apartment was in your ownership.

The apartment has been owned for more or less 3 years

Let us emphasize again. The 3-year rule applies to apartments:

• received ownership until 2021;
• received by inheritance, as a gift from a close relative, through privatization, a rental agreement, as well as real estate, which is the only home.

So, if the apartment that was transferred in exchange was in your ownership for 3 years or more (36 months or more), then the income received from the exchange is not taxed. There is no need to declare it. Accordingly, for transactions with such real estate there is no need to pay tax or file a tax return.

Example An apartment was inherited in September 2021. It is transferred to another person (buyer) under an exchange agreement.

Situation 1 Ownership of an apartment transferred under an exchange agreement was registered to another person (buyer) in December 2024. In this case, the total period of ownership of the apartment will be 39 months (from September 2021 to December 2024).

In this situation, you do not need to pay income tax or file a return on it.

Situation 2 Ownership of an apartment transferred under an exchange agreement was registered to another person (buyer) in April 2024. In this case, the total period of ownership of the apartment will be 28 months (from September 2021 to April 2024).

In this situation, you must declare income and submit a return. The obligation to pay tax depends on the amount of income received.

The apartment has been owned for more or less 5 years

If the apartment that was transferred in exchange was purchased in 2016 or later and at the time of exchange was in your ownership for 5 years or more (60 months or more), then the income received from the exchange is not taxed. There is no need to declare it. For transactions with such real estate, you do not need to pay tax or file a tax return.

Example An apartment was purchased in March 2021. It is transferred to another person (buyer) under an exchange agreement.

Situation 1 Ownership of an apartment transferred under an exchange agreement was registered to another person (buyer) in May 2025. In this case, the total period of ownership of the apartment will be 62 months (from March 2021 to May 2025).

In this situation, you do not need to pay income tax or file a return on it.

Situation 2 Ownership of an apartment transferred under an exchange agreement was registered to another person (buyer) in February 2025. In this case, the total period of ownership of the apartment will be 59 months (from March 2021 to February 2025).

In this situation, you must declare income and submit a return. The obligation to pay tax depends on the amount of income received.