Is it possible to sell a foreigner ' s Moscow apartment (Turkmenian citizen) or to form a gift? What tax?

Marina Tolstick, managing partner of the Real Estate Offices

There are no legislative restrictions on the acquisition of an apartment by a foreign national. In this regard, the apartment can be sold and given to a foreigner (including Turkmen).

With regard to taxation, article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation exempts donations from taxation if the grantor and the grantor are family members or close relatives, i.e. spouses, parents and children, adopters and adopters, grandparents and grandchildren, brothers and sisters.

If the relationship (family) between those who give real estate and those who do not receive it, the gift will have to pay the tax. For Russian residents, it would be 13 per cent and 30 per cent for those who were not.

Purchase of apartments Foreign National tax doesn't pay them. The tax will pay the owner of the apartment sold. But a citizen is exempted from taxes if the property sold has been in his possession for more than three years and acquired before 1 January 2016. For other facilities that have been purchased since 1 January 2016, the period has been increased to 5 years.

However, the legislature introduces a number of exceptions. The three-year period of possession remained for facilities (the property was three years old even for objects acquired after g):

(1) The right of ownership of the real estate property has been acquired by the taxpayer in succession or by a contract of gift from an individual recognized by a family member and (or) by a close relative of that taxpayer under the Family Code of the Russian Federation;

(2) The right of ownership of the immovable property is obtained by the taxpayer as a result of privatization;

(3) The right of ownership of the real estate facility has been obtained by a taxpayer, a renter, as a result of the transfer of life-saving equipment under the contract.