So, today we will be interested in the deadline for returning the tax deduction when purchasing an apartment, as well as the list of documents that will be required to be submitted to the appropriate authorities. In fact, this question is interesting and useful to many. After all, when paying taxes and making certain transactions, you can simply return the “nth” amount to your account. A pleasant bonus from the state that attracts many. But such a process has its own deadlines and design rules. It's not that difficult to remember them. How do you get a tax refund when buying an apartment? What documents are required? In what time frame can you take advantage of the opportunity? There must be at least some restrictions!
How many?
Yes, there are some. But more about them a little later. After all, to begin with, it’s worth taking a closer look at what we’re talking about in principle. How much can you get back from the deal? And is there a certain limit on returns? The tax deduction typically allows you to get 13% of your expenses. This process has its limitations on the amount that is returned to the taxpayer. This is 260,000 rubles. You have the right to return only funds from an apartment worth up to RUR 2,000,000. So, don't be surprised. Every place has its own rules. There is no way to get back more than 260 thousand. It is illegal.
When?
But don't worry too much. After all, the period for returning a tax deduction when buying an apartment is not so short. You will definitely have time to prepare for it. And in general, the registration will seem like a trifle if you collect the documents correctly.
What deadlines will the taxpayer have to meet? In general, property deductions, like any others, can be issued within 3 years after the transaction. That is, it is not necessary to rush to prepare documents immediately after the purchase. Yes, you don’t need to hesitate either, but panicking that you won’t have time to implement your idea is not the best technique.
In practice, the tax deduction refund period for the purchase of an apartment is usually set at 1 year. No, you can completely arrange it later. But citizens are accustomed to dealing with paperwork until the end of the tax reporting period. Therefore, in fact, they even try to get rid of deductions as quickly as possible. This is not as difficult as it may seem at first. All you need is to collect a certain list of documents, present them to the tax service, and then just wait.
Maximum payment amount and example of how tax deduction is calculated
The tax deduction limit is set at 2 million rubles, and for interest tax compensation – 3 million rubles.
Example 1 . Buying an apartment on the secondary market. Citizen Shishkin I.I. bought an apartment worth 3.5 million rubles. Taking into account the limit, he can submit documents for a refund of personal income tax paid in the amount of 2,000,000 * 1% = 260,000 rubles.
Example 2 . Purchase of housing under a mortgage loan agreement. Davydova T.N. received a targeted loan from the bank to purchase an apartment in the amount of 4 million rubles. At the same time, the cost of housing is 5.2 million rubles. After taking ownership of gr. Davydova paid interest in the amount of 360 thousand rubles. Then the calculation will look like this: 2,000,000 * 13% + 360,000 * 13% = 306,800 rubles.
Example 3 . Buying a share. Citizen A and citizen B bought an apartment worth 4 million rubles. In this case, A has 25% ownership and B has 75%. Accordingly, expenses are distributed as follows:
- gr. A: 4 * 25% = 1 million rubles;
- gr. B: 4 * 75% = 3 million rubles.
Then citizen A has the right to a tax refund in the amount of 1 million * 13% = 130 thousand rubles, and citizen B has the right to 2 million * 13% = 260 thousand rubles. (based on a limit of 2 million rubles).
Are there special calculation calculators, where can I find them and how to use them?
Yes, such tools exist. You can easily find them through any search engine. There are universal calculators that provide for entering data to calculate various types of deductions; there are only those for property. To determine the amount of personal income tax compensation when purchasing an apartment, you must enter the following data:
- year of home purchase;
- amount of income for the year;
- the amount of accrued personal income tax;
- whether the deduction was previously used and if so, for what amount and when.
Ultimately, the calculator will determine how much can be refunded to the taxpayer.
After submission
Now a new question arises. What is the deadline for returning a tax deduction when purchasing an apartment after submitting an application? After all, you need to understand how long the tax authorities take to consider a particular case. It is difficult to come to a common opinion here. Especially when you consider that in different regions there is a varied duration of approval of any deduction, not necessarily property.
What can you expect on average? What is the deadline for returning a tax deduction when purchasing an apartment? Feedback from taxpayers most often indicates that everything will be allotted about 4 months. This is how much the deduction will be issued after you submit your application. Of this period, only the application is considered for about 2 months. The rest of the time, funds are transferred to the taxpayer’s account. Sometimes this process lasts less, sometimes longer. But on average you should count on 4 months. This is the deadline for returning a tax deduction when purchasing an apartment after you have submitted documents for consideration. If you need to re-register, you will have to “reset the counter”. And again count down about four months. In principle, this is not such a problem.
Deadlines for receiving tax deductions when purchasing an apartment
The entire procedure for obtaining a tax deduction takes from 2 to 4 months . This variation in terms is due to the individual characteristics of each case and the choice of method of obtaining the deduction.
Deadlines for receiving a deduction through the tax office
To receive a tax deduction through the Federal Tax Service, you will need up to 4 months from the date of preparation and submission of all necessary documents to the tax authority.
After all the documents have been collected and submitted to the Federal Tax Service, in accordance with clause 7 of Article 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the tax office begins a so-called desk audit, which lasts up to 3 months. After completing the audit, if there were no errors in the documents provided, the tax office, through the treasury, transfers the funds within 30 days to the bank or card account specified in the application.
Deadlines for receiving a deduction at the place of work
The tax office requires up to 30 calendar days from the date of submission of documents to check all the data and prepare a notice that will indicate the total amount of the property deduction.
To minimize the time it takes to receive a deduction, we recommend submitting documents to the tax authority in the year of purchasing the property and immediately after purchasing the apartment!
After receiving a notification from the tax office, you must provide it at your place of work. From the moment the application is accepted, the employer will stop withholding personal income tax from your income and will transfer it along with your salary.
Let's look at an example of receiving a deduction at your place of work:
Krylov A.A. receives a salary of 504,000 rubles. per year, which is equal to 42,000 rubles. per month, out of 42,000 rubles, the employer monthly withholds and pays to the tax authority personal income tax (13%) in the amount of 5,460 rubles, after which Krylov A.A. receives 36,540 rubles. October 20, 2020 Krylov A.A. purchased real estate for RUB 1,880,000, November 5, 2020. prepared and submitted all documents to the tax office, December 4, 2020. received a notification with a deduction amount of 244,400 rubles, after which he handed over the documents to the employer. From this moment on, the employer does not withhold personal income tax and pays wages monthly without withholding tax in the amount of 42,000 rubles. If you have not received the full deduction amount over the past year, you must re-receive a notification from the tax office and submit it to your employer. And so on until the full deduction is received.
Deadlines for receiving a deduction online through the tax website
The period for receiving a property deduction for the purchase of an apartment, when submitting documents through your personal account on the website nalog.ru , is made in accordance with clause 6 of Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and does not differ from the period for a personal visit to the tax office, and is up to 4 months . of which a desk audit takes 3 months and up to 30 days will be spent on transferring funds.
Statement
Well, now it’s time to take a closer look at the immediate list of documents required to complete the operation. If you think about it, getting a tax deduction back when buying an apartment is not that difficult. You won't need a lot of paperwork. A few important points are enough. And a little patience. So where should you start?
Of course, with the preparation and writing of the appropriate application. The thing is that any deduction should be provided only if the necessary paper is available. At the request of the applicant. A sample form can be viewed on the official website of the Tax Service of the Russian Federation. There is also a form there that will help you make a request for future use. Provided in a single copy - the original.
Methods and terms for receiving returned funds
The method of receiving the deduction, as well as the period during which you can expect a refund, depends on how it was issued.
We invite you to watch a video about the timing of receiving funds:
Through the employer
When applying for a deduction through the employer as such, there will be no refund . The accounting department simply will not withhold tax until the amount approved by the tax office is reached. In this case, the refund will begin from the month following the submission of documents and will continue until the amount is exhausted.
The advantage of this method is that you do not need to wait until the end of the year, but you can receive the benefit immediately. The downside is that it will not be one amount at once, but compensation depending on the size of the accrued salary.
Through the Federal Tax Service
How to get a tax deduction from the tax office and how long does it take for the Federal Tax Service to transfer the payment? If the taxpayer submitted documents and an application personally to the tax office or through a personal account, then in any case it will take up to 3 months for the desk audit and another one to consider the application. Thus, the maximum period for receiving money will be up to 4 months.
The advantage of this method is that the tax for the year will be returned in one amount in accordance with the tax paid for the previous year. The disadvantage is the long processing time for documents.
Personality
Do not forget that any paperwork must be accompanied by the establishment of your identity. That is, you will need the appropriate document. In our case, this is nothing more than a passport. Or, more precisely, a copy of it. Make sure you have a photocopy of all pages in advance. In particular, 2, 3 and the one where registration is indicated. Information about marital status must also be available. The original is not needed to receive a deduction. A copy is sufficient. If desired, it can even be certified. But, to be honest, many people just provide a photocopy and don’t bother.
Income
The next point that you have to take into account is your income. The deadline for returning a tax deduction when purchasing an apartment cannot begin counting until you confirm your taxpayer status. That is, do not indicate income. Here you will have to present a 3-NDFL certificate. It fills in on its own. Moreover, at the moment you can do this using a special program on your computer. You must also attach Form 2-NDFL to your application.
The second document is prepared independently if you work for yourself. Otherwise (as usually happens), the paper is taken from the accounting department of your employer. This is a kind of confirmation that you have taxable income. Only original certificates are accepted. They are needed in a single copy. So, keep this in mind. A copy of the work record book will not be superfluous.
Property deduction - what is it?
So, when purchasing a new apartment, you become entitled to property tax.
It would be more correct to say that you have the right to a tax deduction. The deduction is calculated from the cost of the purchased housing. According to the law, the amount for purchasing an apartment should not exceed 2 million rubles . It is from this amount that the tax refund will be calculated, namely 260 thousand rubles . This is the maximum amount by law.
With a mortgage, a percentage of three million rubles is returned. In practice, they return a maximum of 390 thousand as income tax.
Having purchased housing on the secondary market, you can apply for a property tax or deduction 1 year after purchase . It is important to know that in this way you will receive a deduction for exactly the year in which the property was purchased, plus subsequent years. But more on that later.
This type of tax also applies to shared participation in construction. Interestingly, in this case you also need to wait a year after the transfer and acceptance certificate was signed. The year is calculated from the date on the document. After this time, you can count on help from the state as a property tax deduction.
Expenses and property
How to get a tax refund when buying an apartment? The documents given above are not all that is needed. Now that the relevant certificates are available, you must confirm your ownership of the property. And don't forget about expenses either.
What might be needed here? First, a certificate of ownership, a copy, preferably notarized. Secondly, the purchase and sale agreement, as well as various receipts from the seller confirming the fact of transfer and receipt of money from you. Checks and receipts (or, more precisely, copies of them) are also mandatory items. Without these documents, you will not be able to carry out your return plan.
Step-by-step instructions for obtaining a tax deduction for the purchase of an apartment
Procedure and documents required to obtain a tax deduction from the Federal Tax Service:
- a copy of the passport (main page with photo and registration page) and TIN (taxpayer identification number);
- declaration in form 3-NDFL , the original is provided to the tax office (in case of receiving a deduction through the tax office), can be filled out either in paper form by hand or using the program provided by the Federal Tax Service, if you have access to the taxpayer’s personal account , we recommend filling out the declaration in your personal account (download the declaration and see instructions for filling out, we recommend on the official website of the Federal Tax Service); An example of filling out a declaration in form 3-NDFL;
- Program for filling out the 3-NDFL declaration ( the program only works under Windows );
After preparing all the collected documents, you must:
— provide documents and their copies to the tax office at the individual’s registered address;
— wait for the decision on tax refund for the acquired property. The period for consideration of this decision may be no more than three months;
— receive a refund of funds to the bank account specified in the application, payment will be transferred no later than one month from the date of the decision on tax refund.
Procedure and documents required to obtain a tax deduction through an employer:
To receive a tax deduction through the employer where the applicant is employed, you should proceed in the same way as when contacting the tax service, with the exception of some points:
- Write in free form or use an application prepared by us to receive a notification from the tax authority about the right to a property deduction.
- Prepare all the documents indicated above in the section for obtaining a deduction from the Federal Tax Service, with the exception of the 3-NDFL 2-NDFL income certificate .
- Submit the prepared documents and their copies to the tax service at your place of residence.
- After 30 days from the date of submission of all documents, you may receive a notification of the right to a property deduction from the tax authority.
- The notification received from the tax authority must be provided to your employer along with an application addressed to the manager for a tax deduction.
- After which, the employer will not withhold personal income tax from the amount of income paid to an individual until the end of the current year or until the full amount of the tax deduction is received. If the amount of the tax deduction has not been fully paid at the end of the calendar year, then it is necessary to re-receive a notification from the tax authority and provide it to the employer.
- Moreover, according to paragraph 1 of Art. 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and letter of the Ministry of Finance dated January 20, 2017 No. 03-04-06/2416, you have the right to a refund of already paid tax that the employer has withheld since the beginning of the year. To do this, you need to write an application for a refund of overpaid personal income tax and provide it to the employer. After receiving the application, within 3 months, the employer will refund the tax paid by transferring funds to the account specified in the application.
When submitting copies of documents to the tax office, be sure to take all originals with you. The tax inspector may request them for verification.
Other
The matter doesn't end there. Refunding a tax deduction when purchasing an apartment for pensioners and others usually requires additional paperwork. It doesn't cause much trouble, but it does happen. So, for example, it is pensioners who must confirm their status and benefits. They present copies of health certificates (especially in case of disability), as well as a pension certificate. Men must provide military ID. This is especially true for retired military personnel. But the list doesn’t end there either. What else might be useful?
For example, very often citizens are asked to present birth certificates of children, as well as marriage and divorce papers. These are not such important points, but sometimes they can interfere with the design. More precisely, push it back for a while. The most common copies are enough. Attach them just in case, so that unnecessary questions and problems do not arise.
Documentation for income tax refund
In order to return part of the money for the purchase of housing, the construction of which is still ongoing, you need to collect a package of documents for transfer to the Federal Tax Service. You will need:
This is important to know: The tax office is delaying the return of property deductions for an apartment: what to do
- Russian passport.
- Taxpayer identification number.
- A paper confirming the purchase of an apartment in a new building (agreement on participation in shared construction).
- An acceptance certificate or other document proving the transfer by the developer of the real estate to the shareholder.
- Payment documentation confirming the conclusion of the transaction.
- Papers that record the costs incurred by the purchaser of the property (bank statements about the transfer of money to the seller’s account from the buyer’s account, sales receipts and receipts for the purchase of building materials, etc.).
- Completed 3-NDFL declaration.
- Certificate of income 2-NDFL from the place of work for 12 months of the year in which the apartment in the new building was purchased.
- Application for payment of compensation.
When purchasing property into joint common ownership, a copy of the marriage certificate and a written agreement of the parties on the distribution of the deduction between them are submitted to the tax authority.
Mortgage
No matter how strange it may sound, with a mortgage you can also get back some of the money spent. True, here the maximum cost of housing will no longer be 2, but 3 million rubles. But the percentages remain the same - 13%. What is the deadline for returning a tax deduction when purchasing an apartment with a mortgage? The same as in all other cases. You have the right to submit a request after a maximum of 3 years, the review period will be approximately 4 months. There are no differences and there never will be. Only in relation to the documents presented. To the above list you will also have to attach a mortgage agreement along with receipts for payment of interest on the transaction. Without them, there is no way to get the mortgage deduction back.
Conditions to receive personal income tax
The tax base for personal income tax can be reduced in the following events:
- when buying an apartment (how to write an application to receive a deduction in this case, read here, and whether pensioners can count on receiving it, you will find out from a separate article);
- when purchasing a land plot for individual housing construction and building a house on it;
- when selling an apartment or house (you can learn about receiving such a deduction here);
- when purchasing real estate from an individual for its further use for municipal and state purposes.
Who is entitled to it and what percentage is returned?
Individuals who have carried out the above-mentioned real estate transactions have the right to a property tax deduction. At the same time, they must be officially employed, since when applying for a tax refund, they must provide a certificate of income from their place of work.
We discussed whether an individual entrepreneur can qualify for a deduction when buying an apartment in a separate article.
They must have a complete set of documents on hand regarding the transaction. The deduction limit is set at 2 million rubles . This means that you can return 13% of the specified amount, i.e. 260 thousand rubles. Therefore, if the cost of the apartment exceeds 2 million, then the maximum amount can be returned. If, for example, 1,400 thousand rubles were spent on purchasing housing, then 13% of it is due back: 182 thousand rubles.
Another option for property deduction when purchasing a home is the return of interest on the mortgage agreement. Here the limit is 3 million rubles. Thus, the maximum amount by which the tax can be reduced is 13% of the specified limit, i.e. 390 thousand rubles. This also applies to mortgage refinancing.
Here it should be said about such a limitation: if payment for the apartment was made from maternity capital, from the employer or from the budget, then a tax deduction cannot be provided.
How many times can I take it and is it permissible to use it for a second living space?
Is it possible to get a tax refund a second time? The deduction when purchasing an apartment is provided only once . However, from 2014 this right can be granted again. In this regard, paragraph 3 of Article 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation says the following. If the taxpayer did not receive the deduction in full (i.e., the entire possible limit of 2 million rubles was not used), then he can submit documents again in connection with new construction or the acquisition of real estate. The maximum amount is determined based on the limit in force on the day of the first application for a property deduction.
We invite you to watch a video about how many times you can use the service:
Limitation periods: the time during which you can register
When can I submit a 3-NDFL return for a refund?
An application and package of documents for a refund of personal income tax can be submitted at any time after purchasing an apartment. The Tax Code does not provide for a statute of limitations for property deductions.
Requisites
The main thing is to provide the details for replenishing your account. Banking information must be indicated in the application for tax deduction. Without them, you will simply be refused.
In principle, there is nothing difficult about the details. You indicate the account where to transfer the money directly in the application form. As soon as the full list of documents is ready, submit them to the tax service for review. And now you can just wait. After some time, you will receive a response from the authorities with a decision to grant a deduction or refusal, indicating the reason. If you are caught by the second option, correct the situation and try again. In the first case, you just have to wait for the funds to be directly transferred to your account.
Tax refund deadlines
Due to the fact that not all individuals are entitled to the tax refund benefit, the tax office needs a certain amount of time to carry out a special audit.
It also takes additional time for a special commission to make a decision on granting or denying a benefit.
Even if the application is reviewed positively, the individual is not given the accrued funds in cash. They are transferred to the taxpayer's bank account. Such transactions also require a certain amount of time. Time may also be spent sending some documents.
The Tax Code stipulates not only the conditions for providing tax refund benefits. It also defines the time frame within which funds must be transferred.
However, some inconsistency can be found in the Tax Code. In particular, the contents of the two articles contradict each other.
Article 78 specifies that payments must be made within one month. However, in fact, such a requirement is rarely met.
This is important to know: Transfer of maternity capital to the seller when buying an apartment: timing
Violations of the return deadlines specified in Article 78 are not always associated with facts of dishonest performance of official duties by tax inspectorate employees.
Article 88 specifies additional conditions for making payments. It requires that such payments can only be made after a special audit. The article specifies a period of up to three months for conducting tax audits.
As a result, most taxpayers face a waiting period of up to four months. Unfortunately, in fact, the period often increases significantly. Many people start receiving their tax refund after nine and sometimes twelve months.
In some cases, the deadlines are increased due to the actions of the taxpayer himself, in particular:
- filing an incorrectly completed application;
- providing incorrect documents;
- absence of documents in the provided package, without which it is impossible to make a decision.
