Landlords: Taxation

(asked on 1st October 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to increase the level of tax compliance among buy-to-let landlords; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 9th October 2020

The Government is committed to reducing non-compliance in the tax system among all taxpayers, including landlords.

Since 2013-14 HMRC have been running a public campaign focused on those who let properties, to encourage voluntary disclosure of undeclared rental income. To date, the Let Property campaign has prompted approximately 55,000 additional disclosures and raised an estimated £226 million in additional compliance yield for the Exchequer.

Furthermore, and as announced in July, from April 2023 landlords with business or property income over £10,000 per year which are liable for Income Tax will need to keep digital records and use software to update HMRC quarterly through Making Tax Digital.

Keeping paper records and assembling tax records long after transactions take place leads to errors and undermines tax compliance. Making Tax Digital reduces the scope for these avoidable mistakes. It will also make it easier for landlords to get their tax right, saving time and enabling them to see, close to real time, the health of their finances.

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