Total Books, helping you declare rental income
Whether you’re a seasoned landlord or new to renting out properties, undeclared property income can quickly lead to issues. Lucky for you, at Total Books, we have a vast knowledge of property tax and landlord accounting. We’ll help bring you up to date with your property tax liabilities. With a guarantee to ensure a fully accepted disclosure, minimising tax penalties & taking away the worry of this tax burden.
If you owe tax on rental profits but have yet to disclose it to HMRC, we’ll help you make a voluntary disclosure before HMRC investigates your tax affairs. Contact us today to notify HMRC of undisclosed income.
What is the Let Property Campaign?
If you make a profit from renting out residential property, then you must tell HMRC. But what if you didn’t know how much tax you owed? Or what if you made a mistake? Well, that’s where the Let Property Campaign comes in.
HMRC created the Let Property Campaign as an amnesty to give landlords a chance to resolve unpaid tax. It allows you to disclose everything voluntarily in exchange for much lower penalties than if HMRC found out about the unreported income themselves. You can view the detailed HMRC guidance on the let property campaign here Let Property Campaign: your guide to making a disclosure – GOV.UK
Who does the Let Property Campaign benefit?
You might find the Let Property Campaign beneficial if you have previously failed to pay tax on property income. It provides a less stressful way for you to disclose your rental income and catch up on the tax you owe.
The LPC specifically supports:
- Residential property landlords
- Holiday lets & Air B&B Landlords
- Spare room rentals (that go over the tax-free threshold)
- UK landlords who live abroad
- Guaranteed rents paid through letting agents
Unsure if you fit into one of these categories? We’ll help you work out your tax liability and pay any tax you might have previously missed.
How does HMRC find out about undeclared rental income?
HMRC has access to numerous databases and can easily find out about undisclosed income from various sources, including your property rentals. They may spot patterns, like owning multiple properties, that could hint at earning rental income. Or, if they already suspect something isn’t quite right, they may start an investigation. This means cross-referencing data across different sources to determine if the house is let to a tenant where Let property Income Tax has not been paid.
This property information can come from many sources easily accessible to the UK tax authorities:
- HM Land Registry ( Landlord )
- Stamp Duty Land Tax ( Landlord )
- House Insurance & Mortgage ( Landlord )
- Electoral Register ( Tenant )
- Bank account details ( Tenant )
- Driving licence, Passport & Council Tax (Tenant )
- Complaints from ex-tenants
- Third parties (such as estate agents or property management companies)
How much is the HMRC penalty for the Let Property Campaign?
LPC penalties vary depending on why you failed to declare income. If it was an honest mistake, then you may face a lower penalty than if you intentionally chose not to pay tax.
At Total Books Accountants, we have successfully managed to bring over 80% of our cases down from a 100% tax & fines penalty to between 10% & 30%. Saving our clients upwards of £4,000 in fines & penalties per case. You can read more about the HMRC Failure to notify penalty guidance here Compliance checks — penalties for failure to notify — CC/FS11 – GOV.UK
Our Let Property Campaign service
At Total Books, we understand that it may be alarming to notice an error in your taxes. If you misunderstood or made a mistake when disclosing rental income, we can help you make a full and honest disclosure. In some cases where this may even lead to a disclosure of taxes due with nothing to declare.
We become your representative LPC tax agents and deal with HMRC throughout the case so you dont have to worry about speaking to the tax man.
Let Property Campaign disclosure
We’ll help you sign up and make a declaration under the LPC. It’s a relatively quick process, but you should bear in mind that once you have registered, the timeframe is tight! You only have 90 days to make a disclosure, so we always recommend coming prepared. Bring any documents you might need and contact us as soon as you’re ready to tell HMRC.
Our Let Property Campaign disclosure service starts with a conversation. We want to learn more about your rental properties and pinpoint where things might have gone wrong. We’re a friendly team offering judgment-free support – our only goal is to put you at ease and help you get back on track.
Once we understand your finances a little better, we’ll analyse your total rental income for the tax years you’ve missed, calculate any unpaid tax, and work out if you’re likely to face any penalties. Don’t worry -it is our job to keep these penalties to a minimum.
We’ll ensure you’re happy with the figures and then prepare your disclosure using HMRC’s Digital Disclosure Service. We’ll handle all of the paperwork and communicate with HMRC on your behalf to keep things running smoothly throughout the entire process.
We guarantee to work with the client until the case has been fully accepted and closed with the LPC disclosure office. In many cases we even ensure that a payment plan is arranged to suit the client. This means that a client can pay in monthly installments from one to five years, ensuring that taxes due do not become a burden and you can forget about this for the future.
Management of landlord tax affairs
Our service doesn’t just end there. Whether it’s tracking rental income or optimising your taxes to save more money, we provide ongoing support to keep you compliant long after the LPC disclosure. Our tax services ensure your property tax returns are accurate and on time and help you make the most of the tax reliefs available.
We embrace modern accounting practices and help our clients do the same. By utilising the latest accounting software Bright Manager & TaxCalc, we’ll help you ensure that missed tax payments are a thing of the past.
Ensure compliance and maximise your rental income with Total Books
If you’re a landlord struggling to keep on top of your taxes, don’t wait for a formal investigation to come knocking. Our Let Property Campaign services provide a straightforward and supportive way to bring your tax affairs up to date.
Get in touch today to make a full disclosure and start your journey to better tax management.
Frequently asked questions about LPC
When did the Let Property Campaign start?
The Let Property Campaign was first introduced in 2013 to encourage landlords to get up to date on their tax affairs. Between 2013 & 2023 HMRC have collected nearly £240 Million from the Let Property campaign.
When does the Let Property Campaign end?
The campaign is still running today (October 2024) and has no major plans to end anytime soon. With so may ways of being caught out we recommend all landlords to use the Let property amnesty before HMRC catches up with you. As this can lead to being a criminal offence.
How far back can the HMRC Let Property Campaign go?
HMRC can request undisclosed income from property rentals for up to 20 years. You don’t need to disclose any taxes you have already paid during that period, only ones that may have been missed. If you self declare this income before HMRC send you a Prompted brown letter through the post requesting for you to provide your declaration fines & penalties & taxes due are much lower.
