Rental Income

Rental Income

There on the mat lies the brown envelope which you open with trepidation, very often received on a Friday night or over the weekend. Any enquiry by HMRC can fill you with dread, lead you to panic and possibly straight on to Google! Many of my clients say it is second only to an adverse medical diagnosis for causing extreme anxiety.

All enquiries are not undertaken at random, but following an HMRC in-depth risk assessment, before any letter is issued. It is not a fishing expedition!

Most letters come out of the HM Revenue and Customs Individual and Small Business Compliance department. These types of enquiries are often in respect of self-assessment tax returns submitted. They will be headed up as a check of your self-assessment tax return for a specific year.

However this department will also write to people whom they suspect have not declared all their taxable income, so letters are also issued to those who have never completed a tax return and many related to the failure to declare rental income.

The HMRC Let Property Campaign is an initiative targeting landlords with undeclared rental income and has been running for many years as a successful and less confrontational way for HMRC to get your affairs in order and collect any back tax etc due. It allows you to bring your tax affairs up to date and go forward filing correct tax returns in future. Letters can be sent out in large batches by HMRC teams working together on this one issue only, but it will involve producing records and understanding of the minefield on the law around how it is assessed.

Any investigation into your tax affairs is likely to be highly disruptive to your business and family life, but it can also be expensive in terms of tax etc and professional fees. Here Lindsay’s involvement pays dividends, as not only will she give you a free initial overview on the phone, but her prices are more than competitive, for someone with over 40 years’ experience, both inside HMRC as a Tax Inspector and on the other side, the kind side helping you!

It essential that you get expert, specialist advice from the very minute that you receive the letter and a phone call is the best way – with ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ you will find Lindsay very approachable, practical, knowledgeable, helpful and never judgemental. Whatever you decide you will go forward with more information, peace of mind and ‘forewarned is always forearmed’ and everything is in complete confidence.  And no you are not going to jail!

Call 07879 464 577 at any time, but often a quick text, or contact on email or in the calendar first, ensures we both have time to devote to hearing your story and fears.