How many times can I file a declaration for property deduction?

Key Aspects

Any citizen has the right to return part of the expenses incurred to pay for services or a property transaction.

What it is

A tax deduction is understood as a reduction in the tax burden by a certain amount.
The money is returned not by direct transfers, but by reducing the amount of tax (clause 3 of Article 210 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). It is this method of return that taxpayers are most often pushed to by the Federal Tax Service. However, the option of transferring the required amount to a card or bank account is available. The payer must receive profit in the Russian Federation and deduct a 13% tax on it, with the exception of income from equity participation in organizations, winnings in lotteries and gambling. Officially unemployed citizens do not pay it, and therefore are not subject to the deduction.

Important! Those businessmen who work under special tax regimes cannot claim compensation.

What expenses are eligible for compensation?

The Tax Code provides for several types of compensation:

• property (when selling real estate that was owned for less than the minimum period of ownership specified in Article 217.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation; when selling other property (except securities) that was owned for less than three years; when purchasing housing (shares in it), a land plot intended for housing construction or on which housing has already been built; deduction when withdrawing a land plot and (or) other real estate located on it for state or municipal needs);
• professional (individual entrepreneurs; notaries, lawyers and other persons engaged in private practice; taxpayers performing work (providing services) under civil contracts; taxpayers receiving royalties);
• standard (“for themselves” to certain categories of individuals; for children, parents and their spouses, adoptive parents, foster parents and their spouses, guardians and trustees);
• social (charity expenses, training, treatment, voluntary personal insurance, voluntary contributions to pension provision (insurance), voluntary life insurance, additional contributions to the funded part of the pension, undergoing an independent assessment of one’s qualifications, expensive treatment, education of one’s children);
• refunds for unprofitable manipulations with securities, damage from membership in investment unions and concluded transactions;
• investment (deductions for profits received in the tax period from the sale (redemption) of securities traded on the securities market that were owned for more than three years; deductions for an individual investment account are provided either in the amount of funds actually deposited into this account in the tax period).

The refund is made through a reduction in income tax.

Attention! The possibility of receiving compensation is provided for in the Tax Code in Art. 219-222. Money for expenses is reimbursed only if the citizen is officially employed. Download for viewing and printing:

Article 219 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation “Social tax deductions”

Article 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation “Property tax deductions”

Article 221 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation “Professional tax deductions”

Article 222 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation “Powers of legislative (representative) bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to establish social and property deductions”

What is a tax deduction?

A tax deduction is an amount of money by the amount of which the financial base necessary to calculate the amount of contributions to the country’s budget is reduced.

According to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, there are six types of compensation from the state:

• professional;
• property;
• standard;
• social;
• applied during the transfer of damage to subsequent tax periods resulting from actions carried out with securities and actions with monetary instruments under transactions of a fixed-term nature carried out on an organized market;
• applied when transferring damage from membership in an investment union to subsequent periods.

Who can claim the deduction

Legal entities and individuals who:

• are residents of the Russian Federation;
• stay within the country for at least 183 days a year.

The exception is those individuals whose work is forced to be carried out on the territory of other states (for example, the military).

Conditions and procedure for receiving a deduction

The procedure consists of the following stages (according to Art. Tax Code):

1. The payer collects all the necessary documents, draws up an application and submits it to the tax office;
2. If the Federal Tax Service approves the request for compensation, you need to choose a method for transferring funds.

The basic list of documents consists of:

• statements;
• forms 3-NDFL and 2-NDFL;
• payment receipts (receipts for purchases, bank statements, etc.);

The list of additional papers is determined based on the reason for the return.
In real estate transactions you need:

• purchase and sale agreement;
• act of acceptance and transfer;
• loan agreement.

In the case of tuition fees, the following is required:

• agreement with an educational institution;
• certificate of receipt of accreditation by the organization;
• certificate of completion of studies (taken from the dean’s office).

Attention!
A doctor's diagnosis will be required for treatment deduction. Download for viewing and printing: Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation “Credit or refund of amounts of overpaid taxes, fees, insurance contributions, penalties, fines”

For how many years can you get a tax deduction?

Applications for some deductions can be submitted not only during the reporting period, but also later.
You can request compensation no later than three years from the date the purchase or payment for services was made. The amount of monthly payments provided after registration of the deduction should not exceed 13% of the monthly salary. Moreover, if the income tax levied per year on a citizen’s earnings is less than the amount to be refunded, then the period of exemption from the fee will be extended over several years.

Deductions that were received before 01/01/2001 are not taken into account

To summarize, I would like to note that until 2001, the provision of deductions was based on the Law of the Russian Federation “On Personal Income Tax”. This law is no longer valid, as it became invalid as of 01/01/2001. In this regard, if a citizen exercised the right to a property deduction before 01/01/2001, then in fact it turns out that he did not use his right to a deduction. If a citizen purchased another property (after 01/01/2001), then he has the right to receive the deduction again.

Example: Citizen Polezhaikina O.V. purchased the property in 1998. Over the next two years, she provided all the necessary documentation to the tax authorities and received a deduction for the property. Six years ago, citizen Polezhaikina O.V. purchased property again. Due to the fact that Polezhaikina O.V. received the deduction before 01/01/2001; when purchasing housing six years ago, she has the right to use the deduction again.

Example: In 1999, citizen Bogatyrev N.E. purchased real estate. Over the next four years, he received periodic deductions. Two years ago, citizen Bogatyrev N.E. purchased a second property. Due to the fact that some payments were made after October 1, 2001, receiving a deduction for citizen Bogatyrev N.E. for a property that was purchased two years ago is not possible.

If the tax deduction was received before 01/01/2001, then it can be received again now due to the repeal of the law

How many times can you use compensation?

There is no specific limit on the number of applications submitted to receive the deduction.
Instead, tax authorities use the maximum limits for expenses incurred on transactions or services from which funds can be returned. Attention! A request for a deduction with a subsequent reduction in the tax base should be submitted during the reporting period. To apply for this type of deduction, you should contact your current employer, who will submit all documents to the Federal Tax Service. In the future, it is the employer who will stop withdrawing 13% to pay tax for a certain period, transferring this amount to the employee.

In the case of transferring funds to a card or account, then the request for deduction must be submitted after the end of the calendar year. You can submit an application along with documents not only at the tax office, but also on the official portal of the government agency. To do this, you must have access to the payer’s personal account.

How do you receive a deduction?

Receiving a deduction is possible through two main methods.

1. At the end of the 12-month period, you can receive the entire amount due to your plastic card account, savings book, etc. In this case, you independently prepare the necessary papers by visiting the branch of the tax service to which you belong at your place of residence, or simply by uploading electronic copies to your personal account on the official resource of the tax service on the Internet.
2. Not paying personal income tax for a certain period of time. In this situation, you will first have to contact the tax service, and then the employer. In the first place, you receive official confirmation of the right to claim deductions, in the second you submit them, and the 13% personal income tax rate is no longer deducted from the wages paid to you for a certain period of time.

Note! For 12 months, a deduction cannot be made in an amount greater than 13% of wages. The deduction can be declared within 36 months from the date of expenditure; upon completion, the taxpayer loses this right.

Number of income taxes

You can claim compensation annually. An exception to the rule is the deduction for the purchase of real estate. A refund for such expenses can be requested only once in a lifetime, and only within the established amount of 2,000,000 rubles.

Since expenses on education and training are classified as 120,000 rubles, the total of all social deductions should not exceed this level. This part includes the costs of training and treatment.

Tuition payment

You can get a refund for paying tuition at a university for a citizen under 24 years of age.
The money will be refunded to the person who pays for the studies. Also, in addition to payments for higher education, the payer can return funds spent on payment for:

• kindergartens;
• private schools, etc.

The tuition deduction is up to 50,000 rubles per child and 13% of 120,000 rubles for the payer himself.

Important! You can also receive compensation for completing advanced training courses.

For treatment

The list of expenses for medical services includes not only procedures and medications, but also examinations and tests. The main thing is to comply with 2 conditions:

• money should only be spent on procedures and medications that are prescribed by the attending physician;
• pay for the treatment of a spouse or children under 18 years of age.

Deduction when buying an apartment

You can return part of the funds for all main types of residential properties:

• apartments;
• country house;
• rooms, etc.

This also includes the lands on which construction work will be carried out.

The law does not establish a specific number of times when compensation can be received. However, there is a limit on the transaction value for which a refund can be made.

The purchase size is limited to 2,000,000 rubles. If the transaction exceeds this amount, the deduction will not increase. However, this bar applies to one purchase - that is, the deduction will be available later if the first object was purchased for less than 2,000,000 rubles.

The maximum refund amount is also limited. Since the income tax rate is 13%, you can return a maximum of 260,000 rubles from 2,000,000 rubles.

But this bar applies when living space is purchased without borrowing funds. If real estate is purchased under a mortgage program, the maximum amount increases to 3,000,000 rubles. Compensation is also calculated based on the income tax rate.

The sales deduction when selling a home, unlike the deduction when buying, is provided during your life in unlimited quantities, but only once a year. That is, you can sell as many real estate properties as you like in a year, but the resulting deduction amount cannot be more than 1 million rubles for one transaction or all transactions.

Attention! The deduction will not be approved if the transaction was made between persons closely related to each other - spouses, children, parents, brothers or sisters, etc.

Note that in the case of a joint purchase of real estate (for example, by a married couple), each of the buyers has the right to receive a payment.

How many times can you repay mortgage interest?

Since 2014, amendments to the deduction for interest on loans have also come into force.
Such a refund was separated from the main deduction for expenses for the purchase of real estate (established in Letter of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation No. BS-4-11/8666). Thanks to the innovations, you can receive compensation both for the purchase and for the interest paid (according to Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 03-04-05/24331). The maximum amount that can be returned for payment of accrued interest is 390,000 rubles, i.e. 13% of 3,000,000 rubles. To receive compensation, you will need an extract from your credit history that shows interest payments.

Download for viewing and printing:

Letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 21, 2015 No. BS-4-11/8666 “On the provision of property tax deductions”

Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia No. 03-04-05/24331 dated April 27, 2016

Deduction limits for real estate that was purchased before 01/01/2014

If a citizen bought real estate before 2014 and received (or is only expected to receive) a deduction for it, then the previous rules are in force for this person, which make it possible to receive a deduction for only one property. The amount of funds should not exceed 2 million (maximum 260 thousand to be returned). Also, if a citizen received a deduction less than the maximum amount, then it is not possible to receive it additionally when purchasing other real estate.

The deduction for loan interest for real estate that was purchased before 01/01/2014 had no restrictions on the amount (it was possible to return 13 percent of all interest that was paid on the mortgage), but it was possible to receive it only for the same property, according to to which the main deduction was made. This is due to the fact that five years ago there was no separation between the property deduction and the interest deduction. These deduction types have been combined.

If the property was purchased before January 1, 2014, he can receive a deduction for only one property

It is worth noting that if a citizen purchased real estate before 01/01/2014 and made a deduction for the funds spent on the acquisition, then he has the opportunity to receive a deduction for the interest on the loan for another property that was purchased before 01/01/2014. This issue will be discussed in more detail later in the article.

Examples

First example. In 2013, married couple Nikolai and Valeria purchased an apartment for the amount of one and a half million rubles in cash. They arranged an apartment for two. Each person was given a tax deduction of thirteen percent. Four years later, Nikolai and Valeria decided to sell the apartment and buy another for four million rubles, but Nikolai and Valeria were no longer buying with cash, but with a mortgage. In this case, it is not possible to receive a tax deduction, because they have already received it for the previous property, which was purchased before 01/01/2014. But they have the opportunity to receive a mortgage deduction, since the new property was purchased with a mortgage after 01/01/2014.

Second example. In 2011, Mark purchased property for two and a half million. The purchase was made in cash. Despite the fact that thirteen percent multiplied by two and a half million ultimately gives three hundred twenty-five thousand, Mark received only two hundred and sixty thousand, because this amount is the maximum for issuance. Three years ago, Mark sold this property and purchased another for four million, but this time he took out a mortgage. This time there is no deduction for Mark. However, Mark is entitled to a deduction for mortgage interest because he purchased the property after 01/01/2014.

If a person has already received a property tax deduction for real estate purchased before January 1, 2014, he can later receive a deduction for mortgage interest

Is it possible to get an additional deduction if you use it earlier?

Yes, you can, if the maximum refund amount has not been reached. Therefore, the calculation should be carried out precisely on the basis of the amount of compensation.

Example

The payer purchased a studio in 2021 for 1,000,000 rubles, and then issued a deduction in the amount of 130,000 rubles (i.e. 13% of the purchase amount). In 2021, a 2-room apartment was already purchased for 2,000,000 rubles, and compensation for this transaction will already amount to 260,000 rubles (13% of the acquisition costs).

But when calculating, you should take into account the costs for the previous purchase, remembering that you can return the money if both purchases fell within the limit of 2,000,000 rubles. As a result, the formula is:

2,000,000 rubles - 1,000,000 rubles (remaining amount with which you can request a refund) X 13% = 130,000 rubles.

Find out the year when the right to return personal income tax arose

How to find out the year when the right to return personal income tax arose, based on the fact that the purchase of real estate may not occur quickly?

Examples:

The property was purchased under contract in 2013, but the documents were received only a year later.

They started building the house in 2012, the property was commissioned only in 2015.

Important! The factor that determines the deduction date will be the type of agreement under which the property was purchased.

There may be two types.

When you can receive a deduction depends on the type of agreement

Goods are not taxed

Monetary contributions to various charities or other non-profit organizations are not taxable. But this rule has limitations.

Assistance to charitable, educational, religious, and other non-profit organizations in the field of science, culture, sports, and preschool education should not exceed 25% of income in the reporting period.

To receive the benefit you must provide:

• Income certificates.
• Documents confirming payments.
• Copies of agreements for contributions and donations and constituent documents of the organization that received assistance.

List of documents and procedure for obtaining a deduction

1. How to get a deduction through the tax office

You need to provide to the tax office at your place of residence at the end of the tax period (Clause 7, Article 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

• statement;
• declaration in form 3-NDFL;
• certificate 2-NDFL on the amounts of accrued and withheld taxes for the corresponding year (issued by the employer);
• necessary package of documents.

A complete list of documents that must be submitted to the tax authority to receive a deduction for the purchase of housing is listed in paragraphs. 6 clause 3 art. 220 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Among them:

• agreement on the acquisition of property and documents confirming ownership (since the issuance of a certificate of state registration of property rights has been discontinued since 2021, instead it is possible to submit an extract from the Unified State Register of Rights to Real Estate and Transactions with it as a supporting document);
• in the case of acquiring rights to a shared construction project (an apartment or a room in a house under construction) - an agreement for participation in shared construction and a transfer deed or other document on the transfer of the shared construction project by the developer and its acceptance by the participant in shared construction, signed by the parties;
• documents confirming expenses incurred (receipts for receipt orders, bank statements about the transfer of funds from the buyer's account to the seller's account, sales and cash receipts, acts on the purchase of materials from individuals indicating the address and passport details of the seller and other documents);
• other documents depending on the situation. For example, a child’s birth certificate - when parents purchase real estate as the property of their children under the age of 18;
• marriage certificate (if the property is acquired into common ownership), etc.

When purchasing land plots or a share in them provided for individual housing construction, a property tax deduction is provided after the taxpayer receives a certificate of ownership of the residential building. This is regulated by paragraphs. 2 p. 3 art. 220 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

To receive a tax deduction for the repayment of interest on targeted loans for the purchase of housing, in addition to the above documents, you must provide (clause 4 of Article 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

• loan (credit) agreement;
• documents confirming the fact of payment of funds by the taxpayer in repayment of interest.

Child Tax Credits

Let's consider the procedure for obtaining them.

1. You must write an application addressed to the employer.
2. Provide documents for the right to tax deductions. At the same time, you need to know that the single parent is provided with additional benefits in double amount.
3. Take two statements to the director or secretary. We keep one, certified by signature and seal. If for any reason taxes are collected in full, this copy of the application will be the basis for applying to the labor inspectorate or court.

The legislative framework

The main regulatory document that controls taxation issues and the provision of the opportunity to use tax deductions is the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (document).

Information on the right and procedure for using this type of compensation is recorded in the following parts of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation:

• Article 78 - contains step-by-step instructions that must be followed when receiving a deduction. As an example, paragraph 7 of this article indicates the deadlines for submitting documents that allow you to use a tax deduction;
• Article 219 defines the categories of all possible tax deductions that Russian citizens can take advantage of, and also fixes the nuances of receiving these payments.

In addition, the deduction algorithm, information on the tax agent, as well as the nuances of obtaining a tax deduction will be determined by Federal Law No. 85-FZ of April 18, 2018 “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation.”

Reasons for refusal

Not everyone and always the tax office approves an application for a deduction. They will refuse to partially reimburse expenses if you meet one of the following categories:

• who bought real estate from relatives;
• those who bought housing with a government subsidy or bonus from management;
• taxpayers under other schemes;
• students;
• pensioners who left work more than 3 years ago;
• orphans under 24 years of age;
• those who do not have an official job;
• not taxpayers.

They may also refuse if you filled out the documents incorrectly, did not provide evidence of expenses, or violated the application deadlines.

Learn about applying for a tax deduction for your child's education. When can I get a tax deduction for a mortgage? Information here.

How to get a tax deduction for treatment? Details in this article.

Refund of personal income tax when purchasing an apartment if the deduction has already been used

There are cases when a person has the right to claim a personal income tax refund, and when he does not have the right.

You can claim a personal income tax refund if:

• bought/built an apartment, house, room, share in housing;
• bought a plot of land with a residential building or a plot for construction;
• bought a house with the status of unfinished construction;
• interest on the mortgage loan is being paid or has already been paid;
• paid for construction and finishing materials;
• paid for work/services for construction and finishing;
• paid for design and estimate documentation;
• paid for connection to utility networks and communications.

Cases when expenses cannot be refunded:

• bought an apartment, house or land from interdependent persons - close relatives, your boss or other people who can influence the outcome of the transaction;
• if you have already used a refund on the costs of purchasing a home.