In which cases and how much will have to be paid from the sale of real estate in 2024, who has tax benefits, in which cases it does not need to be paid, and other nuances — tells RBC-Real Estate
Starting in 2025, Russia will introduce a progressive scale for personal income (personal income tax). The changes will affect real estate transactions. Now individuals pay a tax at the rate of 13% on the sale of real estate. But it is not paid from the entire amount earned from the sale, but from the difference between the purchase and sale costs.
We tell you when the obligation to pay personal income tax comes, in which cases it is not necessary to pay sales tax, how tax rates will change from 2025 and how to calculate the tax and reduce it.
Content:
Rules for paying tax on the sale of an apartment in 2024
Personal income tax calculation in real estate transactions
This year, the rules for paying real estate sales tax for individuals do not change. After the sale of the apartment, you must submit a 3-personal income tax declaration by April 30 next year. You can do this online through your personal account on the FTS website. The declaration indicates the income that was received from the sale and the amount of the deduction. If the deduction did not cover the tax, then it must be paid by July 15.
The tax rate for individuals in 2024 is standard — 13%, but in 2025 it will increase and amount to:
“The tax is paid not from the entire amount earned from the sale, but from the difference between the purchase and sale costs. Therefore, some citizens are trying to cheat, and in order to reduce the tax, they do not write the full amount of the transaction in the contract. You can’t do that. Since tax inspectors compare the cost of selling apartments with their cadastral value,” said Elvira Mityukova, PhD in Economics, Managing Partner of the Academy of Successful Business Group.
In 2024, as in previous years, starting in 2022, the income from the sale of real estate may not be indicated in the 3-personal income tax declaration if you have owned it for less than three or five years, provided that the income from the sale does not exceed 1 million rubles, and for other property (garages cars , etc.) — 250 thousand rubles. This applies to both one large facility and several inexpensive ones. The main thing is not to exceed the limit.
If the income from the sale of property exceeds the allowable amount, you will still have to submit a 3-personal income tax declaration. In 2025, these rules will also continue to apply.
Benefits for shareholders
In 2024, tax benefits for shareholders introduced in 2022 — buyers of apartments in new buildings, participants in housing and construction cooperatives (HBC), as well as for those who bought an apartment by assignment of rights of claim under an equity participation agreement (DDA) – will continue to apply. For these participants in shared-equity construction, the term of ownership is counted from the moment of full payment of the DDU. Previously, the countdown of the period of ownership of an apartment began from the moment of registration of ownership of it.
Other changes in the taxation of property of individuals
Benefits and recalculation
At the end of 2020, the rules for recalculating previously calculated property taxes for individuals changed. First of all, this applies to pensioners, disabled people, combat veterans and other categories of beneficiaries. In accordance with Article 407 of the Tax Code, they are exempt from paying property tax. The law establishes five types of real estate in respect of which a benefit can be granted, including an apartment (room), an apartment building and a garage. The benefit is provided for only one object of each type.
Minimum term of ownership
In 2024, changes were adopted regarding the minimum period of ownership of real estate, said Anastasia Eliseeva, partner of the law firm Mokrov and Partners.
- For a land plot, part of which is being withdrawn for state use (for example, for the construction of a railway). From 2024, the term of ownership of a new site obtained during the partition will be considered from the moment of ownership of the old site, and not the new one, as it was before.
- When selling residential premises or a share(s) in them formed as a result of division, redevelopment or reconstruction, the term of ownership of the formed residential premises will also be calculated from the moment of registration of ownership of the original real estate.
- Sale of a share in a property that was purchased with the help of matkapital. For example, the apartment was bought with a mortgage by the mother-the owner of the certificate. After paying off the mortgage, the child and the child’s father were allocated shares. The period of ownership of shares by the father and the child will now be calculated from the date of registration of this object in the ownership of the mother.
How to calculate the amount of tax
If we talk about the tax on the sale of an apartment, it is calculated using a simple formula: (INCOME FROM THE SALE OF AN APARTMENT IS 1 million rubles.) *13% = PERSONAL INCOME TAX. 1 million rubles. — the maximum amount of tax deduction by which income received from the sale of residential buildings, apartments, rooms, cottages, garden houses, land plots, as well as shares in the specified property can be reduced.
The tax base is the maximum of two values:
At the same time, the cadastral value is determined on January 1 of the year in which the apartment is for sale.
For example, citizen Petrov bought an apartment for 5 million rubles, and sold it for 5.5 million rubles. Thus:
5 500 000 — 1 000 000 = 4 500 000.
Personal income tax: 4 500 000*13% = 585 000 rub .
Deduction in the amount of expenses related to the purchase of an apartment
In this case, the tax is actually charged only on the profit received from the resale. For this, real (documented) expenses directly related to the purchase are taken into account. In some situations, such a solution is more profitable than making a deduction.
For example, Petrov sold an apartment for 5 million rubles (bought it for 4.5 million rubles). Thus, the calculation of the sales tax will look like this:
5 000 000 — 4 500 000 = 500 000.
Personal income tax: 500 000 * 13% = 65 000.
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When the income from the sale of an apartment is not taxed
Personal income tax is calculated from income, not from the proceeds from the sale of real estate, and is not charged in the following cases:
if such an object was owned during the minimum period of ownership. For most cases, this is five years. For inheritance, donation, and privatization — three years. “At the same time, subjects can reduce the maximum period of ownership up to zero (clause 6 of Article 217.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If this happens in your region and the conditions match the sale of your property, you will also not have to pay personal income tax,” Elvira Mityukova explained.
Starting from January 1, 2022, families with two or more children are exempt from paying personal income tax (personal income tax) when selling residential real estate, regardless of how long it was owned by them. The innovation also applies to those cases where a minor child from such a family receives income from the sale of an object of property. Read more about it here.
In all other cases, personal income tax is charged on income from the sale of an apartment.
Photo: Kirill Kukhmar/TASS
How to reduce the tax on the sale of an apartment
If you sell an apartment, then from the point of view of the state you receive income. If you sold the property earlier than the minimum period of ownership, you must pay the sales tax. Russian legislation provides for benefits that can significantly reduce the tax base — the amount you were paid for an apartment. The tax will have to be paid not from the entire amount earned from the sale of the apartment, but from the difference between the purchase and sale. 13% tax is paid on this amount. Basis: subclause 2 of clause 2 of Article 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
The Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for several deduction options. To use it, you need to document the costs of buying an apartment. To confirm expenses, as a rule, the following documents are provided: the contract of sale and the act of acceptance and transfer, cash receipt orders, commodity and cash receipts, bank statements, payment orders, receipts of the seller in receipt of funds and others.
The property deduction allows you to reduce the tax base by the amount of income received from the sale of property for a calendar year. The Tax Code of the Russian Federation sets the upper limit of the deduction in the amount of 1 million rubles.
That is, if you sold one apartment for 10 million rubles in a year, you can reduce the tax base to 9 million rubles. If you sold two apartments (one for 5 million rubles, the other for 10 million rubles), the total amount of taxable income will be 14 million rubles (5 million rubles + 10 million rubles — 1 million rubles = 14 million rubles). If your income from the sale of an apartment is less than 1 million rubles, then you do not need to pay personal income tax.
Alexandra Stirmanova, S&K Vertical Law Firm:
— The Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for two deduction options.
1. Apply a fixed amount deduction
It should be borne in mind that a fixed tax deduction is applied to the owner, not the property. For example, if the owner sold several types of property during the year, then the maximum deduction amount is applied to all objects in aggregate, and not to each individually. To apply the deduction, no later than April 30 of the year following the year of sale, you must submit to the Federal Tax Service at your place of residence a tax return and documents confirming the sale of property, as well as documents entitling you to apply a deduction.
2. Wait for the expiration of the minimum period of ownership
As an additional option to minimize the tax burden, we can consider the third option. The most common question that taxpayers have is: when can I avoid paying tax when selling an apartment? Answer: Personal income tax does not arise when selling an apartment that was owned by you for more than the minimum period of ownership established by the Tax Code. As a general rule, the minimum term of ownership is five years. But it is worth bearing in mind that there are exceptions for certain situations. For example, if the ownership right is obtained by inheritance or under a donation agreement from a family member and/or a close relative of the taxpayer, a three-year period of ownership applies.
Various nuances of the application and calculation of the tax on the sale of an apartment
When calculating the tax on the sale of an apartment, various nuances may arise in its calculation, validity period, benefits and other rules. Using the example of some cases, the lawyer analyzed the rules for calculating and applying personal income tax on real estate of individuals.
Alexandra Voskresenskaya, Lawyer at Yukov & Partners:
Tax on the sale of an inherited apartment
— When selling real estate obtained by inheritance, clause 2, clause 1, Article 228 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides that individuals are required to pay tax on the sale of property owned by them. The objects subject to taxation include real estate. At the same time, Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides that citizens are exempt from paying real estate tax if the relevant object was owned by them during the minimum deadline, which is three years at the current date.
The letter of the Ministry of Finance dated July 30, 2020 No. 03-04-05/66879 clarifies that for heirs, this period begins from the date of registration of their rights in the EGRN (based on the certificate of inheritance), regardless of how long the real estate was previously in the possession of the testator. Also, according to Article 220 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, when selling property after January 1, 2019, citizens are entitled to receive a tax deduction based on the amounts of documented expenses for the purchase of real estate, but not more than 1 million rubles.
There is a caveat for heirs: a tax deduction can be obtained from expenses incurred by the testator when purchasing real estate, if the testator himself did not exercise such a right during his lifetime.
Photo: Dmitry Feoktistov/tass
Does a pensioner pay tax on the sale of an apartment
A pensioner, like any other citizen, must pay personal income tax when selling an apartment (Article 214.10 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Income from the sale of an apartment is subject to personal income tax in accordance with the established procedure and does not depend on the status of the apartment owner (whether the person is a pensioner or not). At the same time, pensioners have some property benefits.
How to get a tax deduction from the sale of an apartment
The property tax deduction associated with the sale of real estate can be applied indefinitely. But there is a limitation — the maximum deduction amount is 1 million rubles, or 250 thousand rubles in the tax period.
In order to exercise the right to a deduction, a taxpayer must:
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