As you know, the state, trying to stimulate the purchasing power of people, guarantees the right to receive a tax deduction when purchasing housing. That is, part of the money paid by the buyer will be returned to him - 13% or less (that is, income tax on this amount). But in fact, there are more tax deductions - for example, there is another type of deduction that anyone officially employed who has spent on treatment, pension insurance, education and even charity can count on it. We will explain further what this deduction is and to what extent it is paid.
What is “Social Tax Deduction”?
Social tax deduction (STD) is compensation for part of the costs incurred from income for training, pension insurance, treatment or charity
. In essence, this is a return of 13% of the amount spent - that is, personal income tax on it. That is, if the client has incurred any of these expenses, he has the right once a year to submit a corresponding application to the employer or directly to the Federal Tax Service, and return part of his funds - although not more than the maximum approved by law (Article 219 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation ).
When submitting an application for payment to the Federal Tax Service, you must provide at the end of the year a declaration in form 3-NDFL and copies of documents confirming the right to deduction (checks, contracts, receipts). As a rule, the deduction itself will come in the first quarter of next year. When submitting all necessary documents directly to the employer
, the deduction will be used until the end of the current year (in fact, the employee will receive both his salary and personal income tax on it).
Income tax refund: general concepts
If an officially working citizen has committed one of the actions specified in Art. 219 or 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, he can return within three years part of the money spent on education, treatment, medicines, and the purchase of housing.
Let's consider the list of cases when an applicant can return social tax:
- donations have been made to charitable or religious organizations;
- payment for training has been made;
- received paid treatment at a medical institution;
- contributions have been made to a non-state pension fund or additional insurance payments for the funded pension part;
- passed an independent qualification assessment.
Purchasing housing on the secondary market or in a new building is a legal basis for applying for a property deduction. It is also required if a citizen has become the owner of a plot of land intended for the construction of a private cottage or house.
You can receive your income tax refund in any month of the next year after the reporting period. That is, the declaration for 2016 began to be accepted in January 2022. The tax can be recovered within three years after its payment. If you have a qualified electronic signature, you can register a declaration and submit documents without leaving your home through the taxpayer’s personal account on the Federal Tax Service website. Alternative options are to deliver them in person or by a valuable letter with an inventory of the contents by mail.
Basic list of documentation that will be required for a tax refund:
- declaration 3-NDFL;
- statement;
- passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation;
- bank account details;
- TIN;
- certificate 2-NDFL.
The approved form 3-NDFL can be downloaded from the Federal Tax Service website. Bank account details are required for funds to be credited to them after the end of the desk audit. Certificate 2-NDFL should be ordered from the employer, in the accounting department. The basic list for different types of tax refund is supplemented with additional documents. Specific lists will be presented below.
The Tax Code of the Russian Federation limits the maximum amount of payments. When purchasing residential real estate, the state compensates a maximum of 260,000 rubles; for social deductions, the amount is 120,000 rubles. In one year, you can recover money from the tax service in the amount of taxes transferred for the past period.
Calculation example.
Ivanov E.I. purchased residential property for 1,800,000 rubles in 2015. The amount of the tax deduction is 13% of the cost of the apartment, that is, 234,000 rubles. In 2015, he transferred 60,000 rubles in taxes to the budget. This amount will be transferred to his account. To receive the balance (174,000 rubles), he must file tax returns for several more years.
Two tax refund methods
Property and social tax can be returned in different ways. The first option is to request a certificate from the Federal Tax Service and submit it to the employer. The tax base will be reduced by the amount specified in the notice. In other words, no tax will be deducted from the employee's salary until he has paid the full amount due.
The second way is to submit a declaration to the Federal Tax Service. With its help, you can return taxes for the previous three years. If you correctly fill out all the documents and submit them to the Federal Tax Service, then if the decision is positive, after a desk audit, a property or social deduction will be sent to your current account. Consideration of the application takes no more than three months. The legislation allows 30 days for the transfer of funds.
What expenses qualify for a deduction?
So, all officially working citizens and individual entrepreneurs on the main system (paying personal income tax instead of the single tax) can count on a social tax deduction within 13% of the amount up to 120,000 rubles (maximum 15,600 rubles) every year. That is, regardless of how much money was spent on each purpose, you will be able to return personal income tax for an amount of no more than 120 thousand rubles (with one exception - the child’s education).
The deduction is provided for expenses for the following purposes:
- Charity: this can be assistance to institutions involved in science, culture, medicine, sports or religion;
- Education: a deduction is provided for your own education, as well as for the education of close relatives: children, brothers/sisters up to 23 years of age and wards up to 18 years of age;
- Treatment: own, parents, second spouse, children, wards, brothers and sisters under 18 years of age;
- Contributions for the formation of a pension: programs for which deductions can be issued include non-state pension funds), insurance companies (pension insurance agreement on a voluntary basis for a period of more than 5 years), making additional insurance contributions for your relatives and family members;
- Qualification assessment – this takes into account the costs of a paid examination by an independent expert commission.
receive a social tax deduction up to 3 years after paying personal income tax.
for the period in which expenses were made for social needs, allowing for a deduction.
How to return tax on the purchase of an apartment
The right to a property tax deduction arises if you recently became the owner of residential real estate or a plot of land intended for the construction of a private house and paid tax at a rate of 13% every month. It follows that individual entrepreneurs using the simplified tax system (simplified taxation system) cannot realize this opportunity. The property deduction applies to apartments, houses and land plots intended for individual construction. The right to return income tax arises only after the housing is put into operation.
List of documentation required to collect a property deduction:
- certificate of ownership of residential space or extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate;
- certificate 2-NDFL;
- contract of sale;
- agreement on participation in shared construction; payment documents - checks, receipts, payment orders;
- act of acceptance and transfer of living space;
- statement;
- bank account details.
A 2-NDFL certificate must be requested from the accounting department for the period for which the tax refund is issued. In some situations, a tax representative may request additional documents. An application from spouses for the distribution of deductions is submitted in cases where the living space was acquired during marriage.
If you paid for a spouse's or child's share, you must provide a birth or marriage certificate. When money for housing was paid by order, a power of attorney for payment should be prepared. All documents are provided in the form of copies. Federal Tax Service employees may request originals for verification.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the package of documents if the property was purchased with a mortgage. In this case, it is additionally necessary to prepare a mortgage agreement and a certificate of interest paid. If the property is acquired as shared ownership, you should immediately prepare a statement on the distribution of the area.
To compensate for the costs associated with building a house, you will need expenditure documentation and an agreement on the finishing and construction of a residential property. You can collect the deduction for the last three years at once by preparing a separate declaration for each period.
Anyone can return tax on the purchase of residential space, taking into account the maximum value of 2 million rubles. The amount compensated by the state is 13% of this amount, that is, it cannot exceed 260,000 rubles. Many citizens buy an apartment with a mortgage.
An additional deduction for interest is provided for them with a limit of 3 million rubles. Since 2014, you can return tax from several objects until the total payment reaches the maximum established limit. That is, if the first apartment cost less than 2 million, the tax can be returned after purchasing the second residential property.
Calculation example.
Perevozchikov A.Yu. became the owner, the cost of which is 3,700,000 rubles. Last year he paid taxes of 290,000 rubles. Let's calculate the property deduction: 13% of 3,700,000 rubles = 481,000 rubles. The amount exceeds the maximum amount established by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Perevozchikov A.Yu. can issue a refund of 260,000 rubles.
What requirements does the law impose on applicants?
- have Russian citizenship;
- purchase residential space or land plot on the territory of the Russian Federation for individual construction with a mortgage or for cash;
- register ownership of the living space, and have a transfer and acceptance certificate for a new building.
The seller of the apartment can be an individual or legal entity - a developer, an intermediary company. Article 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not allow tax refund if the parties to the agreement are close relatives of each other. A refund from the purchase of real estate will also not be possible if the funds for the transaction were allocated in full or in part by the employer, or the square meters were purchased under a preferential program using budget funds.
How to return tax on the purchase of residential real estate to married spouses?
An apartment purchased after the official registration of family relations is considered jointly acquired property, unless the spouses indicated other conditions in the marriage contract.
Participants in the process have equal rights to property deduction. If the cost of housing is 4 million, then each spouse can claim a deduction of up to 2 million rubles. In this case, for tax refund, it does not matter who is listed as the owner or for whom the payment documentation is issued.
How to issue a property return if the apartment costs less than 4 million? If the property is worth 2 million, each spouse can return tax on 1 million. Or one person will claim a deduction from 2 million, then the second will be able to exercise his right after purchasing a second residential property.
Charity deduction
According to paragraph 1 of Article 219 Under the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, a taxpayer has the right to a deduction if he makes deductions from his official income for charity-related purposes:
- Support for organizations involved in science, culture, non-professional sports, educational process, healthcare, provision of legal and social assistance, environmental protection and wildlife;
- Financing of religious organizations to ensure the implementation of their statutory activities.
The deduction will be provided within 13% of the funds spent, but not more than up to 25% of the annual income
. For example, if a payer receives 600 thousand rubles a year and spends 70 thousand on charity, then he will receive 9,100 rubles as a deduction.
But if 300 thousand rubles are spent on charity (which is 50% of income), then you can only count on a deduction from an amount of up to 120 thousand rubles, and only 15,600 rubles will be returned.
worth noting :
- To receive a deduction, you need to spend money on charity only in cash;
- The organization spends the funds received exclusively on the basic needs of its own activities;
- Funds should be transferred to the organization’s balance sheet only directly;
- The taxpayer cannot claim any benefits from the sponsored organization.
Study deduction
As previously mentioned, you can receive compensation both for paying for your own education and for educating your wards, children and brothers/sisters. The main thing is that the educational institution where the training takes place must certainly have a license to operate.
The specialization of educational institutions can be varied:
- Kindergartens and preschool educational centers and clubs;
- Schools and studios, clubs and developmental courses;
- Specialized schools (evening schools, driving schools, music, choreography, theater arts, etc.);
- Courses and centers for advanced training or retraining;
- Lyceums, schools, technical schools and universities.
As for the amount of the deduction, it cannot exceed 13% of 120,000 rubles spent per year on one’s own education or that of a brother/sister and 50,000 rubles on the education of children and wards.
If a child has two parents, and they both plan to apply for a deduction, then it is worth considering that you can still only count on up to 50,000 rubles. This means that individual parents will only be able to receive compensation in the amount of up to 25,000 rubles each.
But if there are two or more children, then you need to know that compensation for the amount spent on education - up to 50 thousand rubles - is due for each child.
Deduction for treatment
To receive a deduction after your own treatment or treatment of close relatives, you must have on hand all the documents confirming the purchase of medicines and the payment for direct treatment. You can submit an application either directly to the Federal Tax Service or to your employer. In the first case, the entire due amount will be refunded in full.
, and in the second case, the payment will be partially reimbursed along with wages through the payment of funds without repaying income taxes until the debt is fully reimbursed. Funds spent on voluntary health insurance are also refundable.
You can receive a deduction if the payments were not made from the employer’s funds. The maximum costs from which you can receive a deduction is 120,000 rubles
. The exception is expensive treatment. For this, you can count on compensation for the entire amount spent. You can study what exactly refers to expensive treatment in PP No. 458 dated 04/08/2020.
Common property
It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “common shared property” and “common joint property”.
"Total share
own"
In common shared ownership, the share of each owner is clearly defined (for example, ½ part of an apartment, ¼ part of a house, etc.). In common joint ownership, shares are not defined, and the owners own all property jointly.
In case of joint shared ownership, the property tax deduction (hence the tax refund) is distributed in accordance with the shares of the owners, for example spouses. The transfer of a deduction share by one owner to another is unacceptable.
"General joint
own"
In case of common joint ownership, the deduction is also distributed, but by agreement of the owners. Owners must write a written application for the distribution of the deduction and submit it to the tax office along with other documents. For example, you can make a tax refund when buying an apartment in favor of one owner.
Pension deduction
If citizens consciously make contributions to a non-state pension fund, trying to increase the funded part of their pension, then they are also entitled to a deduction. The same applies to clients of insurance companies who have entered into a DSP agreement. Moreover, it does not matter at all to whom the insurance payment is issued, to the client himself or to his close relative. The main thing is that in the payer field the details of the person who will subsequently receive compensation are indicated.
Therefore, social deductions are an opportunity to return part of the funds paid
as a tax on income if this income is spent on one of the socially significant areas. Of course, the maximum annual net deduction is not too large - 15,600 rubles, but this is a real opportunity to compensate, although minimal, but still part of your own funds.
Moreover, the amount of expenses for expensive treatment can be a separate deduction and cannot be combined with other expenses.
How to apply for a tax refund for the self-employed for 2022?
Tax refunds are made to the payer's bank card. There is no need to fill out any applications, you just need to indicate its details in the application or web version of your “My Tax” personal account. If you have entered information about several valid cards, you must indicate one of them as the main one. The refunded tax amount will be credited there.
Linking a bank card occurs according to the following algorithm:
- Install the “My Tax” application on your mobile device and log into it using the phone number or Unified Status Information System (USIA) account used for your personal Government Services account.
- Go to the "Other" section. In the “Payments” subsection, select “Add a card”.
- Fill in the number, expiration date of the bank card and the secret code on the back of it. Then, during the linking process, transactions are verified by writing off and returning small amounts (1 and 10 rubles). These actions may be accompanied by SMS confirmation of transactions.
- The result of successful binding will be displayed on the screen.
- If you click the “Return to my tax” button, information about the added card will appear. Attention! The card is added with a delay, if it is not there, try logging into the application later.
Bank card details are added in the same way in the web version of “My Tax”:
- Log in to your account using the link. And go to the settings page.
- Click the “Payment information” tab → “Add a new card”.
After some time, a line with the last four digits of the linked card will appear in the “Payments” section.
Refunds will be processed automatically within the following time frames:
- information about the card details is entered by the 5th day - the amount will be received by the 20th day of the same month;
- the card is linked after the 5th - the refund will be transferred after the 20th to the next month.
