Becoming a Landlord & Successfully Investing In Property

Transcription

1 Becoming a Landlord & Successfully Investing In Property Edward Parker 14 May 2013

2 Introduction Registering Expenses Penalties Tenants deposits Structure Planning Finance VAT Record Keeping Stamp duty land tax

3 When to register? Register with HMRC as soon as circumstances change Latest 5 October, with tax return Register late = penalty to pay

4 Penalties On top of the tax outstanding there will be interest from the date that the tax was due and A penalty of up to 100% of the tax due in the most serious cases

5 Structure 1. Sole Trader 2. Partnership: i. Split of income ii. Use of personal allowances and CGT exemptions

6 Structure 3. Limited Company: i. Use of lower rates of Corporation tax to defer higher rates ii. Double whammy on CGT because company pays CGT on any gains and individuals then pay personal tax on extracting money from the company

7 Finance Interest relief is granted on the basis of the purposes of the loan No interest relief on loans to purchase a principle private residence If a home is used as security, may be possible to obtain tax relief on the proportion of the loan used to purchase an investment property May be possible to restructure finance so that loans become eligible for interest relief

8 Record keeping Extremely important to maintain timely and accurate records Use of an agent may help here because most reputable agents know what is needed. Tax relief on agents fees

9 Record keeping Records to be retained for at least six years Recommended to retain records relating to the acquisition and disposal of properties Particularly records relating to improvements in order to substantiate capital costs for CGT

10 Expenses The rules on repairs and what is and is not available changed in this year s budget Seek appropriate advice as to: How expenditure is categorised What is capital as opposed to revenue

11 Tenants deposits If you rent a property on an assured shorthold tenancy that started after 6 April 2007, as landlord you must place the deposit in one of the following tenancy deposit protection (TDP) schemes: Deposit Protection Service (Custodial and Insured) My Deposits Tenancy Deposit Scheme Capita Tenancy Deposit Protection

12 Tenants deposits The landlord or letting agent must put the deposit in the scheme within 30 days of getting it At the end of the tenancy: If the tenant and landlord agree how much deposit the tenant will receive back, it must be returned to them within 10 days of the tenancy ending In the event of dispute, then the deposit is protected in the TDP until the issue is sorted.

13 Tenants deposits Holding deposits: The landlord doesn t have to protect a holding deposit (money paid to hold a property before an agreement is signed). However, upon signature of the lease, the holding deposit becomes a deposit, which must be protected Deposits made by a third party: A landlord must use a TDP scheme even if the deposit is paid by someone else, like a rent deposit scheme or parents

14 Tenants deposits Now governed by statute Tenancy Deposit Protection Agents, particularly those who are members of Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), will be fully conversant with this scheme

15 Planning Important to seek appropriate advice before putting action into place Can help those who say I am thinking of doing much easier than I have done There are legitimate steps that a landlord can take to minimise the impact of taxation Particularly Capital gains tax where the property that has been let has been used as an owner s principal private residence during the period of ownership

16 Planning Avoid contrived schemes at any cost Pay the correct amount of tax and sleep comfortably The Revenue is not foolish and knows the market place SDLT office is a branch of HMRC The Revenue has a vast array of accessible information and is developing tools to enable that information to be trawled If you have a tax advisor ask about fee protection from Revenue enquiries

17 VAT Most income from residential property will be exempt and therefore outside the scope of VAT Care needs to be taken when acquiring a property that is already let and Particularly when building work is carried out on the property itself especially if extensions and conversions are being considered

18 Stamp duty land tax Care needs to be taken when considering multiple purchases such as more than one property on a single site Multiple schemes offering supposed savings on SDLT Mostly contrived and simply do not work!

19 Stamp duty land tax Some transactions are considered as linked for the purposes of calculating SDLT. The values of each transaction are combined to find a total chargeable consideration. For example, if a purchaser buys two apartments for 100,000 each from the same developer at the same time, then SDLT is calculated on the total of 200,000.

20 Need help? Talk to Wellers Edward Parker Partner T: E:

21 Links to HMRC Tookits

22 Becoming a Landlord & Successfully Investing In Property #BusinessOxygen