Pocket balance: the heirs will be refunded overpayments on taxes of the deceased
The State Duma has approved a government bill that for the first time introduces an administrative procedure for transferring the positive balance of a single tax account (ENS) of a deceased citizen to heirs. The normative act establishes the proportional distribution of funds, sets the terms of interaction of notaries with the Federal Tax Service and defines the transitional rules for crediting amounts to the accounts of successors. All the details are in the Izvestia article.
How will the overpayment be distributed among several heirs?
Government Bill No. 1096229-8, adopted by the State Duma, transfers the procedure for inheriting fiscal assets from the judicial to the administrative plane, which eliminates the need to apply to arbitration authorities to refund overpaid amounts. The notary in charge of the case sends a request through the interdepartmental electronic interaction system and receives a certificate of the balance of the case within five working days without charging additional fees.
The original concept of a direct refund was changed by the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes due to the lack of requesting powers from the notary's specialists. By the way, the new regulatory framework also corrects Articles 251 and 309.1 of Part 2 of the Tax Code, fixing new mechanisms for accounting for the property rights of Russians.
Financial assets are distributed strictly in proportion to the shares in the hereditary mass, which guarantees mathematical transparency of the procedure. If the heir receives a third of the property, he is entitled to exactly one third of the positive balance of the estate. The press service of the Federal Notary Chamber indicates that the successors are responsible for the debts of the deceased solely within the limits of the value of the property received. For example, with a debt of 10 million rubles and an inheritance worth 7 million rubles, the liability of the heirs is limited to this amount.
"Starting in 2027, a full—fledged inheritance system for the amount of tax overpayment begins with the participation of notaries, and instead of a direct refund of overpayments, a system for transferring them to the heir's single tax account is being fixed," says Vadim Zasko, Dean of the Faculty of Taxes, Audit and Business Analysis at the Financial University, Director of the Institute of Tax Management and Real Estate Economics at the National Research University of Higher School of Economics.. — Thus, the management system of the inherited asset is being reformatted in the form of a tax overpayment: the heir does not receive "live money at the moment", but the possibility of subsequent savings on taxes.
Since November last year, notary specialists have been required to notify their successors in advance of their loan obligations, which allows them to objectively assess the debt burden before officially assuming inheritance rights. The Association of Tax Consultants emphasizes that a clear definition of shares in multi-component property becomes a key condition for the correct distribution of tax balances according to the terms of the wills.
What will happen to unclaimed funds after 2027
The document provides for a two-tier system for the entry into force of regulations, which forms a transitional period for the exercise of tax rights without violating existing civil procedures. By January next year, citizens will be able to apply to the tax authorities for a refund based on a notarized certificate of inheritance. The subsequent change in the mechanism involves the automatic transfer of the overpayment to the single account of the legal successor without additional administrative procedures and paperwork. The specified date is not the deadline for receiving funds, but only changes the technological format of their administration.
The established time period should not be considered as a preemptive period for the loss of the right to financial resources, since ownership remains regardless of the date of application, confirms Vadim Zasko. According to him, the absence of an application during the transition period does not invalidate the very ownership of the surplus, which the Supreme Court recognizes as an integral part of the estate. But after the specified date, the exercise of the right will be carried out exclusively through a new accounting mechanism based on a successor, which only changes the format of asset management.
The state provides a six-month period without penalty for the management of the inherited estate and settlements with the budget, which is fixed in the text of the bill. The presence or absence of an administrative procedure does not affect the very essence of legal relations, but only creates technical conditions for their practical application, emphasizes Natalia Povetkina, Head of the Department of Financial, Tax and Budgetary Legislation, Acting Head of the Department of Public Law at the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation (IZiSP). The institute for managing the balance of payments has been established without a deadline for legislative functioning, which ensures long-term predictability: legal successors will be able to use the credited funds to pay off their own tax obligations or initiate a refund to a bank account.
How will the new law affect inheritance disputes
The introduction of clear administrative regulations reduces the likelihood of new categories of litigation in the tax sphere, as the procedure becomes fully formalized and predictable. The Federal Tax Service will not independently determine the circle of legal successors or distribute shares, acting solely on the basis of notarial certificates or court decisions. The key factor is the availability of a proper document confirming the heir's right to the appropriate amount, which eliminates the arbitrariness of departments. Disputes about the status of the legal successor, the shares, the timing of acceptance of the inheritance or the validity of the will will remain exclusively in the hereditary-legal plane.
Potential legal conflicts will be shifted towards tax administration, where the main focus will be on the technical aspects of accounting for funds and the correctness of accruals. Vadim Zasko notes that the legislative act eliminates historical gaps in regulating citizens' interaction with the budget and makes it possible to manage assets without going to court. The main risks are related to determining the exact size of the balance at the time of a citizen's death, the order in which the amounts are reflected in the accounts, and possible technical failures of fiscal departments. In other words, such issues lie more in the sphere of tax control, rather than fictitious claims.
The legislation explicitly indicates working only with a positive balance, so attempts to claim other amounts will go beyond the universal administrative procedure and be considered separately. Natalia Povetkina emphasizes that the tax authority does not have the authority of administrative discretion regarding the choice of recipients of funds, since the distribution takes place strictly by shares. The document completes the formation of a transparent mechanism for inheritance of tax obligations and creates a stable environment for digital document management. The negative balance is limited by the value of the inherited property, which definitively protects the legal successors from excessive financial obligations.
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