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- Income threshold: low-income families with children will receive a refund of taxes paid
Income threshold: low-income families with children will receive a refund of taxes paid
Parents of two or more children will be able to receive recalculation of personal income tax (family payment) if the average per capita income in the family is less than 1.5 of the regional subsistence minimum, the property meets the established criteria, and the potential recipient has no alimony debts, the press service of the Ministry of Labor told Izvestia. The introduction of this measure is scheduled for 2026, while it will also apply to taxes paid in 2025. Izvestia investigated how effective this measure could be and how else to support low-income families with children.
Family Cashback
Like other social support measures, the payment will be protected from being written off for debts, the press service of the Ministry of Labor clarified. According to preliminary estimates, additional support will be provided to more than 4 million families with almost 11 million children.
"The payment will be sent in a lump sum at the end of the year. An application for payment for 2025 can be submitted after the completion of the tax reporting period from June 1 to October 1, 2026. This can be done electronically through the Gosuslugi portal, or in person at the Social Fund office or at the MFC at the place of permanent or temporary registration, as well as at the place of actual residence," the ministry added.
The idea itself is good, it refers to the best practices of foreign tax systems and is based on Russian successes in digitalization, Anton Tabakh, chief economist at the Expert RA rating agency, told Izvestia. If the result is successful during the first year, when the number of failures and claims from users of refunds is minimal, it will be possible to move on to the next stage of the initiative's development.
— Collectively, we estimate a return of 300-400 billion rubles. It strongly depends on what income will be at the end of 2025. It is important that the federal budget will pay from fees from taxpayers of increased rates, and not the regions," he said.
This support measure is primarily compensatory in nature: it is able to partially smooth out the growth of the inevitable costs faced by families in caring for and raising children, while simultaneously having a stimulating effect on domestic consumer demand in the most sought-after and basic market segments, an expert from the Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted in an interview with Izvestia (Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on Financial, Industrial and Investment Policy Nail Shakhvaliev.
— For the business community, this means creating a more predictable socio-economic environment that reduces the risks of reducing effective demand. To sustainably improve the quality of life of families with children who are most vulnerable to socio-economic fluctuations, it is necessary to combine tax mechanisms with a wider range of measures, for example, this may include additional support for parents' employment and encouragement of family entrepreneurship," he said.
A one-time refund to families is perceived positively, since the amount will be significant enough that it can either be set aside as savings or used for major acquisitions, Elena Churilova, senior researcher at the International Laboratory for Population and Health Research at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia. Such measures usually provoke a positive reaction from the population and increase overall satisfaction, creating a sense of tangible support from the state.
— However, it is definitely not worth considering a tax cashback as a measure to increase the birth rate due to the existence of an income criterion, — the expert noted.
New formats
The family cashback will complement the system of support measures for families with children, the Ministry of Labor is confident. Families with children whose average per capita income does not exceed the minimum subsistence level established in the region are eligible for a single benefit. The allowance can be assigned in the amount of 50%, 75% or 100% of the regional subsistence level. The average maximum amount of child benefit in 2025 is 17 201 rubles.
"In addition, if the average per capita income of a family does not exceed two subsistence minimums, a monthly payment from the maternity capital can be made for all children under three years of age. The amount of the payment is equal to the regional minimum subsistence level for a child (the average amount is 17,201 rubles)," the ministry recalled.
It is optimal that support for low-income families with children would allow parents to work at the same time or increase their earnings, gradually reducing dependence on social benefits, Elena Churilova noted. First of all, these are measures aimed at teaching new skills, professional development and formal employment. Such initiatives will create conditions for a more stable financial situation for families and their independence from regular payments.
— And these are measures aimed at combining work and parenthood, first of all, so that women can safely go to work: organizing extended-day groups in schools in accordance with their parents' work schedule (for example, until 18:00 or 19:00), full-day children's summer city camps, compensation for vouchers for children's health recreation facilities, social babysitters, children's rooms at large enterprises, corporate kindergartens, she is sure.
The initiative to partially refund taxes to families has every chance to show high performance, Ekaterina Golubtsova, Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Finance at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, told Izvestia. This is due to the fact that the number of potential recipients is quite large, as well as the fact that the payment procedure is kept as simple as possible.
— The availability of benefits is ensured by submitting only one application, either remotely through the Gosuslug portal, or in person at the Social Fund, or at the MFC. All other documents must be received through interdepartmental exchange channels. In addition, the payment will be protected from being written off for debts," she noted.
In her opinion, the main attention should be paid to bringing relevant information to taxpayers who can apply for family benefits.
— Also, in order to reduce the tax burden on low—income families with children, it is advisable to provide a mechanism for annual indexation of standard personal income tax deductions for children, as well as the maximum amount of annual income that allows this fiscal preference to be applied, - said the expert. — In foreign practice, there are examples of income tax exemption for remuneration for the performance of work duties for women who have three or more children.
Izvestia sent requests to the Federal Tax Service and the Ministry of Finance, but no responses had been received at the time of publication.
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