HMRC now has landlords in their sights

Residential property lettingsHMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs) has announced some new initiatives over the course of the last month and one of these is The Let Property campaign which is a campaign designed to recover undeclared tax from those receiving income from residential property lets. The idea is to encourage those landlords with under-declared income or gains (potentially including income tax, Capital Gains Tax and VAT) to contact them in order to make a full disclosure. By doing so they may well avoid the higher penalties which may be applied to them should HMRC discover the undeclared income/gains via other means. Don’t forget that they now have access to information shared across systems, including in relation to properties both at home and abroad, as well as being gained through their digital intelligence system ‘Connect’ which identifies links between individuals, entities and properties. So the message to landlords is loud and clear!

The campaign applies to landlords whether they have just a single property or a large portfolio of properties and encompasses lets to students, business workforces and the holiday market. Read more

No April Showers for Landlords!

Landlords may benefit by having a Taxfile safety net.
Landlords and taxpayers with small amounts of freelance earnings could well expect to find a Tax inspector appearing unannounced at their Buy to Let property or small home business enterprise! Proposals included in last weeks finance bill and coming into force on April 1st 2009, will herald even more investigative powers for the Tax man. HMRC inspectors will have additional powers to investigate landlords and challenge them over perceived income errors on their tax returns, which could result in fines between 30%-100% of any extra tax due.

In a recent report, HMRC have identified 20% of Landlords (nearly 80,000), as having made errors on their Tax returns. But what is meant by an error? Taxpayers could be heavily penalised for just failing to understand the tax rules applied to rental income. For example, being late with the lettings business registration, or using inappropriate expenses and so on.

Any concerns or worries in this area can be directed to Taxfile who will be happy to offer help and advice. We strongly recommend landlords take advantage of our insurance cover against any tax investigation, this offers Landlords peace of mind and financial protection.

Taxfile welcome your call on 0208 7618000 to discuss your situation.

Good luck.

Land and Property Team at Taxfile