By receiving an official salary, any employee not only improves his financial situation, but also enriches the state treasury, because in addition to paying fees to the Pension Fund, Social Insurance Fund and Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund, the employer is obliged to deduct income tax amounting to 13% from the employee’s salary. However, in some situations, this money can be returned using a tax deduction. The terms for the return of money and the operating principle of this state instrument are prescribed in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, but in practice this preferential mechanism behaves somewhat differently than it was originally intended.
Refund of tax withheld from the income of individuals is a way of providing material support to citizens when making significant expenses.
Procedure for returning a tax deduction
There are 2 ways to become a happy owner of a tax bonus:
- through contacting the tax authorities;
- at the place of main work.
A tax refund through an employer can be issued throughout the calendar year, without waiting for the end of the tax period, which falls on December 31. If the required paperwork is provided, the employer will not withhold 13% of the employee's salary until the approved amount is paid. However, the decision on payment is made not by the employer, but by the tax inspector, so a tax return should be filed in any case.
Let's give an example. For a salary of 10,000 rubles, the employer must deduct 13% to the state, which will amount to 1,300 rubles, respectively, the employee will receive 8,700 rubles. If a tax deduction was approved, for example, in the amount of 6,000 rubles, then the accounting department will have to withhold personal income tax not from 10,000 rubles, but from 4,000 rubles (10,000 - 6,000). In this case, the amount of income tax is 520 rubles, and the employee will receive 9,480 rubles (10,000-520).
It is better to make large refunds through the tax office with a one-time transfer to the account
To apply for a deduction, you must submit an application and a completed declaration. The inspector cannot refuse to accept documents that are properly executed by the taxpayer.
The legislation provides for the following procedure for calculating tax deductions:
- Submitting an application to the Federal Tax Service at the place of registration of the applicant along with supporting documents in the form of checks, contracts for medical care, training or preferential certificates, for example.
- Conducting a desk audit for 3 months.
- Filling out by a competent employee a notification containing information about the accepted conclusion on the tax deduction, which is sent by mail to the taxpayer’s registered address. If the decision was not made in favor of the applicant, the inspector must send an explanatory letter indicating the reason for the refusal.
- The transfer of money is carried out 30 days after the taxpayer receives a confirmation letter. A notice is considered delivered if 6 days have passed after it was sent.
Application form for personal income tax refund and procedure for filling it out
From January 9, 2021, an application for a refund is submitted in the form approved by the order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated February 14, 2017 No. ММВ-7-8/ [email protected] as amended by the Federal Tax Service order dated November 30, 2018 No. ММВ-7-8/ [email protected]
The current personal income tax refund application form can be downloaded here.
And below we provide for you a sample of filling out an application for personal income tax refund for 2021 using the new form.
Read about the nuances of filling out an application for a personal income tax refund when applying for a social or property deduction in ConsultantPlus. If you do not have access to the K+ system, get a trial online access for free.
How to apply for a deduction on the Federal Tax Service website
Log in to your personal account
There are three ways to log in to the tax office website:
- Using your login and password from your personal account. To receive them, you need to personally contact the tax office with your passport.
- Using a qualified electronic signature (ES), if you already have one. If not, this is the most difficult and unreasonable option for the average taxpayer. It is issued by a certification center accredited by the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of Russia, and it is stored on a hard drive, USB key or smart card.
- Using your login and password from Gosuslug. The easiest way. If you don’t have an account, it’s best to gain access to it rather than to your personal account on the Federal Tax Service website, since the login and password from “Gosuslug” will be useful in many situations.
Create an enhanced non-qualified electronic signature if you don’t have one
Click on your last name, first name and patronymic to go to your profile page.
Scroll to “Get EP”.
Choose where you will store the electronic signature key: on your computer or in the protected system of the Federal Tax Service of Russia. In the second case, you will be able to use the digital signature on any device, including a mobile one.
Check that your details are correct, create a password and submit your application. Registration of the electronic signature usually takes several days. Here you can register a qualified electronic signature if you have one. Then you do not need to issue another signature.
When the electronic signature is issued, the following field will appear on the same page:
Please note: the signature has an expiration date. Then the procedure will have to be repeated.
Select the items “Life situations” → “Submit 3‑NDFL declaration” → “Fill out online”
A form for filling out the declaration will open.
Enter personal information
Determine which tax authority you are sending your return to. If the column is not filled in automatically, you can check this on the Federal Tax Service website.
Select which year you would like to file a return for. Available ones are indicated in the drop-down list.
Please indicate whether this is your first time filing a return for this year. If not, write which version of the invoice document this is.
Please indicate whether you are a tax resident. To do this, it is necessary for the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Article 207, to be in Russia for 183 days in the year for which you are filing a declaration. If you are a non-resident, you are not entitled to a deduction.
Report your income
Employers are required to send tax information about your income to the tax office by April 1. If your employer has already done this, the corresponding fields will be filled in automatically.
If not, click on the “Add Income Source” button and enter the required information manually. The data is on the 2‑NDFL certificate, which you will have to take if your employer has not yet managed to report your income (more on this below).
Select deduction
Lifehacker wrote in detail about the types of deductions in a separate article. In short:
- Property - when buying a home, building a house, paying off interest on a mortgage loan, buying property from you for municipal and state needs.
- Standard - for parents and adoptive parents, disabled people, Heroes of Russia, liquidators of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
- Social - for training, treatment, charity, insurance, including non-state pension.
- Investment - if you transferred money to an individual investment account.
- When carrying forward losses from transactions with securities, derivative financial instruments, and from participation in an investment partnership.
You can select multiple categories at the same time. But remember that you still won’t get back more than you paid in personal income tax.
Add details about what qualifies you for a tax refund.
For example, if you are registering a property deduction, enter data about the purchased property and the purchase and sale agreement.
If it’s standard, it’s about yourself and/or your children.
If social, enter the amount spent in the required column (it must be confirmed with documents).
Prepare the declaration for sending
At the last stage, you will see how much money they are willing to return to you. Here it is 6.5 thousand, since, according to legend, a deduction for education in the amount of 50 thousand rubles was declared. In addition, you can download the declaration already on the form to check it again for errors.
Add documents justifying your right to deduction. Make sure that the papers are in JPG, JPEG, TIF, TIFF, PNG, PDF format and weigh no more than 10 MB each. The maximum size of all attached files should not exceed 20 MB.
Now the Federal Tax Service portal itself offers a list of documents that the department would like to receive. Previously, you had to figure out the list yourself.
If your 2‑NDFL certificates are already in the tax database (and you found this out when filling out information on income), you do not need to attach them separately. If the data is not yet available, attach 2‑NDFL in the “Additional Documents” section - the requirements are the same as for other papers.
All that remains is to enter the password for the electronic signature and send the documents for verification.
How long does it take for the tax deduction to be returned?
This question is quite in demand due to the misunderstanding caused by the interpretation of Articles 78 and 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
Article 78 states that the approved amount is credited to the applicant’s account within 1 month from the date of filing the declaration, but Article 88 states that compensation is possible only upon completion of the audit, for which, according to the law, a minimum of 3 months is allocated.
As a rule, employees of the competent authorities transfer funds 30 days after the inspection, i.e. The payment period is extended for at least 4 months.
You should expect the transfer of funds no earlier than 4 months after the date of registration of the application
One month allocated for tax refund should be counted not from the day of the visit to the tax inspector, but from the day the audit of the submitted declaration is completed.
It should be remembered that a tax deduction is provided only after the taxpayer has repaid the tax debt.
Full months
But that's not all. You will have to study the tax legislation of the Russian Federation in more detail. What do they say about full and partial months when returning overpayments and deductions?
Let's assume that a tax deduction is issued when purchasing an apartment. The payment period in this case will be equal to one month. The citizen submits the declaration, documents and application in March. Then the full month will expire in April. And by May 1, the tax authorities are required to transfer funds to the taxpayer’s account. In case of delay, a penalty is due to be paid by the relevant government agency for each day.
Results
An application for an income tax refund should be submitted upon submission of the 3-NDFL declaration or upon completion of its desk audit. The application form was approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated 02/14/2017 No. ММВ-7-8/ [email protected] From 01/09/2019 its new version is applied.
Sources:
- Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated February 14, 2017 N ММВ-7-8/ [email protected]
- Tax Code of the Russian Federation
You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.
Reasons for increasing deadlines
The deadline for receiving a tax deduction may be increased by the Federal Tax Service if a citizen has submitted incorrect documents or made a mistake in completing the application.
Is it possible to obtain a tax deduction for the treatment of a retired wife? Information here.
How much is the tax deduction for studying? Details in this article.
Ways to receive a refund
The main way in which overpaid funds are returned is payment through the employer.
There is also the possibility of transferring a certain amount to the taxpayer’s personal account. The choice of method depends on the personal desire of the applicant.
How to find out about an overpayment
Most often, the reason for overpayment is errors in the payment order or declaration, double write-off of tax at the request of the Federal Tax Service, previously paid advance payments exceeding the total tax amount for the year.
In 2021, an additional reason may be exemption from paying taxes and fees for the second quarter on the basis of Federal Law No. 172-FZ dated 06/08/2020. Previously, it was possible to find out about an overpayment only after reconciliation with the tax office or from a certificate in the KND form 1160081. Starting from October 1, 2021, the Federal Tax Service is obliged to always notify the taxpayer that there is an overpaid amount of tax on his personal account within 10 days period from the moment of its detection (clause 3 of Art. Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
From place and time
However, all the information listed above is not exhaustive. In reality, there are other situations. Some tax departments believe that they can transfer funds in the form of a refund or deduction for longer than 3 months. How much exactly?
Need a property tax deduction? Payment terms can range from 1 to 4 months. How did you get the second number?
The thing is that some Federal Tax Service believe that during desk checks they must only verify the authenticity of documents and make an appropriate decision. And after the taxpayer has been informed of a positive response to the request, count down 1 month for the transfer of money.
Please note that many tax authorities refuse to accept documents for deduction along with the application. This is necessary in order to avoid unnecessary disputes regarding the timing of refunds. Initially, taxpayers are recommended to submit declarations and documents for verification, then receive a response from the Federal Tax Service and only then write an application for a deduction. In general, this procedure violates the established legislation of the Russian Federation.
Income tax statute of limitations
There is no statute of limitations for receiving a property deduction for the purchase of a home. It may apply to different tax periods:
- until full repayment (for a mortgage);
- until termination of employment (pension or maternity leave).
For reference! According to these circumstances, a minor owner has the right to apply for personal income tax after reaching 18 years of age or employment.
What to do if the allotted time is violated
If the payment deadlines have passed and the tax office has not transferred the funds, but no notification of refusal has been received, it is worth taking action. To do this you need to influence the process:
- Call or go to the Federal Tax Service to find out the reason for the delay.
- Write a statement addressed to your boss. Explain the reason for the request, indicate the date of sending, whether there is a debt from the tax office and the date when the audit was completed. If the money is not returned, demand payment of a penalty.
- The next step is supervisory inspection. A complaint is addressed here only if the Federal Tax Service does not respond to applications and does not pay the debt.
- The last resort is the court. A citizen has the right to file a claim if there is no response from other authorities.
General information
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Today there are several types of benefits. Deductions can be:
- standard - provided to categories of citizens strictly defined by law (low-income segments of the population, combatants, etc.);
- social - there is a return of part of the funds spent on treatment, training, etc.;
- in most cases, professionals are issued by people of creative professions;
- for securities - provided in case of losses of the taxpayer related to securities;
- property - can be used when purchasing living space.
To determine the return period, you will need to read Art. 78 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. You should also know that:
- such a benefit can be used only once in a lifetime, but after 2014 this right applies to several real estate properties;
- a tax return for receiving a property deduction is completed in the year following the transaction;
- the possibility of receiving compensation is not affected by the place where the real estate was purchased;
- the maximum amount for which a deduction is issued is 2 million rubles (accordingly, the taxpayer cannot claim payment of more than 260 thousand rubles);
- spouses have the opportunity to receive double compensation, provided they comply with all the rules established by law;
- when purchasing living space for an amount below 2 million rubles, a person retains the right to take advantage of the remaining percentage of the deduction when purchasing another property, provided that the right to receive the benefit was not used before 2014.
Who is entitled to a refund?
In order for a citizen to be provided with the described benefit, he must:
- be a citizen of Russia;
- have grounds for receiving a tax deduction;
- have official income and pay personal income tax.
If a person did not have official income at the time of purchasing real estate, the citizen has the right to submit an application asking for a refund after some time.
The following categories of citizens are not eligible for income tax refunds:
- persons who are not residents of the Russian Federation, that is, spend less than six months a year in the country;
- those undergoing fixed-term and contract military service in the army and navy;
- pensioners, if their three-year tax period has expired;
- children who have not reached the age of majority, but their parents can do this for them.
What are the conditions for a tax refund when purchasing an apartment? See here.
How to apply?
For 2021, processing the return of overpaid funds is a fairly simple operation that anyone can handle. A citizen may encounter some difficulties only when filling out the 3-NDFL declaration.
When preparing the document, you should pay special attention to the following requirements:
- in order to avoid refusal to pay compensation, only accurate information should be indicated in the declaration and other documents;
- filling out the documentation should be done in block letters, which allows tax officials to better understand the contents and also helps to facilitate the procedure for scanning the document;
- It is necessary to exclude any blots in the margins.
When the declaration is completed, the citizen should proceed to fill out the application. Because There is no single template established by law; the application can be filled out in any form.
However, it will be necessary to mention the following information:
- place of residence, full name and tax identification number of the applicant;
- the name of the tax transaction performed for which the citizen intends to receive compensation;
- the amount of money the person is claiming;
- bank account details where, if the tax authority makes a positive decision, the due amount will be transferred;
- the date of preparation of the document and the personal signature of the taxpayer, without which the application can be considered invalid.
Next, the citizen will be required to collect a package of necessary documents. In order to avoid a negative decision from the tax authority, this issue must be approached responsibly.
A sample application for a tax deduction for the purchase of an apartment is here.
A sample application for a tax deduction for treatment is here.
