Tax deductions for personal income tax for children in 2021: amounts and limits

Personal income tax deductions for children in 2021: changes, sizes and provision

Child tax deductions are one of the types of government benefits for parents who support minor children or students under 24 years of age. The use of a deduction allows you to save part of a family’s income due to the fact that the state does not withhold taxes from it (or by refunding taxes already paid to the budget). Benefits for personal income tax (i.e. personal income tax - income tax in Russia in 2021 is 13%) are provided to citizens who support and support a child (native, adopted, adopted or ward).

Limits for children's deductions: table

Tax law provides standard child tax deductions, which are shown in the table below. Here are the sizes as of 2021 (subclause 4, clause 1, article 218 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Compared to 2018, their amounts have not changed:

The provision of a standard deduction to the 3rd and each subsequent child occurs regardless of whether the deduction is provided to the first and/or second child. Let us explain with an example: the two oldest children in the family are not entitled to deductions due to their age, and the youngest is not 18 years old. This means that for the last child they should be given a tax deduction in the amount of 3,000 rubles (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated March 15, 2012 No. 03-04-05/8-302).

How much to provide deductions for children under personal income tax in 2018

Officials did not provide for changes to the amount of standard deductions for children under personal income tax in 2018. Therefore, as before, the amount depends on the number of children, the relationship between parents and child, as well as on the status of the baby himself.

Deduction depending on the order of the baby. Typically, for the first child, an employee can receive a child deduction of 1,400 rubles per month. The same size is used for the second baby. For the third and subsequent ones the amount is higher – already 3,000 rubles.

Benefits for disabled people. There are also separate amounts for a disabled child:

• 12,000 rub. – for parent and adoptive parent
• 6,000 rub. – for a guardian, trustee, foster parent

These amounts, according to the latest changes, are summed up with the usual benefits depending on the order of the baby (clause 14 of the Review, approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on October 21, 2015, letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 20, 2021 No. 03-04-06/15803) . For example, if there are three children in a family, and the third is disabled, then the deduction for him will be 15,000 rubles. for a parent or 9,000 rubles. for the guardian.

Increased deductions. The law allows employers to provide employees with a double deduction. This is possible in two situations:

• the employee is the only parent (adoptive parent, guardian, trustee)
• the employee receives a deduction for the second parent because he refused to receive it

Documents for obtaining a deduction for children

The standard tax deduction for children in 2021, as in previous years, is of a declarative nature. This means that the employer does not have the right to independently decide on the application of such deductions.

The fact is that the law allows you to receive standard deductions only from one place of receipt of income, that is, from one employer. And if a citizen works in several organizations, then he himself chooses where to receive standard deductions.

In order for an employer to begin applying deductions, a package of documents must be provided to the organization’s accounting department:

1. application for child tax credit;
2. birth certificate for each child;
3. for a disabled child - a medical report on this fact;
4. a certificate from an educational institution if the child is over 18 years old (but under 24 years old) and is a full-time student.

This is a standard set of documents for obtaining deductions for children. But in each individual case, the employer may require additional documents:

• Decision of the judicial authorities on the adoption of a child or establishment of paternity.
• A copy of the order of the guardianship authorities when determining guardianship or trusteeship of the child.
• Marriage certificate, if a spouse (stepmother) or spouse (stepfather) is claiming the deduction.
• Application from the second spouse to refuse to receive deductions for this child if one of the spouses wants to receive a double deduction.
• Certificate of salary from the previous place of work, if the citizen did not start working in this organization on January 1 of the current year.

Sample application for child benefit

Example 3. I.P. Sofronov had two children in his second marriage: Irina is 5 years old and Victor is 3 years old. Their joint daughter, Lyudmila, 15 years old, lives with his ex-wife, for whose maintenance Igor Petrovich pays alimony. B started working in July 2017. He provided the accounting department with a certificate in form 2-NDFL from his previous place of work and birth certificates of all three children. In July, Sofronov earned 35,000 rubles in the new company. Since the amount of earnings for six months at my previous job was only 150 thousand rubles, the accounting department of “Rassvet” quite rightfully calculated the salary for July as follows:

• accrued: 35,000 rubles;
• personal income tax deductions for children: 1400 (for Lyudmila) + 1400 (for Irina) + 3000 (for Victor) = 5,800 rubles;
• personal income tax: 35,000 – 5,800 = 29,200 * 0.13 = 3,796 rubles.

Without standard deductions, the tax would be 4,550 rubles (35,000 * 0.13).

The tax deduction for a child in 2021 and the standard deduction for a disabled child are not added to, but the largest one is chosen by the parents. That is, if a disabled child is the third born, then his parents can receive a deduction of either 3,000 rubles, as for a third child, or 12,000 rubles, as for a disabled child.

There are disputes on this score among both lawyers and financiers, because the Tax Code does not directly indicate this: sum up the benefits or choose the largest of them. There is judicial practice when parents sought to sum up these deductions.

But in February 2021, the Ministry of Finance published a letter (No. 03-04-06/4988 dated 02/02/2016), in which it expresses the opinion that these benefits are not cumulative. And at the same time, this letter recommends that the tax authorities be guided by the acts and letters of the Arbitration and Supreme Court. In practice, accounting workers, faced with such a situation, usually consult the local tax office. And this is logical, since this is where the accountant will submit his reports.

How to get a benefit

According to the third subparagraph of paragraph 1 of Article 218 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the provision of such benefits is carried out by one of the tax agents at the choice of the taxpayer. Such agents are employers or tax authorities.

To process deductions through the accounting department at the place of employment, you must collect the following documents:

• A copy of the document for the birth of a child, his adoption or establishment of guardianship.
• Marriage certificate.
• For students - a certificate from the educational institution confirming the fact of completion of training.
• For children with disabilities - a certificate from a medical commission.
• Application for application of deductions sent to the employer.
• For parents recognized as the only ones - a document about death or disappearance.

You should know! Some certificates (for example, a decision of a medical commission establishing disability) have an expiration date and must be updated regularly. After the document expires, you must provide an updated version to the employer’s accounting department.

Also, the employee can independently contact the tax office to receive the benefits due to him. To do this, you need to provide the inspector with the following package of documents:

• A copy of the first two pages of the passport.
• Documents confirming the right to apply deductions (information about birth, adoption or guardianship).
• Application for compensation of part of the tax paid, indicating bank details for payment.
• 2-NDFL certificates at the place of employment.
• Completed form 3-NDFL.

Important! It is necessary to pay utmost attention to the preparation of documents. Even small mistakes can cause a tax refund to be denied. Copies of documents are confirmed by presentation of their originals.

Double deduction per child

If the parent (adoptive parent), adoptive parent, guardian or trustee is the only parent, adoptive parent, guardian or trustee, respectively, then the standard tax deduction is provided to him in double amount.

They become the only parent in the absence of the second parent, for example, for the following reason (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated July 3, 2013 No. 03-04-05/25442):

• of death;
• recognition as missing;
• declaring him dead.

At the same time, the double deduction for the single parent ceases to be provided from the month following the month of his marriage.

Also, a double child deduction can be provided to one of the parents (adoptive parents) of their choice if the second writes a statement of refusal to receive a child deduction for personal income tax (subclause 4, clause 1, article 218 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Limits 2021

A deduction for children is due for each month of the calendar year until the taxpayer’s income, taxed at a rate of 13%, has not exceeded 350,000 rubles since the beginning of the year. From the month in which total income exceeds 350,000 rubles, the state does not provide children's deductions.

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Child benefit period

Provide a deduction from the month in which the employee confirms that he has a child. If the employee submitted an application in the current year, then provide deductions from the beginning of the year. Even if he declared his right to a deduction in the middle or end of the year.

Example

Alice has been working in the organization since the beginning of the year, but she only remembered that she had the right to a deduction in May, and then she submitted an application. Alisa is a mother and has two minor sons. This means that from January to May, deductions amounted to 14,000 rubles (1,400 × 2 × 5).

Alice has a salary of 40,000 ₽, in total, from January to April, Alice was credited 160,000 ₽ (40,000 × 4) and withheld personal income tax - 20,800 ₽.

In May, the accountant will calculate all unaccounted deductions and only personal income tax will be withheld from the salary in the amount of 3,380 ₽ ((200,000 - 14,000) × 0.13 - 20,800), instead of 5,200 ₽ (200,000 × 0.13 - 20,800). This means that Alice will receive 36,620 ₽ (40,000 - 3,380), instead of 34,800 ₽ (40,000 - 5,200).

But if an employee had the right to a deduction last year and forgot to declare it, then he can only receive this deduction on his own through the tax office.

Who gets the benefit? How to get a discount when paying taxes in 2021

Since the beginning of this year, amendments have been made to the legislation that directly affected the salaries of ordinary Russians. So, until this time, the rate was 13 percent in any case and regardless of the type of place of work or wages. But the tax base at the moment will be considered the total income of a resident - income from business activities, profit from the sale of property, salaries and inheritance received. Therefore, if the amount exceeds 512 thousand rubles, then the rate is already equal to 23 percent of income tax.

Benefits are given in several cases:

• Construction of a private house.
• Buying a car or apartment.
• Purchasing a voluntary insurance policy.
• Donations to religious communities.
• Education or treatment of children or parents.
• Charitable contributions.
• Registration of a mortgage.
• Voluntary pension insurance.

It is worth noting that since 2013, a legal provision has been in force according to which the following categories of residents are exempt from tax:

• Income from received plots of land in favor of authorities or residential premises.
• One-time government assistance for starting farmers.
• Recipients of assistance for children in relation to funds allocated from regional budgets.
• Recipients of grants, subsidies for the development or opening of a farm.

The tax agent issues a refund of the tax already paid. The agent is quite often the head of the enterprise or the employer. A taxpayer who claims to receive discounts is required to write an application. Then the boss is obliged to review the application within ten days and organize a tax refund. He is immediately able to issue a written refusal, which indicates the mandatory reasons.

Standard deductions for children are:

• To parents.
• Guardians or adoptive parents.
• To adoptive parents.
• One of the parents or guardians.

If you want to use discounts, you must contact the accounting department of the enterprise where the applicant works, or the Federal Tax Service at your place of residence. The 2021 income tax credit for children is available from the moment the child is born until the child turns 18 years old. If the child was a full-time student, the period for using the discount can be extended until the child turns 24 years old.

In 2021, the amount of personal income tax benefits for children will be:

• The first one is 1.4 thousand rubles.
• The second – 1.4 thousand rubles.
• Third - 3 thousand rubles.
• Disabled child – 3 thousand rubles.

The discount can be used until the amount of income from the beginning of the deduction begins to exceed 280 thousand rubles. If a Russian wants to apply for a deduction, then he must bring a birth certificate, a salary certificate for the previous year and a certificate from an educational institution. We will also add an application for benefits and a declaration of income to this list.