In simple terms
The property deduction is a way to get back part of the NDFL (personal income tax) that you paid on your salary if you bought or built a home. It is also used when selling property, to reduce the tax or avoid paying it at all.
A deduction is not money: it is an amount by which your income is reduced. What you get back is 13% of it. You can only get back tax that you actually paid.
Deduction when buying a home
- Basic deduction — costs of buying or building a flat, house, room or a plot for housing, but no more than 2 million ₽. You get back up to 260,000 ₽. If the flat cost less, you can use the remainder on another purchase.
- Deduction on mortgage interest — up to 3 million ₽ of interest paid, with up to 390,000 ₽ back. It is given for one property only.
Each spouse can get their own deduction. You cannot get the deduction if the home was bought from a close relative, at your employer's expense, or with maternity capital (for that part of the money).
Example with numbers
In 2025 a person bought a flat for 6 million ₽ with a mortgage. The salary is 100,000 ₽ a month, and the tax for the year is: 1,200,000 × 13% = 156,000 ₽.
- Basic deduction 2 million ₽, refund 2,000,000 × 13% = 260,000 ₽.
- For 2025 they will get back 156,000 ₽ — no more than the tax paid.
- The remainder, 260,000 − 156,000 = 104,000 ₽, will be refunded for 2026.
After that, every year they claim the deduction on interest. If 400,000 ₽ of interest was paid to the bank during the year, the refund is 400,000 × 13% = 52,000 ₽ — and so on until the interest reaches 3 million ₽. The payment and interest on the loan will be shown by the mortgage calculator.
Calculate it yourself
Change the numbers and the step-by-step calculation updates instantly. Russian rules for 2026.
Deduction on a sale
If you owned the home for less than the minimum period (usually 5 years, and 3 years for your only home, an inheritance, a gift from a relative, or privatisation), you must pay tax on the sale. You can reduce the income:
- by 1 million ₽ — for flats, houses, plots;
- by 250,000 ₽ — for a car and other property;
- or by the cost of buying it, if you have the documents.
Example: a flat was bought for 3.5 million ₽ and sold 2 years later for 4 million ₽. Tax: (4,000,000 − 3,500,000) × 13% = 65,000 ₽. With the 1 million ₽ deduction it would be (4,000,000 − 1,000,000) × 13% = 390,000 ₽, so deducting costs is more favourable. You file the return even if the tax comes to zero.
How to get it and avoid mistakes
- You need the contract (for example, a flat sale and purchase agreement), an extract from the real estate register (ЕГРН) or a transfer deed, payment documents, and for a mortgage a bank certificate of interest.
- You can file a 3-NDFL return for the last 3 years, or get the deduction through your employer in the current year.
- Pensioners can carry the deduction back to the 3 years before the purchase.
- Self-employed people and sole traders (IP) on special regimes without NDFL cannot get anything back — they have no tax paid.
In Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus
Russia
The rules are in Art. 220 of the Tax Code. On a purchase you can get back up to 260,000 ₽, and up to 390,000 ₽ more for mortgage interest. On a sale, income is reduced by 1 million ₽ (housing, land) or 250,000 ₽ (a car and other property), or by documented costs.
Belarus
In Belarus the property deduction from income tax is given for building or buying a first home for people who need better housing conditions, and also on the sale of property.
Sources: Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Part Two («Налоговый кодекс РФ»), ConsultantPlus, Taxpayer's personal account, Federal Tax Service («Личный кабинет налогоплательщика ФНС»)