| How you can earn money by filling out an income tax return This is the second year that Russians have been able to get back part of the money they paid to the state as taxes. True, as the Vremya Novostei correspondent was told in the capital's department of the Ministry of Taxes and Taxes, the declaration campaign is so far progressing sluggishly. Although it would seem that it should be the other way around. After all, anyone who buys a home, pays for education or treatment can get back 13% of the money spent on it. The passivity and inability of Russians to independently calculate their own taxes surprises foreigners living in Moscow. A German or an American uses every opportunity to minimize his taxes. Not every Russian, of course, buys a home, but almost everyone gets treatment for money, treats their children or parents, and buys medicine.
For the most part, taxpayers know only about the usual, standard deductions (for disabled people, single mothers) taken into account by enterprise accounting departments when calculating salaries. But this is only what could have been deducted from the salary as taxes, but was not deducted. Deductions for housing, treatment and education provided by tax authorities can be “touched with your hands.” Moreover, they can amount to quite decent amounts.
However, the stubborn reluctance of Russians to receive their money from the state is quite understandable. The first thing that turns you off from going to the tax authorities for a refund is the declaration form itself. Its appearance is truly frightening due to the abundance of points, but you shouldn’t be afraid of it. The main thing is to correctly enter the name, address, and amount of income in the boxes. Tax authorities are required to help you figure out the rest of the numbers.
It is more difficult with documents confirming the right to deduction. For all deductions, you must have a certificate of income from your place of work, Form 2, a passport, and an application. It is advisable to immediately open a current account with Sberbank and bring to the inspection a photocopy of the second page of the passbook with a stamp.
To get back 13% of the cost of the purchased apartment as a deduction, you need to add a certificate of ownership of the property and a sales contract to these documents. You will need both the original and a copy. At the same time, many people were faced with the fact that, in addition to these documents, the tax authorities demanded from the person who bought the home a notarized receipt from the seller for receiving the money.
If the amount to be deducted is large (for an apartment it can be several thousand dollars), then the amount of tax paid for the year may not cover it. Then the deduction will be returned for several years. At the same time, the amount of money returned by the state as a deduction for housing cannot exceed 600 thousand rubles.
The most relevant for the majority of the population are, perhaps, deductions for paid treatment. And not only yourself, but also your children and parents (however, the documents must be drawn up in your own name). Such a deduction cannot be more than 25 thousand rubles. In addition to general documents for deductions, tax authorities need to bring: an agreement on the provision of medical services (original and copy), a copy of the medical institution’s license, a certificate with a list of services provided, a payment document (cash receipt or cash receipt order). True, paid medical institutions often refuse to complete all documents.
Few people know that deductions can also be obtained for the purchase of medicines. The list of such drugs contains several hundred items, and it includes not only extremely expensive antitumor and hormonal drugs, but also quite banal analgesics and vitamins. The 19 sections of the list contain medications for all occasions. You can find it either on the Internet using the details (Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 19, 2001 No. 201), or simply ask at your tax office.
However, to confirm the right to such a deduction, you must bring to the inspection a prescription from a doctor in Form 107U, certified with a special stamp for the tax office, and a cash receipt order (or instead cash and sales receipts).
The deduction for paid education (your own and your children’s) must be confirmed by an agreement with the university, the child’s birth certificate and a payment document. Moreover, if the contract is signed in the child’s name, that’s not so bad, but if the child’s name is on the payment documents, the deduction will be denied. The deduction for education is limited to 25 thousand rubles. per year.
If all documents for deductions are collected correctly, then you don’t have to go to the tax authorities at all. You just need to have copies of all certificates certified by a notary and send them by registered mail along with the deduction application. This year, the Ministry of Taxes and Taxes obliged all inspectorates to organize declaration hotlines. Last year, inspectors sometimes behaved rudely, reproaching: if they have already found money for paid education, there is no point in demanding reimbursement of taxes from the state.
After the documents for the deduction are completed, you can receive real money in about five months. It takes the tax authorities three months to formalize their decision, and the money goes through the treasury for two months.
Another reason for the reluctance of citizens to deal with deductions is based on the fact that tax authorities will try in every possible way to deprive them of the opportunity to receive their money. This is wrong. In Moscow, tax officials are behaving quite politely this year, patiently explaining what documents need to be collected. Only the capital's inspectorate No. 28 did not begin to communicate with the author, answering: we deliberately hung all the information on the stands. In the Moscow region, inspectors were less ceremonious. In Krasnogorsk, near Moscow, when asked about deductions, an inspector who did not want to be identified muttered irritably: read the code, read the newspapers, we explain to you how to fill out declarations. The Solnechnogorsk inspectorate honestly warned: you need to collect so many documents for deductions for the purchase of medicines that it’s better to save your health than to chase pennies.
What is wrong with half of the inspections is the information about the deadlines for filing applications for deductions. The declaration campaign lasts until April 30 inclusive. Therefore, inspectors often say that it is before this deadline that you can submit an application for a refund of overpaid tax. But you can exercise your right to all deductions within three years. That is, for those who could not stand standing in line for many hours last year to see the inspector, it is not too late to do so today, having received deductions for both 2002 and 2001. Although not all inspectorates will want to deal with certificates from the year before last about the child’s paid education and will issue a deduction for 2001. The Khimki Inspectorate responded to the remark of a correspondent for the newspaper Vremya Novostey that a three-year return period is prescribed in clause 8 of Art. 78 NK, the inspector angrily retorted: “Since they are so smart, there is no point in asking questions.”
However, if you bought an apartment or paid for your children’s education, this should not stop you - the money that will be returned to you will not be superfluous. Irina SKLYAROVA |
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