Revision of housing prices or why the cadastral value of an apartment has increased. The new property tax will ruin millions of Russians Why was the property tax increased?

In the near future, citizens will begin to receive notifications with calculations of property taxes for 2015. Such property, according to the Tax Code, includes a residential building, apartment, room, garage, a single real estate complex (for example, a plot of land with outbuildings and a residential building), other buildings and premises. “For the first time, the tax will be applied to parking spaces and unfinished housing construction. Residential buildings on land plots, such as dachas, are now classified as residential buildings,” says Ekaterina Leonenkova, head of the tax practice of the Yakovlev and Partners legal group.

Tax is calculated in a new way

This year, for the first time, the tax on listed property is calculated based on the higher cadastral value of the property, and not the inventory value (BTI value), as before. So far, only in 28 regions of Russia, including Moscow, Tatarstan, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Samara regions. Residents of St. Petersburg will begin paying tax at the cadastral value from next year - for 2016. In the rest, everything is still the same.

For the first four years from the beginning of the application of cadastral valuation, the tax amount will increase gradually (from calculated according to the inventory value to calculated according to the cadastre) using reducing factors: in the first year - 0.2, in the second - 0.4, in the third - 0.6 , in the fourth – 0.8 and will reach a maximum in the fifth year. Now in Moscow a coefficient of 0.2 is applied to the amount of tax for 2015 for all objects, with the exception of administrative offices, retail buildings and commercial buildings.

According to the Tax Code, the tax rate for residential buildings and premises, unfinished residential construction, garages, and outbuildings with an area of ​​up to 50 square meters. m on personal land plots is no more than 0.1% of the cadastral valuation. Local authorities can reduce this rate to zero or increase it by a maximum of 3 times. For objects more than 300 million rubles. The property tax rate can reach 2%. The exact tax rates are determined by the region. For current rates for Moscow, see the table.

Tax deductions apply to all citizens, and benefits apply to some. The cadastral value of the apartment is reduced by the cost of its 20 square meters. m, residential building - 50 sq. m, rooms - 10 sq. m. And the cadastral value of a single real estate complex with residential premises is reduced by 1 million rubles.

The owner of several similar objects, say apartments or houses, can submit an application to select an object with a deduction before November 1 - in person or through a personal account on the Federal Tax Service website. If this is not done, the inspection itself will choose the most economical option, applying the deduction to the object with the maximum tax amount.

“If an apartment or house is in common shared ownership of several citizens, its cadastral value is reduced by the cost of 20 square meters. m, and, based on the balance, each owner pays tax in proportion to his share,” explains Leonenkova.

All pensioners are exempt from paying property tax, but only one property of each type (optional). If, for example, a pensioner owns an apartment, a garden house and a garage, he is completely exempt from paying property tax, explains a representative of the law firm.

How much to pay in rubles

The tax on owners of old housing stock will increase the most, and less for modern ones with a fairly high BTI rating, says Oleg Repchenko, head of the analytical portal irn.ru.

“Even taking into account the reduction factors during the transition period and the deduction of 20 quarters. “We will have to pay more for owning property than it was before 2015, regardless of the type of property, year of construction, etc.,” says Maria Litinetskaya, managing partner of Metrium Group.

You can already find out the preliminary tax amount on the Federal Tax Service website - just indicate the cadastral number of the property. “According to my calculations using the Federal Tax Service website, this year the tax amount, taking into account the preferential 20 square meters. m and a coefficient of 0.2 increased 3 times compared to last year,” says Tatyana Zatsepina, the owner of a three-room Khrushchev house on the outskirts of Moscow: the cadastral value of her apartment turned out to be 23 times higher than the inventory value. And the tax on a 100-meter apartment near the Timiryazevskaya metro station for one of the Vedomosti employees, calculated by a calculator on the Federal Tax Service website, was 1000 rubles. less than last year.

Leonenkova reminds that at the end of 2015, the deadlines for paying property taxes were changed and if previously the owner had to pay the tax no later than October 1 of the year following the expired tax period, now - before December 1.

Do the math for yourself

The tax service is responsible for calculating property taxes, as well as sending citizens notifications with the results of calculations. And individuals must pay tax only on the basis of these notifications. “Prior to receiving a tax notice, an individual is not required to pay property tax,” says Ekaterina Golubeva, senior legal adviser at the tax consulting department at FBK Law.

This year, the Federal Tax Service can send notifications for property taxes (as well as land and transport taxes) until November 1 - but not everyone will receive paper notifications by mail. Since June 2016, changes to the Tax Code came into force, allowing tax authorities to inform citizens (not entrepreneurs) who have connected their personal account on the tax service website, only through this service, without paper notifications. According to the Federal Tax Service, there are already more than 20 million such citizens. They will no longer be automatically sent tax notices on paper by mail, only upon request, warns the Federal Tax Service.

If there is also no information about tax debt in your personal account, the individual must inform the tax authority about the availability of real estate and vehicles by December 31. But we must take into account that if a person has at least once received a notification about paying a tax, there is no need to report non-receipt of notifications, Golubeva points out: “The tax authority now has no right to fine a citizen for failure to submit a report on property. The Federal Tax Service will have this right from January 1, 2017, and the amount of the fine will be significant - 20% of the unpaid tax amount.”

Property taxes for 2019 have undergone major changes. The reason was the fact that the estimated value taken as a basis does not reflect the real value of the object. Previously, the amount of tax was determined by the price indicated by the BTI.

But after analyzing the situation on the real estate market, the legislator came to the conclusion that the budget does not receive an impressive amount. It was the increase in budget funds that became the reason for making fundamental changes in the formation of property taxes for citizens.

The pilot version has already passed its stages. Based on the conclusions drawn from the results of the study, citizens are offered the option of a painless transition to a new taxation format.

Until this year, real estate tax was based on the value declared according to the BTI. The inventory assessment took into account certain factors from which the rate was formed:

• year of construction;
• type of floors and type of structures;
• costs of construction materials and work.

However, as a result, the cost was critically far from the real market price. It turned out that the budget treasury received deductions from only part of the cost. In this case, calculations were made precisely at the market price. At the exit, conditions were created in order to successfully carry out various manipulations with real estate.

For this reason, changes were made, and now only the cadastral valuation is accepted as the initial, defining value. The cadastral value includes all factors that influence the market price. Therefore, it is this value that is considered to maximally reflect the actual value. The assessment includes many indicators, in addition to those taken into account according to the BTI:

• location;
• the development of the area itself and the place where the house is located;
• availability of local attractions and cultural values;
• presence of parking, security, surveillance.

That is, each indicator is taken into account when calculating the cost. The cadastral valuation is updated once every five years. This is stipulated by law.

Basics of the new reform

The reform in the tax rate, implemented in full force, will affect any real estate, and also applies to the second apartment in the property. The essence of the changes is to make real estate transactions and operations extremely transparent. Too much material money goes into the pockets of scammers, when they should be working for the benefit of the citizens of their country.

Since the difference between the BTI assessment and the cadastral assessment is significant, the new law provides for a more lenient regime for increases. Innovations are divided into 5 stages with a gradual increase in property tax.

In order not to collapse the situation and lead to a financial crisis for citizens, the tax will increase once a year by 20%. After five years, the increase must be terminated as it has reached the end point.

Such caution is necessary because if the tax on a privatized apartment is introduced in full, the amount will turn out to be unaffordable. Even for people with above-average income, this size will cause serious damage to their material and economic situation. A gradual increase will not cause resonance.

What you need to pay for

It should be noted that the tax in each region will be different. So, in both capitals it will be the highest because these cities have a different standard of living.

However, the law established a framework beyond which calculations cannot be made: 0.1% of the final cadastral value of the property. Again, Moscow and St. Petersburg fell into the exclusion zone for the “corridor”. Cities of particular richness and increased comfort, for them the rate may be higher.

According to the new law, not only residential apartments and households are subject to taxation. Now you will have to pay for those objects that are under construction. The tax is also provided for those complexes where there are residential areas. Attention is drawn to outbuildings up to 50 m in size on plots that are intended for construction and running your own household.

Garden buildings, including residential buildings, also fall under the category of taxable real estate. However, according to the law, not all garden houses will be subject to the tax, since there are restrictions on area.

If you own several residential properties, the tax may be levied in total. However, a tax deduction may already apply here. That is, when owning multiple real estate, it is necessary to make separate clarifications before making payment.

Regions are given the right to independently set the tax rate for each region. Also, management authorities independently establish categories for preferential charges.

Detailed lecture on property taxes:

Preferential categories

However, the legislator understands that even a gentle increase in the tax rate will hit the weakest and most vulnerable categories of people. Therefore, concessions are provided up to complete tax exemption for:

• disabled people of groups 1-2;
• low-income families;
• WWII veterans;
• pensioners.

For benefit groups, a standard has been introduced in the form of mandatory footage to be deducted from the main area:

• rooms - 10 m;
• apartments - 20 m;
• private houses - 50 m.

The calculation is extremely simple: the standard is subtracted from the total area. And only after that the rate is calculated on the remaining footage. So, if a veteran owns an apartment of 30 m2, then he calculates it like this: 30 m2 - 20 m2 = 10 m2. It is for these 10 m2 that the owner will be required to pay tax. If, after subtraction, a complete zero remains, no tax is paid.

The new law made many changes, affecting the minimum tenure period. However, each change is accompanied by amendments and reservations in order to preserve the rights of each owner.

What should property owners prepare for?

Two years ago, Vladimir Putin announced a four-year moratorium on increasing the tax burden for businesses. Officials are carrying out the order to the best of their ability: if an increase occurs, it is targeted, with an eye to complaints from the community. But the crisis requires sacrifices, and the budget requires replenishment. And the authorities decided to take the money that they could not get from entrepreneurs with interest from citizens. A multiple increase in property taxes, fees from parking spaces and unfinished buildings, an increase in the period for exemption from personal income tax when selling housing - 2016 hit the pockets of the majority of Russians hard. MK found out from real estate market experts what the tax changes of the past year led to and what new fees await us in 2017.

There are two news for property owners: bad and very bad. Let's start with the last one. Starting this year, property tax for individuals is calculated according to a new scheme. Not to say that the event came as a big surprise: the state’s plans to take a percentage not from the inventory, but from the higher cadastral value of housing have been talked about for a long time. But the Russians were clearly not ready for how exactly the idea would be implemented in practice.

Firstly, garages, parking spaces and unfinished buildings registered in Rosreestr unexpectedly fell under taxation. Previously, owners did not have to pay for such objects, but from now on the standard rate for them is 0.1%, and regions have the right to increase it to 0.3% or reduce it to zero. But the main thing is the apartments. The authorities of some regions took the first path - increase. And now the owner of a decorated apartment worth, say, 6 million rubles will have to unplannedly pay 18 thousand per year to the local budget.

Secondly, the amount of property tax has not increased “insignificantly,” as officials said, and not even doubled, as the Federal Tax Service promised. It has increased many times, in some cases tens of times. So far, the gap between the fees according to the BTI and the cadastre is not too noticeable. For fear of shocking people, the government set a five-year transition period with reduction rates. So the full amount will need to be transferred only in 2020.

But the numbers that residents of 28 pilot regions saw on their receipts last fall were enough to realize the scale of the innovation. For example, if previously a two-room “panel” with an area of ​​75 square meters in Konkovo ​​(13.5 million rubles) cost the owner a symbolic 900 rubles, then this year the payment for it amounted to 3.7 thousand. In another four years, deductions will reach 9.9 thousand. The result is an increase of 1100%. Add payments for a conventional dacha, garage, land plot, and it will take the owner exactly a month’s salary, or even two, to settle payments with the tax authorities.

However, the problem here is not only the amount of tax, but also the cadastral value itself. Over the course of the year, thousands of cases were identified throughout the country when it significantly exceeded the market value, and sometimes even reached unrealistic values. Capital lawyer Oleg Sukhov gave several impressive examples in a conversation with MK. Thus, in Odintsovo, an apartment in a new building was “accidentally” valued at 1.26 billion rubles. The owner was charged a tax of 4 million rubles. And a resident of Nizhnekamsk, due to an appraiser’s mistake, paid almost 10 thousand rubles in tax for an ordinary garage. In one of the villages in Mordovia, due to an oversight by officials, the property of pensioners on paper has risen in price by 35–40 times.

As a result, Rosreestr is choking on applications from citizens to revise the cadastral valuation. Over the 10 months of 2016, the government agency received 35 thousand complaints regarding 73 thousand objects. This is more than in the whole of last year. Those for whom appealing to officials did not help go straight to court. Since January, property owners have filed nearly 10,000 lawsuits, and the number of lawsuits is growing every day. Owners who do not have the money and time to litigate “vote with their feet.” Families with low incomes are moving from the center closer to the outskirts. Owners of luxury housing, private investors and once happy owners of inherited apartments are getting rid of property that has suddenly become a burden. Against the backdrop of the crisis, real estate sales are struggling, and owners have to agree to concessions, losing in price, but it’s better than suffering losses for years.

Meanwhile, officials still achieved their goal: in 2016, 28 subjects where a cadastre tax is already in effect will pay the state the same amount as the Federal Tax Service collected from all of Russia in 2015 - 28 billion rubles. By 2020, the amount will increase five times, plus revenues from the remaining 57 regions. This money is enough to plug more than one hole in the budget.

If you don't pay, you won't move

The second tax “new”, which, strictly speaking, dates back to 2016, concerns exemption from personal income tax when selling real estate. If you bought an apartment, garage or cottage after January 1, 2016, then in order to sell this property without paying tax, you will have to wait five years, and not three years, as before. Exceptions: privatized housing, objects received as an inheritance or gift from a family member or close relative, as well as property received under a rental agreement. The same period of 3 years applies to them.

However, the taxation procedure itself has not changed. The treasury will have to pay 13% of the difference between the price for which the property was purchased and the one for which it was later sold. For example, the owner paid 20 million rubles for a house in Sochi and after a couple of years he will get 25 million for it. The payment in this case will be 650 thousand rubles (that is, 13% - 5 million rubles difference). At the same time, it has become much more difficult to avoid collecting according to the old scheme by specifying a fictitious low price in the contract. According to the new rules, the personal income tax base, and therefore the transaction amount, cannot be less than 70% of the cadastral value of the property.

Following the logic of officials, the changes will clear the market of speculators who trade real estate left and right literally every day. In fact, experts believe that everyone will lose from the amendments. Citizens who invested in “squares” when prices were down and planned to sell them when prices were up in 3-4 years. People who decide to move to another area of ​​the city, to another region or abroad. This will also affect those who expect to increase their living space, and those for whom the maintenance of old housing has become unaffordable. But the state, even despite the increase in the number of “gray” transactions, will, as usual, remain in the black.

Hold your pocket wider

Recently, the government has been actively scattering initiatives to increase revenues. This is the sensational levy on “parasites”, and the tax on deposits, and the progressive scale of personal income tax, and an increase in VAT along with excise taxes and social insurance rates. It is clear that some proposals “stall” at the level of discussions. However, according to lawyers, Russians should not hope for a reduction in the tax burden in 2017.

Thus, starting from January, for concealing data about new property from the Federal Tax Service, owners will be expected to receive a tax bill for the previous three years and a fine in the amount of 20% of the amount of the unpaid fee. Additionally, the state wants to almost double the penalties for debtors: from the current 1/300 of the refinancing rate to 1/180 per day.

We're not done with real estate yet either. According to statistics, 38% of buildings in Russia do not have legal owners. This includes both ordinary unfinished buildings and completed projects, the owners of which are in no hurry to register so as not to pay taxes. Now officials are looking for any ways to bring draft dodgers out of the shadows. According to current standards, citizens who have delayed construction on plots for individual housing construction for more than 10 years are charged double land tax. In the fall, Khakassia proposed increasing the coefficient for such plots by 5 times, other regions proposed multiplying their cadastral value, and representatives of the federal government came up with the idea of ​​imposing fees on objects registered in the cadastral register, but not registered in Rosreestr. “And although there is no concrete decision yet, with such zeal from the authorities, we don’t have long to wait for a new tax,” believes Oleg Sukhov.

However, for the sake of fairness, it must be said that the majority of Russians privatized housing and received it at their complete disposal virtually free of charge. This was a significant advantage: people received living space as private property. This property can subsequently be freely disposed of: owned, sold, donated, bequeathed. A privatized apartment can act as collateral for obtaining a loan. The owner of the apartment himself decides who to register and who to leave. The registration procedure is also simplified: it is impossible to evict a person from a privatized apartment without providing other housing or paying its cost.

The deadline for free privatization of housing was constantly extended. By the way, the deadline for privatization under such conditions expires in March of this year, and perhaps it will be extended. State Duma deputies may approve the corresponding bill during the spring session. True, it will most likely affect only certain categories of citizens, for example those whose housing is in disrepair.

At the same time, by agreeing to free privatization, the state most likely assumed in advance that some kind of financial return from this process was necessary. Obviously, the time to collect stones has come.

Of course, none of us wants to pay more taxes. And the line of the government, which, while reducing the burden on business, increases taxes for the population, is puzzling. After all, the more fiscal penalties fall on the shoulders of citizens, the less their purchasing power becomes, and, accordingly, the worse the business itself.

Therefore, it would be much more expedient for the state to pursue a tax policy in which real estate for Russians would not turn into a burden and cases would not occur when amounts exceeding its cost were demanded as a tax fee for housing.