Child Tax Notice: Why It Comes and How to Control It
Receiving a tax notice in the name of a child often comes as a surprise to parents: it seems strange that a schoolboy or even an infant should pay something
Most often we are talking about property tax: it is accrued if the child owns an apartment, room, house, garage, car place, share in real estate or land. Children often receive shares in housing when using matcapital, as well as by inheritance or as a gift. If a minor receives income - for example, from the rental of property or from the sale of real estate - in some cases there is an obligation to pay personal income tax. Transport tax depends on the registration of the car, so it is important to check who it is registered for.
Who should pay. The taxpayer is the child himself, because he is the owner. But its legal representatives must perform tax duties: parents, adoptive parents, guardians or trustees. The child’s lack of income does not cancel this obligation. At the same time, the notification is formed separately for each taxpayer, so the charges for the child will not be visible in the parent’s document. It is important to check not only your personal account, but also the documents of children.
What happens when you're late? Arrears are incurred and penalties are charged. Since 2026, the law directly allows the recovery of the debt of a minor at the expense of the funds and property of his legal representatives.
How to control accruals. It is most convenient to do this through the service "Family access" in the personal account of the taxpayer. To do this, the parent needs to go to the Profile section, select the Family Access item, specify the child’s TIN and send a request, and then wait for confirmation in the minor’s personal account. After connecting, the child's accruals will be displayed in the parent's office.
What to do if you have an extra charge. For verification and payment, first check the data in the notification: whether the object really belongs to the child, whether the specified share is correct and whether the tax period is correctly determined. Information about ownership and share can be confirmed by an extract from the USRN. If the child attributed someone else's property, incorrectly indicated a share or charged tax for the period after the termination of ownership, submit to the Federal Tax Service an application for recalculation, attaching supporting documents. And remember: if the property was sold in 2026, the accrual for 2025 is not a mistake - you need to check the tax period. Notifications of 2026 concern property taxes for 2025, they must be paid no later than December 1, 2026.
Separately about benefits and security. In itself, a minor does not exempt from property tax, but certain categories of children (for example, children with disabilities) may have statutory preferences. And be careful: do not follow links from messages with immediate recovery threats and do not provide passwords, SMS codes or bank card data. It is safer to go to the official website of the Federal Tax Service or to “Public Services” and check the notification there.
Many parents find out about a child’s debt only after the penalties have accumulated, simply because they did not know that notifications come separately and are not displayed in their personal account. And from 2026, the debt of a minor can be recovered from the funds and property of parents. Therefore, “Family access” is not a formality, but a real way to keep the situation under control and not miss the payment deadline. And a separate point is fraudsters who use ignorance and send fake notifications with threats: you need to check charges only through official services.
Do you check your children’s tax notices? Or did you just find out about Family Access?
