Tax when donating an apartment - who, how much, how to pay

Article updated: June 21, 2021
Afanasyeva Marina Tax consultant with 4 years of experience.

Hello. I write a column on this site about taxes. On this page I have described in detail about the gift tax. I will repeat myself a lot because the comments are asking the same questions. I wrote the same information “from different angles”.

Tax on gift of an apartment between close relatives
Donors never pay tax
The donee pays the tax
Tax rate and how much to pay
How is it paid?
What happens if you don’t pay - fines, penalties

When donating an apartment between close relatives

When donating an apartment between close relatives, you do not need to pay tax . Donors don’t pay tax anyway – I explained why below. Donees are not required to pay tax if they were given real estate by a close relative - clause 18.1 of Art. 217 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Show list of close relatives ↓ Close relatives include:

spouse;
parents;
natural or adopted children;
grandparents in relation to their grandchildren and vice versa;
siblings, or who have at least one common parent (half-siblings).

Show examples ↓ Example No. 1: Spouses Andrei and Marina gave an apartment to their children - son Andrei and daughter Oksana. 1/2 share each. Nobody has to pay tax.

Example No. 2: Oleg gave an apartment to his grandson Artem and his wife Svetlana. 1/2 each. Since Svetlana is not considered a close relative of Oleg, she must pay a tax of 13% of the cadastral value of 1/2 of the apartment. Those. from the donated share. The bet details are listed below.

A small digression - if you need a free consultation, write online to the lawyer on the right or call (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) Moscow and the region; St. Petersburg and region; 8 (800) 350-24-83 — all regions of the Russian Federation.

Ways to receive tax compensation

There are two ways to receive monetary compensation:

through the tax office;
through the employer.

If payment with the help of the tax authorities is chosen, then after checking the compliance of the documents, the funds will be transferred to the recipient’s account, which he previously indicated.

Expert opinion

Makarov Stanislav Tarasovich

Legal consultant with 8 years of experience. Specialization: criminal law. Extensive experience in document examination.

When returning compensation with the help of the employer, the employee’s income tax is no longer calculated for a period sufficient to repay the entire amount of compensation.

Thus, the taxpayer himself decides how it is more convenient for him to receive a tax refund. With a competent and thoughtful approach, you can successfully take advantage of the benefits provided by the state.

However, if you have no experience in such matters, it is better to turn to specialists who will help you prepare all the documents correctly. In addition, a good consultant will tell you what other nuances of legislation can be used in each specific case.

When receiving residential real estate under a gift, you should immediately take into account that the tax return must be submitted no later than April 30 of the year following the year of receipt. You will need to pay income tax on the entire value of the property 3 months after filing the declaration.

Delays in filing or paying taxes may result in fines and penalties.

Russian legislation on taxes and fees provides for various tax benefits, including the return of funds paid and reduction of the tax burden. In this regard, many citizens are wondering whether a tax deduction is possible when donating an apartment.

This article will tell you what tax deductions are provided for the donor and the donee and how to process them correctly.

Donors never pay tax

Remember, those who donate an apartment or a share in it are not required to pay tax. Donation is a gratuitous transaction (Clause 1, Article 572 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). The donor transfers his apartment to the recipient just like that, without demanding anything in return. Therefore, the donor does not receive any income. And since there is no income, there is no tax.

IT DOES NOT MATTER: 1) How long the apartment belongs to the donor. Don't confuse this with selling. There is no minimum holding period for donations. To donate real estate, you don’t have to wait 3 or 5 years - read more. 2) To whom did the donor give the apartment - a close relative or a stranger. 3) Whether the donor is a citizen of the Russian Federation or another country and where he lives. The donor pays nothing. Dot.

Is a deed of gift more profitable than a purchase and sale agreement in 2021?

Many of our Readers have probably already asked the question, if gift taxation is so expensive, might it be more profitable to transfer an apartment not under a gift agreement, but under a sales agreement? In this transaction, the donor will act as the selling party, and the donee will act as the buyer. Let us immediately note that everything here depends on the length of time the real estate has been owned by the seller:

The tax is not imposed on real estate (dacha, apartment, house, plot, etc.) that has been in the possession of the owner for more than 5 years.
The objects of such transactions are subject to tax if the current owner has owned them for less than 5 years.

The established tax rate is also 13% of the total purchase amount, but only if the cost of the object exceeds 1 million Russian rubles. If the value of the property is less than a million, the purchase and sale transaction is not subject to tax.

Expert opinion

Oleg Ustinov

Practicing lawyer, author of the website “Legal Ambulance”, one of the co-founders of the “Our Future” foundation.

Also, it is worth warning unscrupulous citizens and reminding them of the established criminal liability for conducting a deliberately fictitious transaction.

If tax officials or interested parties can prove that the transaction is fictitious, the parties who entered into the sham transaction may be punished, in accordance with current legislation, for attempting to mislead. At the same time, most of the responsibility falls on the donor. For example, if the amount of hidden tax from the state when concluding a deed of gift exceeds 600,000 Russian rubles, he may face criminal penalties.

Only donees pay tax

The donees are those to whom the property was given as a gift. No one is exempt from paying or reducing the tax - neither a pensioner, nor a disabled person, nor an orphan. There are no benefits.

For minors, the tax is paid by their parents (guardian/trustee) - clause 2 of Art. 27 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and clause 1 of Art. 28 Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

In what cases are recipients not required to pay tax?

As I wrote above, recipients are not required to pay tax if they were given an apartment by close relatives - clause 18.1 of Art. 217 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. And it makes no difference whether the recipient lives in the Russian Federation, what citizenship he has, whether he is a resident or not. If you received an apartment as a gift from a close relative, you never pay tax.

Show examples ↓ Example No. 1: Spouses Andrei and Marina gave an apartment to their children - son Andrei and daughter Oksana. 1/2 share each. Nobody has to pay tax.

If the donee is exempt from paying tax (when receiving a gift from a close relative), he does not need to submit an income statement to the tax office - clause 4 of Art. 229 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. But after the transaction, the tax inspectorate will still require the donee to provide them with a copy of the gift agreement and documents on relationship with the donor. Because Rosreestr will only report information about the new owner to the tax office - clause 4 of Art. 85 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and Order of the Federal Tax Service dated April 10, 2017 N ММВ-7-21/ [email protected]

If the gift agreement was drawn up by a notary, he himself is obliged to submit the agreement and documents on relationship to the tax office within 5 days - clause 6 of Art. 85 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The amount of deduction provided when receiving property as a gift

Taxpayers are entitled to receive a one-time benefit when purchasing residential property or receiving it as a gift. Features of providing tax benefits:

The maximum deduction when receiving property as a gift is limited to 2 million rubles.
The benefit is provided within the limits limited by the value of the property.
The remainder of the unused deduction amount is transferred to another item purchased in the future. The transfer of non-living property, for example, a garden house, does not provide an opportunity to receive benefits.

Tax rate and how much to pay

Let me remind you that there is no separate gift tax. When a citizen was given an apartment as a gift, he received income in the form of its value. Personal income tax should be paid on this income.

The personal income tax rate for residents of the Russian Federation is 13% - clause 1 of Art. 224 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. These are those who have been in Russia for at least 183 days over the past 12 months - clause 2 of Art. 207 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. If less, the citizen is considered a non-resident. Personal income tax for non-residents is 30% - clause 3 of Art. 224 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The presence or absence of Russian citizenship does not play any role here. The main thing is the number of days of residence in the country.

The donee pays personal income tax only on the cadastral value of the apartment or share given to him - clause 6 of Art. 214.10 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Show calculation examples ↓ Example No. 1: Olga gave an apartment to her nephew, who is a resident of the Russian Federation. The cadastral value of the apartment is 3,500,000 rubles. The nephew must pay 13% * 3,500,000 = 455,000 rubles in tax.

Example No. 2. Alexander gave the apartment to his mother-in-law and father-in-law. Each has 1/2 share in the right. They are both residents of the Russian Federation. The cadastral value of the apartment is 4,600,000 rubles. Each recipient must pay 13% * (4,600,000 * 1/2) = 299,000 rubles.

Basic concepts and principles of taxation of gift agreements in 2021

The parties to the act of donation are the donor and the donee, and the object of the transaction can be any property and services that are the property of the donating party. Moreover, since the party receiving the gift receives it free of charge, without spending his personal funds, it is the donee, according to the current legislation of the Russian Federation, who is obliged to pay the existing tax.

The donor himself has nothing to do with the taxation of the transferred property, not being responsible for ignoring it or the recipient’s refusal to pay.

Expert opinion

Oleg Ustinov

Practicing lawyer, author of the website “Legal Ambulance”, one of the co-founders of the “Our Future” foundation.

In 2021, the actual amount of gift tax is 13% of the total value of the gift - for residents of Russia. For non-residents - the tax amount is calculated based on 30% of the market value of the donated real estate or movable property. At the same time, the role of residents today is played by both Russians and citizens who live in the Russian Federation for more than 183 days a year in a row.

It is worth noting that the gift tax on a share of an apartment, house, cottage, land plot, garage or other real estate is also required to be paid and is calculated according to the rule described above.

How to pay tax

After registering the gift transaction, the donee (aka the new owner) must submit a 3-NDFL declaration and documents for the apartment by April 30 of the next year. And pay the tax by July 15th. Otherwise there will be fines and penalties.

For example, the recipient was given an apartment in 2021. He must submit the 3-NDFL declaration for 2021 by April 30, 2021 and pay the tax by July 15, 2021.

If the donee is a minor, his parents (guardians/trustees) must file a tax return and pay the tax - clause 2 of Art. 27 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and clause 1 of Art. 28 Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Now the instructions themselves:

The recipient must fill out a tax return on income and expenses (3-NDFL) for the year in which the apartment was donated.
On the official website of the Federal Tax Service there is a declaration form 3-NDFL. You can also install a program on your computer to fill out this declaration. In the income section of the declaration, you must independently indicate the value of the donated apartment - cadastral or market value according to the assessment report.
Then the donee must visit the tax office at your place of registration - clause 3 of Art. 228, paragraph 2 of Art. 229, paragraph 1, art. 83 and Art. 11 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. And submit the following documents:
Your Russian passport;
A document confirming ownership of the apartment. Since 2017, this document has been an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. Certificates of registration of rights have been canceled and will not be issued since July 2021. How to obtain an extract from the Unified State Register for an apartment;
Donation agreement;
The act of acceptance and transfer of the apartment. If there is none, a gift agreement is sufficient;
If you decide to pay tax on the market value, a valuation report as of the date of donation.
The recipient will be given a receipt for payment . The tax must be paid by July 15.
Pay the receipt with the tax amount at any bank branch.

If the donee has problems with money and cannot pay the tax on time, it is possible to apply for a deferment or installment payment - Art. 64 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The decision to provide such a benefit will be at the discretion of the tax office.

What happens if you don't pay tax?

Filing a declaration and paying tax is the responsibility of the donee (Clause 1, Article 229 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Even if the donee did not know about the tax or did not receive any notices, there will still be a fine for late payment.

The tax inspectorate will first issue a report on tax offenses to the donee, then a decision on holding him accountable for them. The inspector himself will calculate the tax from the cadastral value of the donated apartment/share + assign the amount of penalties and fines.

If you do not submit a declaration by April 30, there will be a fine of 5% of the amount of unpaid tax for each month of delay - clause 1 of Art. 119 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The period begins on May 1.

If you do not pay the tax by July 15, there will be a fine of 20% of the amount of unpaid tax - clause 1 of Art. 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. There will also be a penalty - 1/300 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Clause 1, Article 75 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

If you have questions, you can consult for free. To do this, you can use the form below, the online consultant window and telephone numbers (24 hours a day, seven days a week): 8 Moscow and region; 8 St. Petersburg and region; all regions of the Russian Federation.