Selling an apartment: is it necessary to pay tax and how to calculate it in 2022

If you sell an apartment, cottage or garage, then you will have to pay tax on the income received. Or you don’t have to – in 2022, there were important changes in the legislation. Together with Pravocard lawyers Oksana Kozachenko and Maria Kundzich sorted out who was entitled to tax benefits, and who would have to fork out.

New in laws

In 2022, changes were made to the legislation related to taxes on income from the sale of real estate.

Firstly, no need to file a declarationif the house, apartment, room or land was sold for no more than 1 million rubles, and the garage – no more than 250,000 rubles. This also applies to those who sold property, including in 2021.

Secondly, if you bought an apartment in a house under construction after January 1 of the current year, the right to a tax deduction does not arise from the moment the funds are deposited, but only after the transfer of the object under an act or other document. You can also apply for a deduction after registration of ownership.

Thirdly, To receive a tax deduction, some citizens do not need to submit a declaration 3-personal income tax – just apply through your personal account on the website of the Federal Tax Service according to a simplified scheme. Banks now provide information to the tax office, and they themselves generate documents in the taxpayer’s personal account.

Fourth – real estate is excluded from objects with increased personal income tax as part of a progressive tax scale. Therefore, when selling an apartment or house, even if the proceeds amount to more than 5 million rubles, the former owners are required to pay only 13, not 15% of the tax.

Sharing income from the sale of real estate with the state those who have owned it for more than five years, or, in the case of inheritance, privatization or donation, for more than three years, are not obliged.

lawyers noted.

A minimum tenure of three years is set for:

• citizens who have received property by inheritance or as a gift from a person who is recognized as part of the family or relative;

• those who privatized their housing;

• owners who received housing under a life-long maintenance agreement with a dependent.

The rest, in order to avoid paying tax on the sale, has a minimum tenure of five years.

Important! These rules apply to properties purchased after January 1, 2016.

Some categories of citizens are exempt from paying taxes. First of all, we are talking about the owners who sold the only housing that they owned for at least three years. In this case, no declaration is required. But there is a nuance here.

lawyers explained.

Tax benefits: families with children

From January 1, 2022 families with two or more children, including adopted children, can improve their living conditions without paying taxes. The term of ownership of real estate in this case is not important at all. But there is a condition – when selling, for example, one apartment, you need to purchase another larger area or more expensive in terms of cadastral value.

It is also important to observe other nuances:

• both children must be under 18 years of age at the time of sale,

• the sale and purchase of a home occurred in the same calendar year,

• the cadastral value does not exceed 50 million rubles,

• none of the spouses and children have other housing that is larger or more expensive than the one that is for sale.

Tax benefits: equity holders

From 2022 tax incentives extended to equity holders. These are buyers of apartments in new buildings, members of housing cooperatives, as well as those who bought an apartment by assignment of rights of claim under an equity participation agreement (DDU).

experts noted.

How to calculate the tax amount?

Real estate sales tax
calculated using a simple formula:

(Income from the sale of an apartment – 1 million rubles.) * 13% = personal income tax.

Wherein, 1 million rubles – this is the maximum amount of tax deduction by which the income received from the sale can be reduced residential buildings, apartments, rooms, cottages, garden houses, land plots, as well as shares in property.

The taxable base is the maximum of the two values: the price for which the apartment was sold or 70% of the cadastral value of the apartment. The latter is determined on January 1 of the year in which the sale takes place.

For example, citizen Petrov bought an apartment for 5 million rubles, and sold it for 5.5 million rubles. In this way:

5,500,000 – 1,000,000 = 4,500,000.

Personal income tax: 4,500,000 * 13% u003d 585,000 rubles.

Sometimes, instead of a tax deduction, it is more profitable to pay tax only on the amount of profit received from the sale. At the same time, it is important to document your expenses associated with this.

For example, Petrov sold an apartment that he had previously purchased for 4.5 million for 5 million rubles. So the sales tax calculation would look like this:

5,000,000 – 4,500,000 = 500,000.

Personal income tax: 500,000 * 13% = 65,000.

Story #1

Maria Nikonova bought an apartment under a mortgage equity agreement in 2014. But the construction was delayed and the keys were handed over to her only after four years, and the right to property arose in general in 2019. Housing is the only one. Maria wants to sell an apartment and buy something similar, but in a nearby area. Will you have to pay tax?

The minimum period of ownership of property paid for under the DDU is counted from the moment of full payment of the cost of the object. The corresponding changes were made to the Tax Code by Federal Law No. 374-FZ of November 23, 2020 and apply to citizens’ incomes received since 2019. Thus, those who buy, for example, an apartment under construction, can sell it without paying personal income tax five years after full payment, or three years if this is the only housing.

Story #2

The Lipatov family with two children aged 9 and 13 decided to move into a 2-room apartment in a “three-ruble note”. The apartment belongs to both spouses. Will they have to pay tax when they sell it?

From 2021, families with children are exempt from paying personal income tax when selling real estate, regardless of the period of ownership of this property. But it’s important:

– by April 30 next year ownership of other housing, and in the case of shared construction, pay the full cost under the contract;

– total area or cost according to the cadastre of the new apartment should be larger than the old one;

– the cadastral value of the sold housing does not exceed 50 million rubles;

– the taxpayer or family members on the date of alienation of the sold housing do not own in total more than half of the other residential premises, whose area is larger than that of the sold housing.

If all conditions are met, then the family is exempt from paying tax.

Story #3

The Ivanovs are getting divorced. They don’t have children. They decided to sell a two-room apartment, split the money so that everyone could take out a loan and buy their own home. Housing is registered to her husband, Vitaly Ivanov, he owned it for three years. Who will have to pay tax?

According to Article 34 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, property acquired by spouses during marriage is their joint property. Therefore, it does not matter to whom the apartment is framed. All income and, accordingly, expenses will be divided in half, including the tax on the sale of real estate owned for less than the minimum minimum tenure.

Should we expect other changes in the laws?

According to lawyers from Pravocard Oksana Kozachenko and Maria Kundzich, one of the parties in the State Duma has developed a bill that provides for tax exemptions when selling a single home. In this case, the term of ownership is proposed not to be taken into account. In this case, a new apartment or room must be purchased no later than April 30 of the year following the year in which the transaction was concluded. Also, according to the cadastral value, a new apartment should be more expensive.