Tax deduction for single mothers in 2020

Recently, a work colleague told me that single mothers who have formalized their status have the right to apply for a profitable double deduction for children. To get it, I will need to formalize the status of a woman raising children on her own and collect documents for the deduction itself. You can find out how to apply for and receive a tax benefit in this article. You will also receive answers to the following questions:

Features and conditions for obtaining single mother status;
Basic legal provisions;
The procedure for processing the required preferential deduction;
Necessary papers and certificates;
Tax deduction amount.

Single mother status

Before describing the specifics of registering a deduction, it is worth understanding who has the right to receive this status. Officially, single mothers are women who meet the following requirements:

After the birth of a child, a dash is placed in the column with the father's name on the official birth certificate.
Indication of the name of a father who does not exist in reality.
The children were born out of wedlock and there is no definition of paternity at all.
There is no official court decision regarding recognition of paternity.
The minor was adopted by a woman who was not officially married.

Registration of the status of a single mother was carried out both through the city social protection organization and in court. The state legally provides such women with a fairly large number of different privileges, social and material benefits.

Documents for registration of status

Registration of single status does not require serious time investment. The difficulty lies in the need to collect a sufficiently large number of documents:

A statement drawn up according to the sample;
Children's certificates - originals and copies;
Certificates received from government agencies, where the most important document is the one received at the passport office and confirming the child’s residence with the mother;
A document that identifies the mother;
Certificate of official income received by the woman;
Official pre-obtained court decision.

After collecting the documents, you will need to contact the government organization located at the place of residence of the mother or her place of registration. The decision is made within a month. If a positive decision is made, the woman is given a special certificate. This document will help you obtain all legally required benefits.

If employees of a government organization have made a negative decision, it must be justified!

Is it possible to combine benefits?

Deductions are presented in several types, so people often wonder if it is possible to combine several types of return data. If there are opportunities for obtaining different types of benefits, then they are assigned simultaneously if the applicant’s salary is sufficient for this.

To combine benefits, the following conditions must be met:

For each type of deduction, a package of documents is drawn up separately;
if a Federal Tax Service branch is selected for registration, then all benefits must be indicated in one declaration;
the total amount of refunds cannot be more than the personal income tax paid for the year.

Important! If there are balances left, they are not carried over to the next periods, and the only exception is the property deduction.

Is it possible to apply for a deduction if there is a second parent?

Receiving a double amount in the presence of a second parent is allowed only in a situation if he refuses his return, and for this purpose a written application is drawn up and submitted to the accounting department at the citizen’s place of work.

Important! To use this opportunity, it is required that both parents are officially working citizens for whom personal income tax is paid. This opportunity is available exclusively to natural parents or adoptive parents, but other legal representatives are deprived of it.

Legislative regulation

A double deduction is assigned only if the law is strictly followed, and to study this information it is recommended to read the legislative acts:

Ch. 1 SC;
Federal Law No. 81;
Federal Law No. 178;
Federal Law No. 255;
Federal Law No. 90.

This video will tell you how to get the status of a single mother:

It is in the above documents that there is information about what benefits and types of support from the state single mothers can count on. The procedure for providing a refund is described, as well as all the necessary documents for this.

Legal provisions

The issue of receiving a double deduction by a single mother is regulated by several legal regulations:

Resolution of the Plenum No. 81 of 1995. It regulates the very concept of the status of a mother raising children independently and the procedure for its registration.
Resolution of the Plenum No. 1012 of 2009. This provision regulates the possibility of receiving and annually increasing the established ratio of payments made.
Many issues are regulated by the Labor and Tax Codes.

Standard deductions for parents and guardians

Tax deductions for a single mother are divided into two groups:

Deductions guaranteed by law for single mothers (as well as fathers raising their own or adopted children on their own). In this case, we are talking about a standard social benefit for personal income tax, which is provided in appropriate circumstances.
Deductions that single mothers have the right to apply for under the same conditions as any other citizens.

According to clause 1 of Article 218 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, an individual raising children and his spouse have the right to deductions in the amount (in rubles):

1400 (for both parents) – for each 1st and 2nd child.
3000 – for the 3rd and subsequent children.
12,000 – for any child under 18 years of age or university student under 24 years of age recognized as disabled people of group 1 or 2.

For caregivers, these numbers look like:

1400 – for every 1st and 2nd child;
3000 – for the 3rd and subsequent children;
6000 – for a child with a disability.

Application procedure

The right to such a privilege is exercised in different ways. So, to receive standard payments, the application is addressed to the administration of the enterprise. When registering for children, birth certificates must be provided, as well as documents with information about the child’s disability and status as a single parent.

You can receive a property deduction for paying expenses for the purchase or construction of housing after presenting all available papers for real estate to the tax authority, whose employees will study them and issue a message about the possibility of obtaining a preferential deduction and its amount.

To claim social tax deductions, you need to submit a declaration accompanied by certificates listing expenses. Such a document is required when selling property subject to registration, for example, an apartment or a car. If, after making all deductions, the paid amount is greater than the accrued amount, then the tax organization returns it in full.

When receiving income from which personal income tax is calculated and withheld by a tax agent, an individual or legal entity registered as an individual entrepreneur, you must contact him specifically for a standard deduction. It must be emphasized that not only the employer, that is, the person with whom the applicant is in an employment relationship, but also any tax agents have the right to provide this benefit. Among them:

An employer with whom the citizen has an agreement regarding external part-time work.
Customer of works (services) under a civil agreement.
An enterprise or institution with which a citizen does not have a contractual relationship, but from whom he receives income (salary), for which a rate of 13% applies. For example, it could be a former employer providing financial assistance or paying taxable amounts.

When there are several agents (in case of combining work), you can apply for deductions to any of them, at the choice of the applicant.

Double deduction amount

Every mother who gives birth and raises a child without a spouse has the right to a double tax deduction!

To understand what the described deduction is, it is worth citing several digital indicators. The taxable monetary base of the income received by parents in the presence of one child in a full-fledged family is reduced by 1,400 rubles. If a child is raised by a single woman, the deduction automatically doubles and amounts to 2,800 rubles.

The amount of the required tax deduction directly depends on the total number of children that a woman has given birth to, adopted and is raising. The size of the standard double deductions established by law looks like this:

For the first and second child – 2800 rubles;
For the third born and for all subsequent children - 6,000 rubles;
For children who have different disability groups – 12,000 rubles;
For a graduate student or student studying at a university – 24,000 rubles.

A double tax preferential deduction removes a fairly large amount from the tax burden for the year. Due to this, a woman’s salary increases significantly.

What deductions does a single mother receive?

A woman raising children alone, while working officially, can receive different types of refunds along with other taxpayers. At the same time, she has the opportunity to take a double standard deduction. The main types of returns allowed for processing by a woman include:

property, assigned when purchasing a garage, apartment or private residential building;
social, provided if there are expenses for education or treatment of a woman or her children or parents;
standard, paid until the child is a minor, and due to the absence of the father, this refund is provided in double amount.

How to get a tax deduction for a child, watch this video:

Important! When applying for any of the above types of returns, it is necessary to prepare many documents confirming expenses and the woman’s right to benefits.

Double Benefit Features

The concept of double deduction does not exist in law, but in fact it is provided. It is prescribed not only to mothers, but even to men if they are raising children themselves.

Only one deduction is provided, which depends on the amount of expenses and the taxpayer’s salary, but it is issued in double amount.

How is the benefit calculated correctly?

The accounting department of the company where the mother or father who claims double benefits works must independently handle the calculations. To do this, all the employee needs to do is collect the necessary documents confirming his right to receive a refund.

Each person can check the accuracy of the calculations made by the organization's accountant, since a simple formula is used for this. To do this, the standard deduction for a child is multiplied by 2, as well as by a coefficient equal to 0.13.

If a mother has single status and is raising one child, then she can count on a deduction: (1400*2)*0.13=364 rubles. This amount is equal to 4368 rubles per year. It is this amount that is not deducted from wages, which will lead to its increase.

Important! This assistance is provided until the children reach the age of majority, but if the child studies full-time at any university, then this deduction can be extended until he turns 24 years old.

Conditions for filing a deduction

Only a woman who is officially employed and has a special certificate has the right to apply for a double tax deduction.

The amount of reduction in the tax base directly depends on the income that a single mother officially receives. If it is above 350 thousand per year, the benefit in the form of double tax deductions does not apply. This is stated in paragraph 4 of Art. 218 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

If the deadline for processing the required deduction was missed, it will not be lost. The required amount of taxes paid can be returned before the end of the year. For this purpose, you will need to submit a special application and documents required by law to the necessary organizations.

The right to receive a double deduction is automatically lost if a woman officially gets married. It doesn’t matter here whether her new husband adopts her child. The reason is that spouses bear exclusively equal responsibilities for expenses aimed at raising and maintaining a child.

If during a divorce the spouse does not formalize paternity, the woman can restore her single status.

How is the tax deduction applied?

In general, a single mother should not ask this question: the required deductions are made by the company’s accounting department. However, it would be useful to know the mechanism for using such calculations. Let's consider the principles of making such deductions.

How much can you expect?

As discussed above, a tax deduction is available to all parents and guardians raising children under the age of 18. However, single mothers are entitled to a double deduction, so the amount of reduction in the tax base will be doubled.

Currently, single mothers receive payments in the following amounts:

one child - 2,800 rubles;
two children - 2,800 rubles;
three or more children - 6,000 rubles;
for a disabled child - 12,000 rubles.

Let us remind you that the deduction is provided until the age of 18. In cases where a child of a single mother enters a full-time department of a university, the period for granting tax privileges is extended to 24 years.

Do you need expert advice on this issue? Describe your problem and our lawyers will contact you as soon as possible.

How are calculations made?

The tax deduction is quite simple: the tax base is reduced by a fixed amount, after which income tax is charged. However, a number of nuances need to be taken into account here. In particular, the privileges accrued are cumulative. For greater clarity, we give a small example of calculations.

Let’s say that a certain citizen Alexandrova is raising three children born out of wedlock; paternity of the children has not been established. Considering that the relationship was not registered and there is a dash in the “Father” column, Alexandrova is considered a single mother, and therefore has the right to a double tax deduction.

So, for the first two children, a woman is entitled to a tax privilege in the amount of 2,800 rubles, for the third child - 6,000. By adding, the total tax deduction will be 11,600 rubles. Let’s imagine that Alexandrova’s monthly salary is 50,000 rubles. Tax-free income is subtracted from this amount: 50,000 - 11,600 = 38,400 rubles. This is the tax base from which income tax will be withheld in the amount of 13%! or 4,992 rubles.

After paying taxes, 33,408 rubles remain, to which the tax-free amount is added. As a result, a single mother will receive 45,008 rubles. If the woman had not taken advantage of the right of tax deduction, after withholding 13%, her salary would have been 43,500 rubles. At first glance, the difference is insignificant, but for a single mother, an amount of 1.5 thousand rubles can be a good help.

The principle of reducing tax deductions

Today, the upper financial limit of preferential taxation is set at 350,000 rubles. If the total amount of privileges granted reaches this threshold, the preferential taxation ceases to apply until the end of the calendar year.

Registration procedure

If a woman is officially employed, the registration process will not be difficult. You will need to write an application using a special form and provide personal documents; the accounting staff will do the rest.

If a woman works in several companies at the same time, it will be possible to apply for the required deduction in only one of them!

It is necessary to act through the Federal Tax Service if the tax benefit was not provided at the place of official employment or was not transferred in full. In such a situation, a woman should perform the following manipulations:

The declaration is filled out.
A certificate in form 2-NDFL is obtained from the head of the enterprise. If a woman is employed in several organizations, this certificate is taken from each of them.
The required papers are collected.
The package of collected documents is handed over to the Federal Tax Service specialists.
Two competent applications are written according to the sample - for a refund of funds and for the transfer of the required amount to a card or account.

Persons entitled to deduction

In accordance with the law, a citizen who is considered a resident and receives income taxed at a rate of 13% can receive a tax deduction.
Such discounts apply to persons who spent financial resources on purchasing an apartment, educating children or treatment. A tax deduction is an amount that reduces the amount of income from the corresponding base from which personal income tax is levied. Similar preferential conditions are provided to citizens by the relevant legislation of the Russian Federation.

Required papers and certificates

To register and subsequently receive tax benefits, a single mother is required to collect the following documents:

Certificates for children with an empty line “Father”;
Request to reduce the tax base;
A document proving the death of the father or a court order regarding his missing person (if these factors are present);
A paper received at the registry office, compiled according to a special form 25. It is issued to a woman in the process of registering a newborn baby; A certificate issued in form 2-NDFL from the previous place of employment;
Papers confirming the fact that children are studying at a university or college. This must be a full-time, full-time course.

Sometimes a preferential double deduction is requested not by a single mother, but by one of the parents in a full-fledged family. This is permissible if he officially refuses the benefit at his place of employment.

This refusal is attached to the package of documents submitted to the Federal Tax Service. At the same time, you will need to attach a 2-NDFL certificate from the place of official employment of the person who refused.

Who can submit documents

Every parent can count on this benefit, but if a double refund is required, it is assigned only to some citizens:

mother or father who are independently raising a child;
one of the parents voluntarily renounced his deduction, so the second parent can receive it in double amount;
guardian, foster parent or trustee.

Also, the grounds may be court decisions, which indicate that paternity has been challenged. If the father is deprived of the rights to the child by the court, then this is not a basis for charging the mother a double refund.

Submission methods

To receive benefits, you need to prepare specific documents, and they can be submitted in different ways:

Through the employer. To do this, you need to bring documentation to the accounting department at the beginning of the year, and also receive a notification in advance from the Federal Tax Service.
Direct contact to the Federal Tax Service department. This process is carried out at the end of the year.
Using the State Services website. This method allows you to send documentation electronically, which greatly simplifies the process of applying for benefits.

Most often, citizens who can receive a double return turn to their employer.

Features of registration through the employer or the Federal Tax Service

If there is a desire to slightly increase your salary through a deduction, then a single mother can contact her employer. She must receive a notification from the Federal Tax Service, which indicates that she can indeed apply for a double benefit. This document is transferred to the accounting department of the company, after which payments are assigned.

Deadlines for transferring deductions

According to the law, tax officials must make an appropriate decision within 10 days. Despite this, this process takes an average of a month.

The reason for such a delay is that after making their positive decision, the tax authorities submit the corresponding request to the territorial body of the official Federal Treasury. In other words, an additional structure is connected, which automatically increases the waiting time for the transferred funds.

Refusal and termination of payments

There may be several reasons for termination or refusal of a preferential tax deduction:

Mom's entry into an official relationship.
Increase in income for the year in the amount of more than 350 thousand rubles. For a month this is 29,167 rubles.
The court established official paternity of the children.
The child reaches 18 years of age, but only if he is not studying full-time at a university. At the same time, the right to receive a double deduction will remain in relation to other minor children.

Deadlines for receiving a deduction from the Federal Tax Service

To calculate the taxable income base and return overpaid money, the tax office provides deadlines. To acquire the right to withdraw the excess amount, documents are subject to desk verification within 3 months. The control period will be calculated from the next day after the declaration is submitted. Part of the overpaid tax will go to an account belonging to the applicant.

When requesting benefits at the place of work, a refusal is possible. It is expected in the absence of supporting documents or notice in cases where it is necessary to obtain permission from the Federal Tax Service. Payment may not be provided if:

Declaration 3-NDFL was not filled out on the proper form.
The deadline for filing it has been missed (3 years after tax withholding and expenses).
The list of required documents is not complete or there are discrepancies in the applicant’s data.

The decision to refuse to recalculate payments is sent to the person in a written message. He retains the right to appeal the resolution.