HMRC notices

The Let Property Campaign provides landlords who have undeclared income from residential property lettings in the UK or abroad with an opportunity to regularise their affairs by disclosing any outstanding liabilities whether due to misunderstanding the tax rules or because of deliberate tax evasion. Participation in the campaign is open to all residential property landlords with undisclosed taxes. The campaign is not suitable for those letting out non-residential properties.

Landlords who do not avail of the opportunity and are targeted by HMRC can face penalties of up to 100% of the tax due together with possible criminal prosecution. Taxpayers that come forward will benefit from better terms and lower penalties for making a disclosure. Landlords that make an accurate voluntary disclosure are likely to face a maximum penalty of 0%, 10% or 20% depending on the circumstance on top of the tax and interest due. There are higher penalties for offshore liabilities.

There are three main stages to taking part in the campaign, notifying HMRC that you wish to take part, preparing an actual disclosure and making a formal offer together with payment. The campaign is open to all individual landlords renting out residential property. This includes, amongst others, landlords with multiple properties and specialist landlords with student or workforce rentals. Once HMRC have been notified of the wish to take part in the campaign, landlords usually have 90 days to calculate and pay any tax owed.

Two separate £1,000 tax allowances for property and trading income were introduced in April 2017. If you have both types of income highlighted below, then you can claim a £1,000 allowance for each.

The £1,000 exemptions from tax apply to:

• If you make up to £1,000 from self-employment, casual services (such as babysitting or gardening) or hiring personal equipment (such as power tools). This is known as the trading allowance.
• If your annual gross property income is £1,000 or less, from one or more property businesses you will not have to tell HMRC or declare this income on a tax return. For example, from renting a driveway. This is known as the property allowance.

Where each respective allowance covers all the individual’s relevant income (before expenses) the income is tax-free and does not have to be declared. Taxpayers with higher amounts of income will have the choice, when calculating their taxable profits, of deducting the allowance from their receipts, instead of deducting the actual allowable expenses.

You cannot use the allowances in a tax year, if you have any trade or property income from:

• a company you, or someone connected to you, owns or controls;
• a partnership where you, or someone connected to you, are partners; or from
• your employer or the employer of your spouse or civil partner.

You cannot use the property allowance if you:

• claim the tax reducer for finance costs, such as mortgage interest for a residential property; or
• deduct expenses from income from letting a room in your own home, instead of using the Rent a Room scheme.

The child benefit rates for the only or eldest child in a family is currently £25.60 and the weekly rate for all other children is £16.95.

Taxpayers entitled to the child benefit should be aware that HMRC usually stop paying child benefit on the 31 August following a child’s 16th Birthday. Under qualifying circumstances, the child benefit payment can continue until a child reaches their 20th birthday if they stay in approved education or training. A qualifying young person is someone aged 16, 17, 18 or 19 in full time non-advanced education or on unpaid approved training courses.

HMRC has just sent more than 1.4 million Child Benefit reconfirmation letters to parents whose child may be affected. The letters include a QR code which, when scanned, directs them to GOV.UK to update their claim quickly and easily online. This can also be done on the HMRC app.

Parents have until 31 August 2024 to tell HMRC that their 16-year-old is continuing their education or training, and their intention to continue receiving Child Benefit. No child benefit is payable after a young person reaches the age of 20 years.

HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services recently said:

‘Child Benefit is an important financial support for many families, so make sure you don’t miss out on any payments if your teenager intends to continue approved education or training. You can quickly and easily extend your claim online or via the HMRC app, just search ‘Child Benefit when your child turns 16’ on GOV.UK.’

Child benefit is usually payable for children who come to the UK. However, there are a number of rules which must be met in order to claim. HMRC must be notified without delay if a child receiving child benefit moves permanently abroad.

Whilst there are a large number of state benefits available, it is not clear which of these benefits are taxable and which are tax-free.

HMRC’s guidance provides the following list of the most common state benefits that are taxable, i.e., Income Tax is payable, subject to the usual limits:

• Bereavement Allowance (previously Widow’s pension)
• Carer’s Allowance
• contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Incapacity Benefit (from the 29th week you get it)
• Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• pensions paid by the Industrial Death Benefit scheme
• the State Pension
• Widowed Parent’s Allowance

The most common state benefits you do not have to pay Income Tax on are:

• Attendance Allowance
• Bereavement support payment
• Child Benefit (income-based – use the Child Benefit tax calculator to see if you’ll have to pay tax)
• Child Tax Credit
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• free TV licence for over-75s
• Guardian’s Allowance
• Housing Benefit
• Income Support – though you may have to pay tax on Income Support if you’re involved in a strike
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Industrial Injuries Benefit
• lump-sum bereavement payments
• Maternity Allowance
• Pension Credit
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Universal Credit
• War Widow’s Pension
• Winter Fuel Payments and Christmas Bonus
• Working Tax Credit

HMRC’s published guidance titled ‘Check genuine HMRC contact that uses more than one communication method’ has been updated. The list is intended to help taxpayers check if recent contacts purporting to be from HMRC are actually a scam.

The guidance contains a list of emails, phone calls, letters and text messages recently issued by HMRC that are genuine. The list can be useful to help taxpayers decide if a contact is genuine or from a fraudster trying to trick taxpayers into supplying confidential or personal information.

Some of the most recent additions to the list include the following:

• Temporary Customer Compliance Manager service for mid-size businesses. HMRC’s Customer Insight Team will be inviting mid-size businesses and their agents for feedback about the temporary Customer Compliance Manager service. From 1 March 2024 up to and including 31 May 2024 HMRC may contact you by phone or email.
• Tax code notice research. HMRC are working with independent research agency People for Research to recruit participants to gather feedback on communications notifying taxpayers of their tax code. You may have been contacted by email or phone call to take part in the research.
• Cryptoasset research. HMRC are working with independent research agency Ipsos UK to carry out research into the cryptoasset industry. From 2 April 2024 up to and including 31 May 2024 Ipsos UK may contact you by email, letter or phone. Ipsos are carrying out research on behalf of HMRC into the cryptoasset industry. The research aims to understand the behaviours and attitudes of individual owners of cryptoassets and the operation and business models of cryptoasset service providers. You may receive a letter, email or phone call from Ipsos UK asking you to take part in an interview, which will be conducted online or by telephone.
• Impact of Making Tax Digital on Income Tax self-assessment taxpayers. HMRC are working with independent research agency Verian to explore the impact of Making Tax Digital (MTD) on Income Tax self-assessment (ITSA) taxpayers. You may be contacted through email, letter or phone call and asked to take part in a telephone interview or a survey.

Participation in any of these research items is voluntary.

The Economic Crime Levy is a levy that applies to businesses that are already regulated for anti-money laundering purposes.

Your business must register if your UK revenue is £10.2 million or more in a financial year and:

• Your business is already regulated by HMRC for anti-money laundering purposes.
• Your business is regulated by a professional body for anti-money laundering purposes.

The financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March of the following year. Not all entities have to register and submit a return – it depends on the identity of their collection authority.

Businesses only need to register for the Economic Crime Levy once but are required to submit a return and pay the levy on an annual basis.

The amount businesses need to pay depends on their UK revenue for the financial year.

There are four size bands:

• small entities (less than £10.2 million in UK revenue);
• medium entities (between £10.2 million and £36 million in UK revenue);
• large entities (between £36 million and £1 billion in UK revenue); and
• very large entities (over £1 billion in UK revenue).

Small entities do not need to pay the levy, however:

• medium entities must pay £10,000;
• large entities must pay £36,000; and
• very large entities must pay £500,000 from April 2024. The levy was previously £250,000 but was increased as part of the recent Spring Budget measures. As is currently the case, payments for 2024-25 will be due in the following financial year. No other changes to the levy were announced.

The amount due for the levy may be reduced if businesses carry out regulated activities for only part of the financial year.

The furnished holiday let (FHL) rules allow holiday lettings of properties that meet certain conditions to be treated as a trade for tax purposes.

In order to qualify as a furnished holiday letting, the following criteria need to be met:

• The property must be let on a commercial basis with a view to the realisation of profits. Second homes or properties that are only let occasionally or to family and friends do not qualify.
• The property must be located in the UK, or in a country within the EEA.
• The property must be furnished. This means that there must be sufficient furniture provided for normal occupation and your visitors must be entitled to use the furniture.

In addition, the property must pass the following three occupancy conditions.

1. Pattern of occupation condition. The property must not be used for more than 155 days for longer term occupation (i.e. a continuous period of more than 31 days).
2. The availability condition. The property must be available for commercial letting at commercial rates for at least 210 days per year.
3. The letting condition. The property must be let for at least 105 days per year and homeowners should be able to demonstrate the income from these lettings. 

Where there are a number of furnished holiday lettings properties in a business, it is possible to average the days of lettings for the purposes of qualifying for the 105 days threshold. This is called an averaging election.

HMRC provides the following illustrative example:

Emma lets 4 UK holiday cottages for the following number of days in a tax year:

If Emma uses averaging, all 4 cottages will meet the letting condition (421 days divided by 4 = 105). Without averaging, cottage 4 would not qualify.

You can only average across properties in a single FHL business. You cannot mix UK and EEA FHL properties.

Landlords are able to claim for allowable expenses as a deduction from their rental income when calculating taxable rental profits to declare to HMRC. The expenses must relate wholly and exclusively for the purposes of renting out the property.

There is also a range of other types of expenses that can be claimed as a deduction when paid for by the landlord. This includes general maintenance and repairs to the property. It is important to note that this type of allowable expense includes the costs of maintenance and repairs to the property (but not ‘capital’ improvements).

HMRC’s guidance states that… a repair restores an asset to its original condition, sometimes by replacing parts of it.

Property repairs can include:

• replacing roof tiles blown off by a storm;
• replacing a broken-down boiler; and
• redecoration between tenants to restore the property to its original condition.

Replacing a part of the property with the nearest modern equivalent is still a repair if the improvement is incidental to the repair, such as replacing a single-glazed window with a double-glazed window.

You cannot claim the costs for replacing furnishings or equipment in a property. These are not allowable as costs of maintenance and repairs but may qualify for replacement of domestic items relief.

Businesses and self-employed people in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC’s Time to Pay service. Any tax, duty, penalties or surcharges that you cannot afford to pay can be included.

An online payment plan for self-assessment tax bills can be used to set up instalment arrangements for paying tax liabilities up to £30,000. Taxpayers that qualify for a Time to Pay arrangement using the self-serve Time to Pay facility online, can do so without speaking to an HMRC adviser. This service is available within 60 days of the payment deadline.

Taxpayers that want to use the online option must also meet the following requirements:

• Have no outstanding tax returns
• No other tax debts
• No other HMRC payment plans set up

Other payments arrangements are usually agreed on a case-by-case basis and are tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities. Agreements reached with HMRC allow businesses and individuals to pay off their debt by instalments over a period of time.

HMRC will usually offer taxpayers the option of extra time to pay if they think they genuinely cannot pay in full now but will be able to pay in the future. If HMRC do not think that more time will help, then they can require immediate payment of a tax bill and start enforcement action if payment is not forthcoming.

HMRC’s has awarded twelve voluntary and community sector organisations a share of £5.5 million in funding to help customers with their tax affairs.

The £5.5 million funding pot applies over a three-year programme from April 2024 to March 2027 (£1.835 million per year), to help fund Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations. These organisations can then in turn help taxpayers who need extra help understanding and complying with their tax obligations and claiming their entitlements.

Registered charities, voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises, mutual organisations and co-operatives based in the UK were eligible to apply for funding. The application window for the current funding round closed on 21 August 2023.

The successful Voluntary and Community Sector organisations to receive a share of the grant funding are:

• Advice Direct Scotland
• Advice NI
• Citizens Advice Bureau – Isle of Wight, Gosport and Fareham
• Citizens Advice East Lancashire
• Citizens Advice South Tyneside
• Good Things Foundation
• Money Advice Trust
• Refugee Migrant Centre
• Royal National Institute of Blind People
• Royal Association for Deaf People
• Tax Aid
• Tax Volunteers (Tax Help for Older People)

The new grant agreements will be in place before the grant funding programme begins on 1 April 2024. HMRC is aiming to direct the grant funding to help taxpayers who are currently hardest to reach, who cannot or will not interact directly with HMRC, or need extra support in doing so.

The funding is aimed at helping VCS organisations that deal with taxpayers such as those with mental health or learning difficulties, people on low incomes or in debt and facing financial hardship, older people, migrants, carers, and people who are digitally excluded.