Lawyer Elena Gladysheva talks in an article in the Profile magazine about how wide is the circle of people who can take advantage of the benefit? Is it difficult to comply with all these conditions, what are the possible pitfalls? What nuances will have to be considered? Won't sellers who have a chance for benefits be reluctant to complete transactions at the end of the year, for fear of not finding a suitable property for themselves by April 30? Or will sellers looking to expand their living space simply prefer alternative deals even now so they don't take the risk?

In the summer of 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to exempt from personal income tax families with two or more children, if during the calendar year they will use the money to buy a new home. "Sometimes this amount (tax) for a particular family is significant, it is not enough so that this family at the birth of children was able to buy a new home faster," - he said.

The Ministry of Finance has fulfilled the order and prepared amendments to the Tax Code. It proposed to exempt families with two or more children from personal income tax on the sale of housing, but subject to five conditions. First, the family has two or more children under the age of 18, or up to 24 years, if they are studying on an intramural basis in an educational institution. Secondly, the new housing must be larger than the previous one, or its cadastral value is higher. Third, family members are allowed to have other housing, but its total area must be less than half of the new property. Fourthly, after the sale, the new housing must be purchased no later than April 30 of the following year. Fifthly, the cadastral value of the apartment to be sold is limited to 50 million rubles.

Implementation of the initiative is already in the home stretch, as Federal Law of 29.11.2021 No 382-FZ "On Amending Part Two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation" was adopted by the State Duma on 11.18.2021, approved by the Federation Council on 11.19.2021 and published on Nov. 29, 2021.

Elena Gladysheva "The amendments to the Tax Code of the RF, namely to p. 2.1, Art. 217.1. of the Tax Code on exemption from taxation (payment of personal income tax) on the sale of real estate concerns families with 2 or more children, so this is a measure of social support from the state. The advantages of the changes are that it does not matter how long one has owned real estate because many of the benefits associated with real estate transactions depend on this criterion.

However, in order to qualify for the benefit must meet certain conditions, the simultaneous presence of which will cause difficulties, so some families will not be able to take advantage of this benefit and will have to use schemes and structuring transactions in order to reduce the amount of tax payable on the sale of the object.

For example, one of the prerequisites is that the taxpayer, his spouse, children under the age of 18 on the date of state registration of the transfer of ownership does not own in the aggregate more than 50% of the residential premises with a total area exceeding the total area in the acquired residential premises, regardless of the size of the acquired share of the taxpayer.

In this regard, in order to comply with this condition, it will be necessary to structure the transactions or pay sales tax, the other conditions of p. 2.1, Art. 217.1. of the Tax Code can more or less be met.

The provisions of p.2.1, Art. 217.1 of the Tax Code apply to income received starting from the tax period of 2021.

Thus, sellers who have a chance for the benefit will either refuse the transaction or look for an alternative.

The amendments to date have raised questions about their application, which will lead to disputes between taxpayers and tax authorities," - the attorney noted.

Read more in the publication https://profile.ru/.../semi-s-detmi-planirujut-osvobodit.../