Landlords

Following the consultation last summer, the draft Finance Bill 2016 includes the legislation to reintroduce tax relief for the replacement of furnishings in buy to let properties from 6 April 2016.

This will apply to both furnished and unfurnished lettings and will mean that the cost of replacing items such as cookers and washing machines will again qualify for relief following the withdrawal of a concession from 6 April 2013.

There are common myths surrounding rental properties and HM Revenue and Customs. The two I encounter most frequently are:

 - "I don't make money from my property/properties, so I don't need to tell HMRC about it"

or

 - "I own my property jointly with my wife, she already does a tax return, so we put it all on hers"

Both these statements are incorrect and probably mean that you either owe HMRC tax or at the very least some backdated tax returns. The bad news is that HMRC know it.