Real estate tax for pensioners for 2017-2018: types of benefits

The acquisition of real estate by citizens gives rise to the obligation to pay property tax, and when receiving income from the sale of an apartment, to file a declaration and pay personal income tax. If pensioners sell an apartment, do they need to pay income tax, or does the law exempt them from such an obligation? Let's consider all possible options for tax benefits and payments for pensioners when selling and buying real estate.

What the Law Says

Article 407 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation regulates the grounds for providing property tax benefits for certain categories of the population.

To find out whether pensioners are exempt from paying property tax, it is enough to refer to subparagraph 10 of paragraph 1 of Article 407 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Pensioners do not pay property tax on apartments, however, Article 407 contains additional nuances:

• the pensioner will be exempt from payment only in relation to real estate not used for business activities;
• the property must be owned by the specified citizen;
• To receive benefits, a pensioner must contact the Federal Tax Service inspectorate indicating the selected objects for exemption from payments.

If a pensioner owns different types of real estate, how will tax benefits be calculated?

In this case, the application must indicate which property the benefits will apply to (allows the use of only one object from different groups, specified in paragraph 4 of Article 407 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Can pensioners get a refund of taxes after purchasing an apartment?

The right to receive a property deduction fully applies to persons with pension rights, however, when submitting a declaration and calculating the amount of the deduction, special rules must be observed.

Tax exemption

To receive property tax benefits, a pensioner must annually submit an application to the Federal Tax Service inspectorate indicating the selected real estate objects from the following list:

• apartment or room;
• individual house;
• premises used for creative activities;
• buildings used for running private household plots and other types of personal farming;
• parking space, individual garage.

Note! The benefit applies only to one object from each specified group, i.e. the pensioner has the opportunity to simultaneously submit documents for benefits for the apartment and buildings for running private household plots.

The application must be submitted no later than November 1 of the calendar year for which tax liabilities will be calculated.

Stages of providing benefits

Pensioners will not pay property tax on real estate after completing the following algorithm of actions:

• determining the list of real estate owned by right of ownership and selecting one object from each group;
• obtaining extracts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate in relation to each selected object;
• filling out a notification to the Federal Tax Service inspection no later than November 1 of the current year.

The choice of property to apply the benefit must be made taking into account the cadastral value of the property, since it is this indicator that is used to calculate tax liabilities.

It is not difficult to find out the cadastral value of an apartment or house; to do this, you need to contact the Rosreestr institution with a request to obtain an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.

Also, Article 407 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation contains a rule that in the absence of notification from a pensioner, the Federal Tax Service will independently apply benefits in relation to one of the elements of property with the maximum calculated amount of tax.

How to complete the tax refund procedure

When purchasing residential real estate, a pensioner has the right to receive a refund on apartment taxes .

Working pensioners can return tax for purchased residential real estate on a general basis; to do this, they must complete the following steps:

• draw up a purchase and sale agreement for residential premises indicating in the text of this agreement the actual price of the property;
• in the next calendar year, fill out and submit to the Federal Tax Service a declaration in form 3-NDFL indicating the amount of income taxes paid;
• provide the tax authority with evidence of the purchase of housing and payment of funds for it;
• receive a personal income tax refund from the tax authority in an amount not exceeding 13%.

When filling out the 3-NDFL declaration, the pensioner must independently calculate the amount of the property deduction, while the maximum value of the acquired property for calculating the deduction cannot exceed 2,000,000 rubles.

If the deduction amount is not used in the current year, it can be transferred to subsequent reporting periods; to do this, each year you need to fill out a new 3-NDFL declaration form.

In order for a non-working pensioner to issue a tax refund, it is also necessary to fill out and send to the Federal Tax Service a declaration in form 3-NDFL.

How is the tax deduction for an apartment calculated for non-working pensioners, since the personal income tax actually paid for the past year must be indicated in the declaration?

For non-working pensioners, it is allowed to use personal income tax information for previous years before retirement.

When filling out the declaration, you must indicate the amount of personal income tax paid for previous years and note this fact in form 3-NDFL.

How to reduce tax: nuances

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation allows not only the opportunity to get back part of the personal income tax when purchasing a residential property, but also to return part of the interest on the mortgage loan.

If the mortgage is issued in the name of a pensioner, he has the right to submit a 3-NFDL declaration and calculate the amount of property deduction based on the amount of 13%.

Refund of interest on a mortgage loan is possible only for the period after registration of ownership of the property - if the apartment was not purchased immediately after the loan agreement was executed, only part of the interest paid will be refundable.

To do this, you need to get a certificate from a banking institution about the amount of the principal debt and the interest paid for the past calendar year.

The calculation of the amount of property deduction must be made by the pensioner himself, and the tax authority is given the right to verify the submitted documents.

Tax amount - how to calculate correctly

If a property purchased by a pensioner does not qualify for tax relief, it is necessary to calculate the property tax.

This procedure can be difficult, since the calculation uses the cadastral value of housing.

To calculate the amount of tax required by law for a residential apartment, you need to perform the following steps:

• contact the Rosreestr institution or the Multifunctional Center with a request to issue a certificate of the cadastral value of the property;
• determine from the Unified State Register of Real Estate the size of the total area of ​​the residential premises in square meters;
• multiply the area indicator by the tax rate.

The property tax rate is calculated by the local government; the Tax Code of the Russian Federation only determines the maximum value of these rates.

Often the cadastral value of residential real estate significantly exceeds the real market price.

In this case, the pensioner has to pay a significantly increased tax, but the law allows for the possibility of challenging the cadastral value.

To do this, you need to contact an independent appraiser and get a report on the market value of the property.

Based on the received report, you can apply to the judicial authorities with a claim to challenge the cadastral value.

By a court decision, the cadastral value of the apartment will be equated to market indicators, after which the property tax for the current year will be recalculated.

In the future, the tax authority will be required to use a new indicator of the cost of residential premises when calculating tax liabilities.