Tax on gift of an apartment: is it necessary to pay under a deed of gift (donation agreement) and who makes the fiscal payment for the donated real estate, and also whether it is necessary to pay if the gift is from close relatives

General concepts

First, let's try to familiarize ourselves with the basic concepts and terms that are important to know to solve such issues:

A gift agreement is an agreement between two parties in which one party transfers ownership of something (for example, real estate) to the other party free of charge.
Another important concept is the real estate gift tax . According to current legislation, it must be paid by the donee. The rate is 13% of the total price of the property.

It is necessary to immediately talk about some important details:

The gift agreement does not provide for any conditions. However, many try to disguise the gift as some other transaction.
An important detail is that when making a gift, close relatives are exempt from all types of duties. To do this, when drawing up a contract, you just need to provide the relevant papers on family ties.

Based on these features of the contract, many try to avoid payment by formalizing other transactions under the guise of a gift. Most often they are the “Lifetime Maintenance Agreement”, as well as the “Inheritance Agreement”.

It must be said that this is provided for by law. If you try to pull off such a scam, the contract may be canceled. Cancellation occurs exclusively in court and is the most acceptable result. There are often cases when participants may be subject to financial and sometimes criminal liability.

Size and tax base

As already stated, the standard tax rate is 13% of the total price, but this may vary depending on various circumstances.

Let's look at the different options:

For residents of the country. Such residents are considered to be people who have Russian citizenship, as well as registration on the territory of the Russian Federation. In addition, before concluding a transaction to donate real estate, a person must stay in the country for at least six months. Traveling abroad, even for a few days, resets this counter. If all formalities are met, the resident pays an amount of 13%.
For non-residents of the country. In this case, we mean people who do not have Russian citizenship and registration. In addition, even a citizen of the Russian Federation who has traveled abroad at least once in the last six months can be considered a non-resident. In this case, tax calculation occurs according to a different scheme. Its size may exceed 13%. The maximum interest rate in this case is 30%.

We must not forget about the tax base. Let's look at a few basic details:

Income tax is paid even in situations where only part of the house or apartment goes to the donee.
It is not necessary to indicate the value of the property in the contract. The donor may not know how much it costs and may not say or write anything about it. However, this does not mean that the gift is worthless. In such cases, the amount is calculated based on the inventory value. This cost is set by a special body, where you can then obtain the document itself. This is done at the BTI.
The amount of the gift that the recipient received is his income. You need to know this and indicate it in your income tax return for the next year. It is important to enter the full amount, which is based on the assessment in the BTI. Otherwise, penalties will be assessed.
The tax amount can only be calculated after all documents have been completed. Having concluded a transaction with a notary or at the Registration Chamber, the package of papers is sent to the tax office. The recipient must receive a receipt within 14 days, which he needs to pay.
Payment can be made at absolutely any bank ; you must have a receipt and a passport with you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KqBYs554ZQ

When do you need to submit a declaration if you donated an apartment?

A declaration on the donation of an apartment and payment of tax is submitted immediately after the donation transaction has been formalized by the Rosreestr authority and the new owner has assumed his legal rights.

The fact is that immediately after the persons have completed the transaction, they have a lot of new troubles, and understanding this, the state allowed the parties to the transaction to submit a declaration not immediately, but within 3 calendar months.

We strongly do not recommend filling out a declaration for donating an apartment yourself, especially if you have not worked with such documents. This is a very complex process in which it is very easy to make any mistakes.

Therefore, entrust this matter to professionals, tax office employees . These people will draw up a declaration about you, and all you have to do is pay a fee to the state.

Filing a tax return

Filing a tax return is actually a very simple procedure. However, you need to navigate this process in order to carry out this action as competently and quickly as possible. Let's consider the main exciting issues that accompany this process.

How to fill out the document correctly?

The declaration is submitted in the form of document 3 personal income tax. You can easily download this form on the Internet. You can fill out this document either yourself , but after reading the instructions for filling it out, or ask a lawyer or tax inspector for help .

We recommend that you use the latter method, since it is the tax officer who will help you complete this procedure as competently and efficiently as possible.

You must indicate the value of the property, which corresponds to the cadastral value, as well as other information that is available in the document. The fact is that incorrectly specified information, or a complete refusal to provide it, is the basis for your refusal to submit a declaration and you will have to submit it again.

Form of document 3 personal income tax.

Sample of filling out the 3-NDFL declaration: an apartment was received under a gift agreement.

How to calculate the amount of duty?

In order to initially calculate the amount of tax, even before paying it, it is not at all necessary to contact a lawyer. You can easily carry out this procedure at home yourself and get an approximate cost. In order to make such calculations, you need to find out the cadastral value of your apartment.

To do this, you can contact the Inventory Bureau, or call an appraiser to your home. These persons evaluate the cadastral value, which is usually much lower than the market value, and tell you the result, while simultaneously handing over a certificate of the procedure performed.

Methods for transmitting a fiscal document

There are several ways to submit returns to the tax authorities.

The first of them is personal appearance, when you yourself bring documents to the tax authority. This method is the most preferred and also popular.
But it is possible to submit a declaration by involving a proxy. To do this, you must draw up a power of attorney for a specific citizen who represents the interests and appear at the inspection.
The third method is to submit by mail. Let's say there is no tax office in your locality, and in order to file a declaration you need to go to another city, which is difficult. In this situation, you can prepare all the necessary papers at home and send them by mail. But keep in mind that in this situation the deadlines will be slightly longer.

What additional documents are needed when receiving housing as a gift?

In addition to the declaration, you must provide:

the agreement in accordance with which the donation transaction took place;
passports of the donor and recipient;
documents that indicate the assessment, or inventory documents indicating the cadastral value of the land plot.

In addition, you may additionally be required to provide other papers that we cannot discuss within the framework of general rules.

Basic tax payment procedure

Now, having dealt with the basic details, let's move on to the main payment process:

The first step is to prepare all the documents that need to be submitted to the tax office.
Based on the documents, a receipt will be received, which must be repaid by a certain date.
After repayment, prepare an income tax return and send it to the tax office.

At first glance, everything is quite simple, but if you consider the whole process, you can easily get confused. Let's go through all the stages in more detail.

Required documents

What documents need to be prepared to take advantage of the tax deduction? The list of documents is standard and includes the following papers:

application for a property deduction;
passport;
certificate of income from the official place of work, filled out in Form 2-NDFL;
a notarized contract of purchase and sale or shared ownership of real estate;
completed tax return in form 3-NDFL;
extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate;
documents - checks, receipts, bank statements confirming the fact of payment for the apartment;
acceptance certificate (optional for DCT);
marriage certificate (if available);
bank account details for depositing funds;
loan agreement and a certificate of accrued interest on the mortgage for the year (if the property is purchased on credit).

All listed documents for obtaining a property deduction are submitted both in originals and copies. Each copy will need to be personally certified.

When the package of documents is prepared, you go to the Tax Inspectorate office at the place of your registration or apartment registration. It is very important to write the application correctly on the spot, as well as fill out the tax return. If the inspector finds errors, your application will be returned to the Tax Office. Therefore, if you doubt the correctness of drawing up documents for deduction, it is better to use the help of a specialist. Once you are done with this question, all that remains is to wait for the answer and the money. If you are in another city, then the documents can be sent by mail, but you must send the parcel in a valuable letter with an inventory included inside.

Penalties

There is no point in delaying payment, as the law provides for a number of penalties:

For late declaration. If the donee has not paid the required amount by April 30 of the year following the transaction, he is issued a fine for late payment. This fine, as well as the tax, must be paid before July 15 of the current year.
For failure to pay gift taxes by July 15th. If nothing is done by July 15, a fine of 20% of the total tax amount will be assessed.
In case of intentional non-payment of contributions. After July 15, the next date will be set by which everything must be paid. If nothing is done before this date, it will be regarded as intentional non-payment. In this case, another 40% of the total gift tax will be added to all debts.

Deadlines for receiving tax deductions

In case of receiving a tax deduction through the employer, the employee will receive the full amount of money from the next month after submitting the application to the accounting department.

The deadline for receiving a tax deduction when filing an application with the Federal Tax Service consists of several components:

Time for desk verification of submitted documents (up to 3 months from the date of submission),
Time to make a decision on payment – up to 10 days,
Time to complete a bank transfer is up to 30 days.

Citizens who are exempt from paying tax

Spouses. This system is not ideal and there are often cases when fictitious marriages are concluded to formalize large transactions. However, gifts to spouses are not taxable. To do this, it is necessary to provide a document confirming the marriage when concluding the contract. Spouses are exempt from all duties, even if the marriage was concluded 5 minutes ago, and they can also live separately.
Parents and children, including adopted ones. In this case, everything is simple and clear. Both parents to children and children to parents can give real estate. To do this, you must have the parent’s passport (where the child is registered), as well as the child’s documents (passport and birth certificate). Adopted children are considered equal to their own children and have the same rights.
Brothers and sisters, including half-blooded and half-brothers. This means that it is not necessary to have common parents. If brothers and sisters have the same parent, they are already considered completely exempt from payments under the gift transaction.
Grandparents and their grandchildren. The situation here is exactly the same as with parents. Only when concluding a contract is it necessary to have documents confirming the relationship. This can be quite difficult to do. The easiest way is to take the birth certificate of your grandson (the father and mother are indicated there), and then take the birth certificate of the father or mother (the grandfather and grandmother are indicated there as parents). Having these two documents, you can easily confirm family ties. If there are no such documents or they are lost, you must contact the registry office or the main archive of the city. You must submit an application and wait for a response (confirmation). A deal can also be concluded on the basis of this document.

Is it possible to avoid paying real estate gift tax and reduce its amount?

This question torments many people, so let’s look into everything in detail. In fact, it is impossible to avoid paying, but you can reduce the amount. To reduce payments, the gift agreement is disguised as a purchase and sale transaction with a fictitious transfer of funds.

In the case of such a transaction, the duty is paid by the seller (donor) and it also leaves 13%. But if the property was owned by the seller for less than 3 years, then 13% is calculated from an amount not exceeding 1,000,000 rubles. Thus, if the subject of the contract is an apartment or a house whose cost exceeds 1 million rubles, the deal is more profitable.

But do not forget that it remains fictitious. You can challenge it at any time by filing a lawsuit in court. In this case, the court may cancel the transaction and hold one or both participants financially and even criminally liable.

To summarize, it is worth saying that donating real estate, processing documents and paying all fees is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. But situations vary, so it is strongly recommended to consult a lawyer for advice.

Are there any benefits when donating an apartment to a relative?

Grounds for challenging a gift agreement: - inconsistency of the form and procedure of registration; — limitation of the donor’s legal capacity at the time of donation; - on the grounds of the “imaginary transaction” (this is related to the issue of writing down a clause on further residence in the contract); - pressure, coercion, delusion; — unworthy treatment of the gift; - death of the recipient if this is specified in the contract; — violation in determining the terms and subject of the contract; — additionally — a number of special cases.

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What value is taxed? When this possibility is excluded, other estimates are used: [WARNING] Important! It must be taken into account that the cadastral value is of decisive importance, according to the amendments of 2020.