Sales tax - how to sell an apartment received by inheritance?

Inherited housing is not uncommon in the real estate market.

Risks in transactions with hereditary apartments are typical for all parties without exception. Knowledge of the nuances of tax, contractual and inheritance law will help to minimize the possibility of large losses.

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How to sell an apartment received by inheritance?

In order to sell an inherited apartment, it is necessary to comply with all the necessary formalities related to the legalization of inheritance:

1. . To do this, it is necessary to report the fact of acceptance of the inheritance to the notary by submitting an appropriate application and providing documents. An application must be filed no later than six months after the death of the owner of the apartment, otherwise the rights to inherited property will have to be defended in court. You can also accept the inheritance after the fact: start (or continue) using the property as your own (make repairs, pay for the "communal"). However, in this case, the heir must still prove the fact of acceptance of the inheritance to the notary. This is necessary to obtain a title document for an apartment.
2. If the heir successfully confirms his right to receive property by inheritance, then after 6 months the notary is obliged to issue him an appropriate certificate. This document serves as the basis for the emergence of the right of ownership of the heir to the residential property.
3. The right acquired by inheritance must be registered with Rosreestr before the sale of the apartment. Submission of documents for state registration of the right of the heir and the transfer of such right under the contract of sale can be carried out simultaneously. In this situation, specialists of the registration authority must observe the sequence of registration actions.

Documents required for the sale

Territorial bodies of Rosreestr are engaged in accounting for real estate transactions. Both the heir and the buyer must submit an application for amending the register of rights in connection with the sale of an apartment.

You will also need the following documents:

• Original and copy of the certificate of the right to inheritance issued by a notary(if the right was established in a court of law, then a court decision is provided);
• Passports of the parties to the agreement;
• The originals of the contract of sale of the apartment(the contract is drawn up according to the number of persons participating in the transaction, one copy is drawn up for the registration authority);
• Information about payment of the state fee(the entire amount is paid by the buyer, and if the apartment is purchased in shared ownership, then the amount of the fee is distributed among the buyers in proportion to the acquired shares);
• If any of the participants in the transaction acts through a representative, it is necessary to provide a notarized power of attorney.

An application and a package of documents can be submitted in person at the MFC or authorized bodies, sent by mail, or an electronic application can be created on the public services portal.

What difficulties may arise?

Buying an inherited apartment is one of the riskiest real estate transactions.

The risk is primarily due to certain rules of inheritance law that protect the interests of legal heirs. Thus, Article 1155 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation assumes that heirs, for good reasons, who did not accept the inheritance within the six-month period allotted by law, can be restored in their rights.

Moreover, the legislator does not introduce any deadlines. The newly appeared heir can appear both in a year and in 10 years, only the degree of validity of the reasons that prevented the timely acceptance of the property of a deceased relative matters.

In such cases, lengthy litigation is almost inevitable.. However, most court decisions in recent years have been made in favor of bona fide purchasers of an apartment, and “late” heirs can only count on monetary compensation from the heir who sold the apartment.

What are the criteria for the good faith of the buyer of a hereditary apartment?

Article 302 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation defines a bona fide buyer as a citizen who does not have information that he is acquiring property illegally and who has the opportunity to obtain such information.

Evidence of good faith includes:

1. Acquisition of an apartment at a real value(an underestimation of the value of real estate in the contract of sale may be regarded by the court as bad faith);
2. Arguments of the buyer about the measures taken by him to verify the purity of the transaction(requesting a statement of the property before buying, requesting the authenticity of a certificate of inheritance, and so on).

Certain risks for buyers of apartments received by inheritance may be associated with such a concept as testamentary renunciation.

This may be a condition, fixed in the will, that the heir, acquiring ownership of the dwelling, is obliged to grant the right to live there to a third party. This right to use the residential premises is retained by the legatee even if the apartment is sold by the heir.

Thus, a buyer who has not verified this kind of information can purchase an apartment with a tenant who is completely undesirable for him.

You should also pay attention to the basis for opening the inheritance. Sometimes an inheritance is received from a citizen declared dead by the court. In this case, no one will give a 100% guarantee that the citizen who died according to the documents will suddenly not be alive and will not demand the return of his property.

Pitfalls that often scare off buyers

The seller, in order to increase confidence on the part of persons interested in the acquisition, should disclose information about all the nuances of receiving an inheritance as much as possible.

Buyers of hereditary real estate should carefully check all the documents for the apartment and obtain the necessary information:

• Request an extract for an apartment from the USRR(this document contains information about the owner and the existing encumbrances on a particular housing);
• If possible, obtain information from the notary who dealt with inheritance matters;
• Order an extract from the house book(to obtain information about all registered residents);
• Communicate with the neighbors of the decedent.

Under no circumstances should a contract of sale indicate a value less than that for which the apartment is actually purchased.

If the transaction is challenged in court, the apartment will be returned to the legal heir, and only the amount specified in the contract will be returned to the buyer.

A popular way to protect your rights in recent years is. This type of insurance protects the owner from the risks of losing ownership of real estate as a result of the transaction being declared invalid.

Taxation on the sale of inherited property

By receiving an inheritance, a citizen acquires a certain income. This type of income is exempt from taxation. It doesn't matter though:

1. Grounds for acquiring an inheritance (by will or by law);
2. Relationship with the heir.

The sale of such real estate is income and in some cases the heir is obliged to pay personal income tax.

Important in the matter of taxation is the minimum deadline for ownership of an object (MPS). In relation to property received by inheritance, the MPS is 3 years.

This means that income from the sale of an inherited apartment, received within a period of up to 3 years from the date of the acquisition of ownership by the heir, is taxable. Similar income received after such a period is not taken into account for tax purposes.

The term of ownership of the object begins from the date of opening of the inheritance (death of the testator) and does not depend on the date of state registration of the heir's ownership of the apartment received.

If the apartment is sold within the MPS, the seller is obliged to declare the income received and pay the calculated amount of tax.

The declaration is submitted by April 30 of the year following the date of transfer of ownership to the buyer of the apartment, the transfer of tax is made until July 15 of the year in which the declaration was submitted.

If the apartment is sold after the expiration of the ITA, it is not required to provide a declaration.

The amount of tax for residents of the Russian Federation will be 13% of the cost of the apartment specified in the contract and 30% for other sellers.

In this case, the taxpayer has the right to reduce the tax base for the tax deduction.

For real estate, the deduction is equal to the amount of income received, but not more than 1 million rubles. For example, if an apartment is sold for 2 million rubles, the tax amount will be 130 thousand rubles ((2,000,000 - 1,000,000) x 13%).

The amount of the transaction should not differ dramatically from the value of the cadastral value of the apartment.

In accordance with Article 217.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the tax inspectorate will recalculate the amount of tax if the income received is less than the cadastral value multiplied by a factor of 0.7 and apply the sanctions established by law (fines and penalties) to the taxpayer.

Since January 1, 2016, the minimum tenure of an apartment has changed. Those who privatized an apartment, received it as a gift or inherited by will, can sell real estate in three years, the rest have to wait 5 years. We suggest you watch the video.