31st October Deadline

If you would like to send your tax return for the year ended on 5th April 2009 by paper, you would have to do it by the end of this month.

Very important to remember is that the tax return has to reach HM Revenue & Customs by Saturday 31st October.

If you send your return on paper the HMRC will calculate the tax liability to be paid or owed.

If the paper return arrives after this deadline you will be charged a £100 penalty.

According to HMRC, if you miss the deadline because of the postal strike you would not be liable for paying the £100 penalty as long as you post the return before the 31st October.

If you hand deliver your return on the 2nd of November, no penalty would be due either.

In case you miss the deadline you can always send your return online.

At Taxfile in Tulse Hill we submit all the returns online as it is safer and more secure, tax returns are processed faster, and there are later deadlines to meet.

Changes to Minimum Wage from 1st October

As explained in a previous blog post, Minimum Wage is defined as the lowest wage payable to most employees as fixed by law or union agreement.

As from 01/10/09 new rates came in place:

•£5.80 – as the main rate for workers aged 22 and over;
•£4.83 – the 18-21 rate;
•£3.57 – the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18.

A very important change from 01/10/09 is that fact that employers running bars and restaurants can no longer be allowed to use tips to top up pay up to the minimum wage.

Workers will now be paid at least the National Minimum Wage and be paid their tips on top of this.

If your employer is paying you less than the Minimum Wage entitlement you must report this by filing an online complaint form.

If you have any queries regarding Minimum Wage or any other tax related question, please feel free to ring us on 020 8761 8000 or come to see us in our office in Tulse Hill on the South Circular.

Interest in Land and Property

As a landlord or a property investor, you are able to claim interest relief by offsetting it against your lettings income. So even if you have an interest-only mortgage or a repayment one you can still claim the interest.Also if you take a personal loan and you use it entirely for the purpose of your rental business, you can claim the interest on the loan as an expense.

Very important to remember is that you can only claim interest against a loan up to the value of the rented property when first let. The capital account cannot be overdrawn.

There is a possibility to re-mortgage for a greater amount and claim this when the additional amount is used for the purpose of an investment property or wholly and exclusively for the business property.

You can claim interest on your mortgage even when your property is empty.You do not have to split the interest on the mortgage if you are genuinely trying to let the property but it is empty because it has not been able to find a tenant. In this case the interest will meet the ‘wholly and exclusively’ test. It will not meet this test if you have not been trying to let the property or you have been using it for private or non-business purposes .

We at Taxfile hope to have captured your interest in landlord tax and if you need to know more about it, feel free to pop in at our Tulse Hill office and speak to one of our tax agents.