Filling out the 3-NDFL tax return for deductions for education in 2021 - new form and sample for 2021

If in 2021 a taxpayer paid for educational services with his own money, from which income tax was withheld, then in 2021 he has the right to return this personal income tax in an amount not exceeding 13 percent of the social tax deduction - to return the tax, you must fill out a tax return 3-NDFL and submit to the Federal Tax Service at any time in 2021.

The filing format is either paper or electronic through the taxpayer’s personal account. In 2021, you should fill out the form according to the new form approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service dated August 28, 2020 No. ED-7-11 / [email protected]

What is the education tax credit and who can get it?

Any person who officially pays personal income tax (NDFL) in Russia can count on a tax deduction for training (it is classified as social). By giving 13% of each salary to the state, you can get part of this money back if you enter into an agreement for the provision of educational services. And both for yourself and for your children and even for your sister or brother.

The following categories of taxpayers can count on a tax refund for training benefits:

• citizens of the Russian Federation paying personal income tax;
• pensioners who worked in the year for which the tax deduction is issued;
• foreigners-residents of the Russian Federation (spend more than 180 days a year in Russia and pay personal income tax).

Page E1

All information about social deductions is indicated by the applicant on this page. If a person wants to receive a refund for children, the amount of study costs is entered in line 100. If he wants to return the funds spent on his education, then he writes the amount in line 130.

Next, in column 180, all social deductions are added together. After which, line 190 indicates the total amount of standard and social returns that the applicant is applying for. If he does not plan to receive a deduction for the purchase of an apartment , then he only needs to enter the amount of study costs.

If entering any information causes difficulty or questions, it is better to write it down in pencil so that it can be corrected in the presence of the inspector.

In what cases can you apply for a tuition deduction?

As with any other social deduction, the tax is returned to the person whose name is indicated in the contract for the provision of services as the payer.

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation (Article 119) stipulates several grounds on which the right to a deduction for training appears. Among them:

1Own training.

Currently, tax legislation does not limit the form of education in any way: you can receive education in a full-time, evening, correspondence, distance learning department of a university or secondary specialized educational institution, take short-term courses (advanced training, mastering a new profession), study in a driving school, participate in trainings, etc. Further. The main thing is that the educational institution has a license for educational activities. Interestingly, a deduction can also be obtained for education outside the Russian Federation - a notarized translation of the license is required.

2 Education of a child under 24 years of age.

Please note: You can receive a tax deduction for your child’s education only if he or she is a full-time student. As in the case of an adult, you can return your personal income tax for educating your offspring in any licensed educational institution. These could be vocational training courses, a private kindergarten (from the total payment under the contract, the amount spent specifically on training programs is allocated; food and care are not included), schools of additional education - music, art, etc. If the child studied with a tutor, he must be an individual entrepreneur under the patent tax system.

3 Education of the ward until he reaches 18 and 24 years of age.

In this case, the rule also applies: the child must study only full-time. There are two gradations: before reaching the age of 18, you apply for a deduction for the education of your ward (ward). When the latter reaches the age of majority, the documents indicate “former ward/ward.”

4Education of a brother or sister until they reach the age of 24 years.

A mandatory requirement is full-time study. A brother or sister can be either full-blooded (from the same mother and father) or half-blooded (for example, your mother’s son from her second husband).

There is no deduction for the education of a spouse, as well as non-immediate relatives (nephews, grandchildren, grandparents, etc.). The state will not return money for education using maternity capital funds. A deduction for training provided by an employer can be issued if you are contractually obligated to compensate for the funds spent on your education.

Amount of tax deduction for training

The amount of tax refund for training is calculated in the same way as for any other personal income tax deduction. Since 13% of the cost is returned, you take the amount spent on educational services and multiply it by 0.13. There are two restrictions. Firstly, you cannot receive more than you paid in income tax in the year you completed your studies. Secondly, there is an upper threshold for deductions for educational services.

Unlike the deduction for treatment, where the maximum amount of personal income tax refund depends on the cost of services provided, in the case of training there are several gradations of tax deduction depending on the categories of students.

• 120,000 rubles - for your own education, as well as for the education of your brothers and sisters.

For example, in the reporting year you earned 800,000 rubles, paying 104,000 rubles in personal income tax on them. Even if you spent, say, 200,000 rubles on your own training, the tax will be returned only on 120,000 rubles (you will receive 13% of this amount in your hands - 15,600 rubles). Another important point: 120 thousand rubles is the maximum amount for all social deductions provided in the reporting year. That is, if you apply for a deduction for both treatment and education, you will get back at most 15,600 rubles. in total (how exactly to distribute these deductions in the declaration is up to you, the total amount will not change).

• 50,000 rubles - for training children and wards.

If you apply for deductions for both children and yourself, the maximum tax benefit for the education of your son or daughter still cannot be more than 50,000 rubles, and the total amount cannot be more than 120,000 rubles.

Example 1

Citizen G. spent 121,000 rubles on his university studies in 2021. His income in the same year amounted to 761,000 rubles. The maximum deduction that G. can count on is 120,000 rubles. The amount of tax to be refunded is 120,000 * 0.13 = 15,600 rubles.

Example 2

Citizen S. spent 54,000 rubles on his son’s foreign language courses in 2021. In addition, he underwent treatment at a sanatorium for 54,000 rubles. S.’s income in the reporting year amounted to 593,000 rubles. He is entitled to a tax deduction for his son’s education in the amount of 50,000 rubles and a deduction for treatment in the amount of 54,000 rubles. Total tax amount to be refunded: (50,000 * 0.13) + (54,000 * 0.13) = 13,520. Unfortunately, it is impossible to transfer the excess amount from the “children’s” deduction to the unused balance of the deduction for treatment.

Income Statement

To fill out the next tab, “Income received in the Russian Federation,” we take all the information from the 2-NDFL certificate. Please note that the rate of 13% must be selected.

Procedure:

1. Use the “+” button to add a new “Payment Source”.

1. In the window that appears, fill in information about your employer.

1. Using the “+” button, we transfer monthly data on income received from the 2-NDFL certificate to the program indicating all codes.

1. Below we fill in the amount of the total income received and the calculated tax for the year (we also take it from the certificate). The resulting table should look something like this.

1. If there are several employers, repeat everything from step 1. In this case, we indicate the total values ​​based on the amounts of all income certificates for the year.

How to get a tax deduction for education: step-by-step instructions

There are two options for applying for a tax deduction for education. This can be done through the tax office at your place of residence, as well as through your employer. Both methods have common points, but there are also differences.

Method #1. Tax refund through the tax office

When you choose this option, you receive the entire amount at once. You can apply for a tax deduction for training through the Federal Tax Service at any time within three years from the year you received the educational service. Let's say in 2021 you completed training at a driving school. In this regard, you can express your desire to return part of the tax paid in 2017 until the end of 2021. There is only one rule: personal income tax must be paid in the same year in which the training was conducted. If you were, say, on maternity leave in 2017 and did not pay personal income tax, then no future tax payments will help you receive a deduction for 2017.

1 Collection of necessary documents.

The standard package of documents for applying for a tax deduction for education includes:

• Copy of Russian passport
• Tax return in form 3-NDFL. Next there will be a section with detailed step-by-step instructions on how to fill out and send the declaration through the tax website.
• A certificate of income for all places of work in the reporting year where the employer paid income tax for you (form 2-NDFL) is issued by the accounting department of the organization where you worked. Certificates must be provided both for the main place of work and in case of part-time employment.
• A copy of the agreement with the educational institution addressed to the payer. This is highly desirable, because if your child is studying and an agreement is concluded between him and the educational institution, difficulties may arise with the return of personal income tax. Find out how to overcome them in the “Frequently Asked Questions” section.
• A copy of the license of the educational organization, certified by the seal of this organization. However, the website of the Federal Tax Service notes that if there is information about the license in the contract, there is no need to attach a copy of it.
• Copies of receipts, checks or other payment documents confirming payment for educational services.
• Application to the Federal Tax Service with a request to return the tax amount and details where it should be transferred.

If the deduction is issued for the education of children, wards, a brother or sister, you must also attach:

• A copy of a document confirming relationship with the recipient of educational services. This could be a child’s birth certificate, similar documents for oneself, a brother or sister, a guardianship (trusteeship) agreement in which relatives are mentioned.
• A certificate of the form of study (if the full-time course is not specified directly in the contract).

2 Submitting documents to the tax office.

The package of documents must be submitted to the Federal Tax Service at the place of your registration. If you are registered in one locality and live in another (located in the area of ​​responsibility of another Federal Tax Service), you will have to either travel or send documents in another way. You can find the address of your inspection using a special service of the Federal Tax Service: https://service.nalog.ru/addrno.do.

To submit documents to tax authorities, use one of four options:

1. Personal delivery of documents at the tax office. You must take original documents with you (passport, contracts, birth certificates). The tax office will certify your copies and tell you if all the documents are in place. Most often, even if there is a shortage of any paper, the package is accepted and they are allowed to “deliver” the document a little later (but not before the start of the desk check). Please note: your papers will not be checked by the same employees who accept documents in the office. Therefore, there is no point in explaining to them the lack of any supporting documents. It's better to come another time, properly prepared.
2. Send documents by Russian Post by registered mail with notification. In this case, you should make an inventory of the papers enclosed in the envelope.
3. Submit the package of documents to the Federal Tax Service through an authorized representative. To do this you will need to issue a power of attorney.
4. Submit documents electronically. The most convenient way, but in this case you need to fill out the declaration yourself and send it through the taxpayer’s personal account. Below there will be video instructions on how to do this through the tax website.

3 Tax refund.

The maximum period for returning personal income tax under a tax deduction is 120 days (90 days for a desk audit of the declaration and 30 days for transferring funds according to the applicant’s details).

Method #2. Tax refund through employer

In this case, you will receive a tax refund not in a lump sum, but in installments, in parts, in the form of a salary, from which personal income tax is not withheld. The advantage is that you don’t need to wait until the end of the year; you can apply for a deduction immediately after paying for your studies. The procedure is as follows:

1 Preparation of documents.

Unlike the package of documents submitted to the Federal Tax Service to receive a deduction through the tax office, in this case the list of documents will be shorter. A declaration in form 3-NDFL is not required, as well as a certificate of income from the place of work where you are going to return the tax. The application is filled out not for a tax refund, but for issuing a notice to the employer. The essence of the procedure is that the tax office checks the documents and confirms: yes, this citizen is indeed entitled to a tax deduction by law.

2 Submitting documents to the tax office.

Documents are submitted to the Federal Tax Service at your place of residence in the same ways as when filing a tax refund through the tax office: in person, by mail, electronically through your personal account on nalog.ru or through an authorized representative. Within 30 days, the Federal Tax Service is required to issue you a notice to your employer that you have the right to a tax deduction.

3 Transfer of notice to the employer.

The notification, together with an application for a deduction (sample - on the website nalog.ru) is submitted to the accounting department of your employer. Further all calculations are made there. You will begin to receive a salary increased by 13% (due to the fact that personal income tax is no longer withheld) from the month of filing the notice until the deduction is exhausted or the year ends. If the deduction amount has not been exhausted and the year has ended, you can apply for the remainder of the tax overpayment through the Federal Tax Service. To do this, perform all the actions mentioned for method No. 1.

Registration of information about the declarant

The second step is to fill out the “Information about the declarant” tab:

To obtain it, you will need a passport and TIN. If suddenly the certificate is not at hand, you can find out your TIN number by using a special service on the Federal Tax Service website service.nalog.ru There you only need to enter your passport data.

When filling out the tab, do not forget to indicate your contact phone number at the bottom of the page. This way, tax officials will be able to contact you and clarify information in case of any questions.

The end result is a completed page like this:

Video instructions for filling out the 3-NDFL declaration

Video: How to fill out the 3-NDFL declaration for a refund of training tax

• A sample of filling out a tax return for personal income tax in order to obtain a social tax deduction for taxpayer education expenses

Video: How to fill out an application for a personal income tax refund

• Sample application for personal income tax refund

Video: How to send 3-NDFL through the Taxpayer’s Personal Account in 5 minutes

We receive a deduction for children's education

You can receive a deduction for a child’s education only if the educational services were provided at the taxpayer’s own expense.

You can apply for a personal income tax refund for the education of a child under the age of 24 - both natural and adopted or under guardianship. It is allowed to issue a deduction for several children, within the total limit of 50,000 rubles and the income tax you paid (that is, they will return you at most 13% of 50 thousand rubles - 6,500 rubles).

Training must be carried out full-time, in an educational institution of any form of ownership (both public and private), in Russia or abroad.

Note! The parent must be indicated in the contract as the customer of educational services and the payer (mother or father - it doesn’t matter; according to Russian law, these expenses are considered joint). If you “blundered” at the stage of concluding the contract, and the customer indicated a child, the situation can be corrected by submitting payment documents issued in your name. For example, a receipt from the bank where you paid for the next semester for your offspring.

Example

In 2021 Ivanova A.M. entered into an agreement for her daughter to study full-time at a university. The cost of training in the first year was 125,000 rubles. Ivanova is on maternity leave and personal income tax was not transferred for her in 2021. Her husband Ivanov N.M. filed a deduction for himself, attaching a marriage certificate to the submitted documents. Since in 2019 his official income was 260,000 rubles, he received the maximum deduction - 50,000 rubles, returning 13% of this amount - 6,500 rubles.

Verification and Printing

After all the lines have been filled out, all that remains is to check the correctness of the entire document. Click the corresponding button. If the program finds any inconsistencies, it will offer to correct the errors. If everything is fine, it will report a successful check.

By clicking the “View” button, in the new window that appears, you can see how the document will look when printed. It is noteworthy that the program itself generates the required number of declaration sheets and calculates the amount of tax to be refunded from the budget.

Thus, in the example considered, the applicant’s total expenses claimed for deduction amounted to 108,500 rubles. The amount of tax that will be returned to him from the budget is 14,105 rubles. (108,500 × 13%).

We receive a deduction for the education of a brother/sister

You can receive a deduction for the education of full and half-siblings in the same amount as for yourself (up to 120,000 rubles). But the right to a tax refund only applies until the brother or sister turns 24 years old. As with children, a brother or sister must be a full-time student. The place of study is not of fundamental importance; it can be in Russia or abroad. A necessary requirement is a license from the country in which the educational organization is registered. A certified copy of this document must be provided to the tax authorities.

You will prove your relationship with your brother or sister using birth certificates – yours and your brother/sister’s. In rare cases, the Federal Tax Service may require other supporting documents (court decisions on the divorce of parents, decisions of guardianship and trusteeship authorities, and so on.

Note! The contract for the provision of educational services must include you as the customer. If the document was signed by a brother/sister, then receipts for payment of their education should be issued to you.

Example

Alexey P. paid 400,000 rubles for 4 years for his then 18-year-old sister’s full-time university education in 2021. In 2021, he decided to receive a tax deduction. All conditions were suitable: the three-year period had not passed, P.’s income in 2021 amounted to 930,000 rubles, all documents about his relationship with his sister (birth certificates) were available. My sister has not reached the age of 24. The maximum amount due to Alexey P. for return is 15,600 rubles (13% of 120,000 rubles - he is entitled to a deduction only for the year in which he paid for training). This amount could have been much larger if, say, he had placed his money on a deposit and used it to pay for his sister’s education every year for 100,000 rubles. Then you could get 15,600 rubles. for 2017, 2018 and 2019, and in 2020, issue for the current year. In total, P. could return 62,400 rubles.

FAQ

— How many times in your life can you make a tax deduction for education?

— According to the law, there are no restrictions on the number of deductions for training. You have the right to apply for a personal income tax refund every year if you used educational services that fall under all the requirements of the Tax Code. There are restrictions only on the amount: 120,000 rubles for yourself, brothers and sisters, 50,000 rubles for children and wards. Social deductions unused in the current year are not carried over to the next year. It is also impossible to carry over the deduction to the next year if the training costs were higher than the maximum amount for the tax benefit.

Example 1

Muscovite Alexander O. paid 111,500 rubles for his university studies in 2021. The personal income tax, which was transferred to the tax office at O.’s place of work in 2019, amounted to 12,500 rubles (the citizen received a significant part of his salary “in an envelope”). Accordingly, instead of the 13% due to him from 111,500 rubles (14,495 rubles), he received a personal income tax refund in the amount paid - 12,500 rubles.

Example 2

Marianna N. in 2021 completed paid advanced training courses for 49,000 rubles, training at a driving school (38,000 rubles), and also paid for her daughter’s education in the amount of 84,000 rubles. The total amount spent on training in 2021 was 171,000 rubles. N. decided to apply for the maximum deduction (50,000 rubles) for her daughter’s education, and for the remaining limit (120,000 – 50,000 = 70,000 rubles) to apply for a deduction for her expenses. The total tax refund was (50,000 rubles * 0.13) + (70,000 rubles * 0.13) = 15,600 rubles. Part of the expenses for your daughter (84,000 – 50,000 = 34,000 rubles) and for your education (49,000 + 38,000 – 70,000 = 17,000 rubles) will not be covered by the deduction, since they go beyond its maximum limits. These amounts cannot be transferred to the next year; they simply “burn out.”

— I am the mother of a full-time student. The contract is in my name, and the receipts are in my son’s name. Can I get a deduction for his tuition?

— The letter of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation dated August 31, 2006 No. SAE-6-04 / [email protected] states that in your case, the parents have the right to receive a tax deduction if they prove that the son made the payment on behalf of his father or mother. To do this, you need to attach a free-form application to the standard package of documents, in which you instruct your son to complete the operation of paying for education using your funds.

— The contract is issued in the name of the daughter, and the receipts are in the name of the father. Can the father receive a tax deduction in this case?

— Clause 1 of Article 219 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation connects the receipt of a deduction with the fact that the taxpayer submits documents confirming his educational expenses. If the father submits such documents to the Federal Tax Service, then he receives the right to a deduction regardless of who the contract with the educational organization is for. If there is a copy of the license and the training is full-time, a deduction will be provided to one of the parents without any problems.

— Are there any chances of getting a deduction for my son’s education if both the contract and the receipts are issued for him, although I actually paid?

— The taxpayer has the right to receive a deduction if he paid for the training himself, and this can be confirmed by any documents. The bank or payment system will not redo receipts. But an agreement with an educational organization can be redone - at least, it is easier to negotiate with representatives of the university than with a banking organization. The customer is the one who will receive the deduction (in this case, the father). Further, the procedure is the same as in the case of receiving a deduction by parents who ordered educational services for their son, who paid for his education himself (see above)

— Can my second husband, who is neither the father nor the child’s guardian, receive a tax deduction for his son’s education?

— Article 219 lists all categories of persons who have the right to a personal income tax refund for educating children. This:

• The student's mother and father.
• Guardian and his wife (husband).
• Brothers and sisters of the recipient of educational services.

Since in this case the husband of the author of the question does not belong to any of these categories, he is not entitled to a deduction. You, as a mother, can apply for a personal income tax refund.

— I turn 24 in the middle of the school year, which I have already paid for in full. How will the tax deduction be calculated?

— The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, in its letter dated October 12, 2010 No. 03-04-05/7-617, established that if the age of 24 has arrived and training in an educational organization continues, the deduction is provided for the entire calendar year. It’s another matter if you’ve reached your age and graduated from college. Then the deduction ceases to apply from the month following the one in which the training was completed. Some accountants request two certificates from an employee per child student: at the beginning of the academic year and at the end of the semester. If a student is expelled, the right of deduction for parents is terminated.

— For three years now I have been receiving both social and property tax deductions (for the purchased apartment). How best to design such a neighborhood to get the greatest benefit?

— It is most logical to first apply for a deduction for training, and for the remaining personal income tax - a deduction for the apartment. If you do the opposite, the returned amount will remain the same, but the remainder of the social deduction will “burn out.” The remainder of the property deduction can be carried over to the next year.

Example

Golubev M.N. in 2019 and 2021, he received an income of 430,000 rubles, paying 55,900 rubles in personal income tax on it every year. In 2019, Golubev bought an apartment for 1.6 million rubles. For 2021, Golubev returned all 55,900 rubles of personal income tax paid that year. The balance of the property deduction in the amount of 1,600,000 – 430,000 = 1,170,000 rubles. has been postponed to 2021. In 2020, Golubev studied at a driving school, spending 28,000 rubles on it. When filing tax deductions for 2021, the citizen decided to first make a social deduction. Balance of 340,000 (annual income) – 28,000 (tuition deduction) = RUB 312,000. was registered as a property deduction. Thus, Golubev received back all 55,900 rubles of his personal income tax, and the balance of the property deduction in the amount of 1,170,000 - 312,000 = 858,000 rubles was transferred to 2021.

Title page

1. In the item “Adjustment number”, “0” is most often indicated, since a person usually submits an initial declaration. When the document is drawn up for the second time, the number will be “1”.
2. In the “Tax period” enter “34”, which corresponds to the calendar year, after which the year of filing is indicated, that is, in the case of Alexander - 2021.
3. Next, you need to enter the number of the inspection where the declaration is submitted.
4. The payer code indicates “760”. This is a designation of an individual.
5. Further, the data exactly corresponds to the passport: full name, date and city of birth, information about the identity document itself, address of residence.
6. Below is the number of pages of the declaration, as well as photocopies of documents attached to it.
7. The reliability of the information is confirmed in the lower left part, where the number 1 is written, the full name is indicated again, and then all this is signed by the applicant and the filing date is indicated.