The procedure for purchasing a land plot. How to properly formalize a land purchase and sale transaction?

Acquiring a plot of land is a major and important transaction in the life of every person. In addition to the financial side of the issue, it is important not to make mistakes in other aspects, since we are talking about acquiring land for the further construction of a house - and this is a long-term investment.

Recently, buyers have been trying to save on everything, including preferring to conduct transactions without the participation of agents, directly with the owners, in order to avoid additional costs. However, it is important to understand that you will have to bear all the risks of such transactions yourself.

What risks does the buyer of country real estate bear?

First of all, it is important to pay attention to the clearly defined boundaries of the purchased plot. It often happens that part of the territory of the plot of interest was annexed by squatting or occupied by the consent of neighbors. It is not possible to register such land legally.

Although, of course, the main point in completing a transaction is the competent drafting of the purchase and sale agreement. It is drawn up in three copies (one remains with the seller, the other with the buyer, and the third is submitted to Rosreestr).

All land purchase transactions are regulated by two government documents:

Article 30 of the “Civil Code of the Russian Federation”;
Land Code.

The rules and regulations for the procedure for registering rights to an object are prescribed in the law “ On State Registration of Rights to Real Estate ”.

Some types of transactions require certification by a notary and this is stipulated in the current legislation. This includes the sale of land. Notarization is required if the owner is a legal entity, and also if only a share of the plot is being sold.

In addition, the presence of the owner is necessary if the transaction involves an incapacitated person or a child under 18 years of age.

Briefly

The purchase, sale and lease of land plots for a period of more than a year are registered in Rosreestr.
It is permissible to register land plots using the forms of primary documents developed by the organization.
When selling part of a plot, it is necessary to divide it, and not write off and register new objects.
The purchase and sale of land is not subject to VAT.
Rental of private land is subject to VAT.
Sublease of any land is subject to VAT.
Income tax expenses can include the costs of a plot only when it is sold.
Otherwise, expenses for land plots of a state or municipal nature are included in income tax calculations if there are buildings on them or their construction is expected.

What do you need to consider?

When choosing land, it is important to study the location of communications, roads and facilities near the site. And also how clearly the boundaries of the territory are defined, and if they are not, land surveying is required to avoid further problems with neighbors.

If land is purchased for building a house, you need to find out what category it belongs to. Not every site can or is permitted to develop residential buildings.

If the transaction is executed directly, without the participation of real estate agents, it is better to check in detail the legal status of the citizen selling the property. If the contract is drawn up through the mediation of a realtor, it is better to clarify his experience and license.

It happens that the seller by proxy is a third party. Then you should carefully check whether this power of attorney has expired and what specific part of the property is authorized to be sold under it.

Required documents

Before you begin to formalize a transaction for the purchase and sale of land, you need to check whether the owner has all the documents, available and in the original:

A document certifying ownership of a specific plot. If it is not there, the seller does not have the right to sell it, and his authority is not valid;
If this is a legal entity, its package of papers must contain statutory documents , and information about it must be checked with the tax service;
issued for the land with a boundary plan . The first is carefully checked against all papers;
The transaction is possible when the seller has an extract from the Unified State Register . It contains all the information about the site, including whether it is encumbered, who the owner is, etc. It should be remembered that this statement is valid for 10 days, and then becomes irrelevant;
Another mandatory condition is the certified consent of the spouses for the sale ;
It is advisable to take measurements yourself and compare them with those indicated in the documents;
The last, mandatory condition is the absence of any debts on the site . If there are any, the transaction will be suspended until they are fully repaid.

Accounting

The actual costs at which a plot of land is taken into account may include:

the cost of the plot paid to the seller;
real estate, consulting services;
payments to the intermediary;
the amount of state duty for land registration;
other costs associated with the acquisition of land.

On a note! When borrowed funds are used to purchase a plot, the interest on them is gradually included in the cost of the land until the moment when it moves from non-current assets to fixed assets (PBU 15/2008 “Accounting for expenses on loans and credits”).

Transactions with land plots may include: receiving as a gift, under an exchange agreement, receiving as a contribution to the authorized capital, as well as purchase, sale, lease, sale of part of the plot, etc.

How can an organization remove a land plot from cadastral registration ?

Let's look at the most common land transactions that an accountant has to take into account.

Purchase

Land is included in accounting as fixed assets:

Dt 08/1 Kt 60 - purchase of memory from a counterparty;
Dt 08/1 Kt 10, 60.76 - acquisition costs (real estate, consulting, material);
Dt 08/1 Kt 76 (68/invoice “State duty”) - the state duty for registering a land plot is reflected;
Dt 01 Kt 08/1 - ZU is included in fixed assets.

Land is included in accounting as an object of subsequent resale:

Dt 41 Kt 60 - purchase of memory from a counterparty;
Dt 41 Kt 10, 60, 76 - acquisition costs (real estate, consulting, material);
Dt 41 Kt 76 (68/invoice “State duty”) - reflects the state duty for registering a land plot.

On a note! Despite the fact that there are no clear distinctions between the use of accounts 76 and 68 when accounting for state duties, the tax authorities recommend that the duty for registration of a site be taken into account in account 68, since it is a federal tax (Article 13 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Sale

Land sold as OS:

Dt 62 Kt 91 - income from the sale of storage units is recorded;
Dt 91 Kt 01 - fixed asset deregistered at its cost;
Dt 91 Kt 10, 70, 60, etc. - the costs of selling the storage unit are taken into account.

Land sold as a commodity:

Dt 62 Kt 90 - income from the sale of storage units is recorded;
Dt 90 Kt 41 - the storage unit is written off as a product from the register, at its cost;
Dt 44 Kt 10, 70, 60, etc.
Dt 90 Kt 44 - expenses for the sale of storage units as goods are taken into account and written off.

Sale of part of the plot

Let's look at an example of how to correctly account for the sale of part of a plot. Let the memory be listed on account 01 as a fixed asset, a single object. Its cost is approximately 100,000 rubles. After the cadastral work was completed, the land was divided into two parts. One remains in the organization (60,000 rubles), and the other is sold (40,000 rubles). 50,000 rubles were received from the sale.

Let's divide the area in accounting:

Dt 01 “for sale” Kt 01 “initial” - 40,000 rubles. — a part has been allocated for sale;
Dt 01 “remaining in the organization” Kt 01 “initial” - 60,000 rubles. – the part remaining in the organization is allocated;
Debit 91 Credit 01 “for sale” - written off from the register of a loan subject to sale at its cost of 40,000 rubles;
Debit 62 Credit 91 - 50,000 rub. income from sales.

Next, we take into account the costs of sale, according to the above correspondence: Dt 91 Kt expense account, and reflect the profit (loss) from the transaction Dt 91 (99) Kt 99 (91) .

In this case, it would be correct to divide the plots, and not write off the land plots and register two newly formed objects.

Rent

Initially, expenses for concluding a lease agreement are charged to account 97 “Deferred expenses”, and then in equal shares are written off to accounts for ordinary activities:

Dt 97 Kt 76 - costs of acquiring the right to lease;
Dt 19 Kt 76 - VAT accrual on the value of the rental right;
Dt 68 Kt 19 - VAT is presented for deduction;
Dt 20, 25, 26, etc. Kt 97 - write-off of a share of expenses during the lease term.

The rent is calculated by posting Dt 20, 25, 26, etc. Kt 76. If the rental conditions allow, VAT can also be deducted from the amount (see postings above).

Sublease, unless prohibited by the contract, is documented by postings: Dt 62 Kt 91 and Dt 91 Kt 68.

Basic rules for drawing up a contract

Registration of transactions for the purchase and sale of any land real estate is carried out in writing. The presence of a notary is not required in every case, but it is necessary if the contract was drawn up independently and not with the help of qualified lawyers.

Remember, if the land was listed as municipal property, it can only be purchased at auction.

The purchase and sale agreement contains the following clauses:

Place and date of the transaction;
Passport details of all participants;
All information and papers for the object;
Cost per object and payment details or procedure for money transfers;
The act of acceptance and transfer of a plot of land.

Copies are made of the papers for each item, and the agreement is sent to Rosreestr.

The procedure for purchasing from the owner

To conduct transactions for the acquisition of land, they turn to a lawyer or realtor for help, but they will have to pay a commission for the services. If this is not your first purchase and sale transaction, and you are willing to spend time on this, it is cheaper to arrange everything yourself.

The process consists of two stages, including preparing an agreement or registering a transaction with Rosreestr, when applying to which you must pay a fee.

Documents that must be submitted to Rosreestr:

Application for state registration of transfer of ownership;
Application for registration of ownership;
Identification document;
Duty payment receipt;
Direct contract for the site (drawn up in person);
Document on the transfer of real estate;
Cadastral plan or technical passport with a site plan.

In addition, at the discretion of Rosreestr employees, additional papers may be required if controversial situations arise.

The entire registration procedure lasts about 20 days. After this period, the new owner can come to pick up the documents in his name.

To avoid unnecessary problems and hassle with registration, as a rule, they turn to a realtor. The cost of services, which in 2018 is approximately 50,000 rubles. This amount includes full support of the transaction, paper research, calculations and any other assistance in registration.

It is necessary to ensure that the transaction takes place within the framework of all legal documents and the law, check the authenticity of the papers and information about the encumbrance, taking into account all the above requirements.

Tax accounting

Land tax

Organizations and entrepreneurs who own and use land plots indefinitely are payers of land tax (Article 388-1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The tax base is determined by the cadastral value of the site and is a fixed value. Tax rates are determined at the regional level depending on the category of land.

VAT

Land purchase and sale transactions are not subject to VAT (RF Tax Code Art. 146-2, paragraph 6). This applies to both entire plots and shares in them. At the same time, according to Art. 161 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, paragraph 3, paragraph. 2, municipal property is subject to VAT when it is sold. The Ministry of Finance (Letter No. 03-07-11/03 dated 13-01-10) explained that municipal and state-owned land plots, despite the above, are excluded from VAT taxation. At the same time, buildings on it are subject to VAT.

Lease of land in state ownership, municipal ownership, as well as land of constituent entities of the Russian Federation is not subject to VAT (Article 149 2 paragraphs of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). At the same time, sublease of such lands is subject to VAT (Letter of the Ministry of Finance No. 03-07-11/436 dated 10/18/12). Under private property lease agreements, VAT is applied (Letter No. GD-3-3/2391 of the Federal Tax Service dated 06/18/15).

Income tax

You can take into account the costs of purchasing land only at the time of its sale, reducing income by the amount of the purchase of land and the costs of its sale (Articles 268, 271 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). According to Art. 264-1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, expenses for the purchase of land in state or municipal ownership, on which buildings, structures, structures are located, or which are acquired for capital construction purposes, can be recognized as income tax expenses.

Features of purchasing a plot in a gardening non-profit partnership

Purchasing such a plot of land is different from others and has its own nuances:

Such land is not suitable for private construction, which means its price should be several times lower. The territory may be transferred to the category of individual housing construction, provided that it is located within the residential development of a certain locality;
On garden land it is possible to build a summer house, which can subsequently be recognized and registered as residential, but taking into account compliance with the requirements for dimensions and availability of heat, to ensure living all year round;
Construction costs in SNT can be significantly higher than when placing a building in villages with the category of individual housing construction;
As a rule, the owner of such land does not have ownership rights - everything belongs to the partnership itself. Therefore, all decisions must be agreed upon with the SNT participants. However, this does not prevent the owner from completely disposing of the site - he has the right to sell, exchange, or lease it;
The new owner of the land can dispose of it equally with all participants. The previous owner must submit an application to exclude him from the garden partnership, and the new owner, in turn, must apply to join it.

Individual housing construction or SNT?

Each land plot has a documented status. This could be an SNT (garden non-profit partnership) or IZHS (individual housing construction). The choice of status depends on the purpose of acquiring land.

Advantages of the individual housing construction site

The main advantage of land for individual housing construction is that, at the expense of the regional budget, all kinds of communications (electricity, water, gas) are supplied and roads are built.
No problems in obtaining registration and postal address.
It is easy to obtain a tax deduction for a built house.
Shops, hospitals, clinics, kindergartens, etc. are usually located nearby.
There are no problems when renting out land to individual housing construction as collateral (to obtain a targeted mortgage loan).

Flaws

It is allowed to build one house, with a maximum of three floors. The construction of a multi-entrance or multi-storey building for the purpose of selling apartments is prohibited.
Completing the necessary documentation will take a lot of time.
There are no guarantees for the quality of communications provided at the expense of the regional budget.
Taxes on individual housing construction land are higher than on SNT.

Advantages of a site in SNT

The cost of land is lower than individual housing construction.
SNT sites are located in areas with good ecology and fertile soil.
Unlike individual housing construction, SNT land can only be used for growing agricultural products; building a house here is not necessary.

Flaws

The solution to the problem of connecting communications and building roads falls on the shoulders of the owner.
The cost of communications often exceeds the cost of the site itself.
It is very difficult to register in a house in SNT, and most often it is not possible.
Often hospitals, shops, schools, kindergartens are located at a great distance.
The plot is difficult to secure.
A house built on land in SNT, regardless of size and cost, will have the status of a country house. This will reduce its selling price.

Buying a plot for individual housing construction is more profitable for those who need permanent registration and those who do not want to waste time, effort and money on connecting communications. The price of land for individual housing construction is higher than the price in SNT and this difference is justified. A plot in SNT is a more advantageous option if, for example, the neighbors agree to work on laying out communications through joint efforts.

Advance and full payment for land

Before registration of the land begins, the owner is given an advance payment, thereby confirming the seriousness of their intentions. If it happens that the buyer refuses the purchase, the advance will not be given to him. If the owner himself changes his mind, he gives the amount twice the advance.

It should be remembered that any mutual settlements are recommended to be accompanied by receipts and recorded in the presence of witnesses. At the same time, the deposit in any form, cash or non-cash, goes to the account of the still existing owner.

Risks when purchasing a plot

Acquiring new acres of land is always a pleasant and exciting procedure, but it is important to be careful. The main risks for buyers are:

Unscrupulous seller .
Difficulties can arise on both sides: the owner and the agency that accompanies the transaction. The reason for this is most often incorrectly executed documents, incomplete information, or concealment of data about the owners or restrictions on the operation of the site. Sometimes, information that development cannot be carried out on the purchased territory becomes clear after the purchase. Also, part of the plot may be annexed by squatting or under arrest or encumbrance;
Errors in documents. Proper re-registration of land ownership is much more difficult than purchasing an apartment. This occurs due to frequent discrepancies in the composition of documents in organizations such as Rosreestr and the Cadastral Chamber. It is necessary to carefully check all items on the papers and verify them for compliance. The consent of the spouses to the transaction must be properly documented, which sometimes becomes a serious obstacle to the purchase and sale of a plot;
A transaction with a person under the age of majority will be considered invalid if it took place without the presence of guardianship officials.

In the conditions of the modern sales market, almost all information about the site can be found on the Internet sites of certain services. This applies to the size of the plot, encumbrances, cadastral number, survey, and 2D model.

If you are purchasing a plot or country house without the participation of a real estate agent, it is important to carefully approach the processes of studying and checking documents, as well as check all the nuances regarding the quality of the land and the features of the constructed building.

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