The key facts
- From January 1, 2027, account turnover will begin to be collected for analysis; from April 1, it will be taken into account when granting the benefit
- The deposit limit is no more than twice the total annual income of the family
- Transfers between family members, credit funds, tax deductions and confirmed property sales will be excluded from the calculation
What is proposed to change
Russia's Ministry of Labor has put forward for public discussion a draft, which makes it harder to receive the unified child benefit: when granting the payment, officials plan to assess not only the family's official income but also the movement of money across its bank accounts. The new rules are proposed to take effect on April 1, 2027, the ministry said. The collection of data on account turnover will begin earlier — on January 1, 2027 — but during the first three months the data will be used only for analysis, with no consequences for recipients. According to Ministry of Labor representatives, a similar mechanism is already in use in the Moscow Region and in the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs.
How the limit will be calculated
“The permissible limit of account turnover must not exceed twice the total annual income of the family,” the Ministry of Labor clarified. The calculation will take into account salaries, bonuses, social benefits, income from self-employment and other payments. However, not every deposit will become grounds for denial: transfers between family members, credit funds, tax deductions and income from the sale of property — if the transaction is confirmed by documents — will be excluded from the calculation. Parents themselves will not need to collect bank statements — the information will come through the interagency data exchange system; if the bank fails to provide the data on time, the applicant will be able to submit the documents independently.
The earnings requirement and current rules
In addition, the Ministry of Labor proposed setting, from January 1, 2027, a minimum annual income for receiving the unified benefit at the level of 10 times the minimum wage (MROT). Exceptions are provided for pregnant women, parents of children under three years old, large families with qualifying grounds, citizens with disabilities, those caring for people with disabilities, as well as those unable to work due to illness or registered with an employment center. The unified benefit remains a targeted payment for families whose per-capita income is below the regional subsistence minimum; when granting it, property and the “zero income rule” are also assessed. From 2026, large families may keep a previously granted payment for another 12 months if their income exceeded the subsistence minimum by no more than 10% — in that case the benefit amounts to 50% of the regional minimum per child, and according to the ministry, more than 100,000 children have received such support.
Context
The draft is still at the public discussion stage, so the rules listed are a proposal by the ministry, not an adopted norm. The same Life.ru report also mentions other social changes: Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov announced the indexation of the maximum unemployment benefit in 2027 to 16,966 rubles, and, according to the outlet, the authorities are preparing increases in pensions, maternity capital and benefits for families with children against the backdrop of a record-low unemployment rate of 2.2%.
