Self assessment question
Self assessment question
Author
Discussion

HIS LM

Original Poster:

1,348 posts

276 months

Saturday 28th January 2012
quotequote all
Is the mortgage payment allowable for tax relief on a buy to let or is it just the interest?

If not what else is deductable if anything

LC23

1,300 posts

242 months

Saturday 28th January 2012
quotequote all
It's just the interest element, not the capital.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Ta...

Eric Mc

124,107 posts

282 months

Saturday 28th January 2012
quotequote all
HIS LM said:
Is the mortgage payment allowable for tax relief on a buy to let or is it just the interest?

If not what else is deductable if anything
Think about it. L lend you £10,000. You repay me £10,000 exactly. That is a "non-event" for tax purposes because you had no income and I had no expenditure.

I lend you £10,000. I cahrge you £2,000 interest for the priveledge. You therefore repay me £12,000. Over time therefore, the loan cost you £2,000. It is the £2,000 that can be offset agaionst the rent.

Other offsetable costs are -

repairs
maintenance
property insurance
agent fees
advertising for tenants
legal fees regarding removing tenants
Council Tax or Water Charges met by the landlord
ground rent paid by the landlord
repalcement costs of furniture (if a furnished let)

If a furnished let, the landlord can opt to make a Wear and Tear claim instead of the actual furniture replacement cost. The 10% is applied to the Gross Rent less Council Tax and Water Charges.

Kudos

2,674 posts

191 months

Saturday 28th January 2012
quotequote all
Slightly related question. Losses, specifically over a couple of years

Say lose of £1000 in yr1, similar lose in yr 2. On the self assessment for yr 2, do you enter loss of £2000 or just that years?

quotemehappy

307 posts

204 months

Saturday 28th January 2012
quotequote all
Loss in year 1 should be the loss b/f from the previous tax year and the loss in year 2 is the current "net loss" for the period of account.

You should see the relevant boxes on the tax return.

Eric Mc

124,107 posts

282 months

Saturday 28th January 2012
quotequote all
Kudos said:
Slightly related question. Losses, specifically over a couple of years

Say lose of £1000 in yr1, similar lose in yr 2. On the self assessment for yr 2, do you enter loss of £2000 or just that years?
What type of losses - rental losses or trading losses?

Kudos

2,674 posts

191 months

Saturday 28th January 2012
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
What type of losses - rental losses or trading losses?
Sorry, rental losses

Eric Mc

124,107 posts

282 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
You are limited in what you can do with rental losses. In essence they can only be offset against rental profits.

If you make a loss of, say, £5,000 in 2008/09, you can carry the losses forward to 2009/10. If a further rental loss of £4,000 was made in 2009/10, then £9,000 worth of losses can be carried forward to 2010/11. If there was a rental profit of £5,000 in 2010/11, the brouight forwaqrd losses of £9,000 are set off against the profit thereby wiping them out. The remaining unused losses can then be carried forward to 2011/12.

The rules for holiday lets are different to ordinary lettings. a Loss on a holiday let is treated like a loss from a trading business/self-employment - which is much more flexible.

HIS LM

Original Poster:

1,348 posts

276 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
Many thanks for the replies so far, does the 10% allowance for wear and tear apply to overseas properties as well

Eric Mc

124,107 posts

282 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
Is it a genuine rented out property (i.e full time tenants) or is it a holiday let?

HIS LM

Original Poster:

1,348 posts

276 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
Full time tenant

HIS LM

Original Poster:

1,348 posts

276 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
Also is the 2 day extension (due to a strike) for filing and paying definitely confirmed or not, I note the adverts still say the 31st

HIS LM

Original Poster:

1,348 posts

276 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
Sorry another question on overseas rental income what exchange should I use to convert Euros into GBP

Eric Mc

124,107 posts

282 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
Where is the property? Is it in the EU/EEA?

Eric Mc

124,107 posts

282 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
HIS LM said:
Sorry another question on overseas rental income what exchange should I use to convert Euros into GBP
You have a number of choices. You could convert every transaction at the rate that pertained on the day of each transaction

OR

you can use an average rate for the year. I would use this - based on the rates of exchange at 6 April 2010 and 5 April 2011

HMRC can't really argue if you use these rates from their own website -


http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/exrate/index.htm

HIS LM

Original Poster:

1,348 posts

276 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
Where is the property? Is it in the EU/EEA?
Yes it is in the EU and is occupied all year by the same people

HIS LM

Original Poster:

1,348 posts

276 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
So what is allowable wear and tear or renewals basis neither has been applied before on this property

sumo69

2,164 posts

237 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
HIS LM said:
So what is allowable wear and tear or renewals basis neither has been applied before on this property
If the property was furnished prior to renting, then you have the choice of claiming 10% of rents per annum as an allowable deduction OR the cost as expended on renewing the furnishings (beds, settees, furniture etc).

Repairs on other areas (such as a new tap, washing machine etc) are still 100% allowable as expended.

If you haven't claimed the 10% before, you have 2 days to make a late claim for the 2009/10 tax year by "repairing" your return as well as the opportunity for 1 year and 2 days to repair the 2010/11 tax return. You can also claim for some earlier years but this will require written correspondence with your tax office which again you should be RECEIVED by HMRC before the 31st to maximise the number of years available to claim for.

This is normally a valuable deduction so I advise you to act quickly.

Get in touch if you need further help.

David

Eric Mc

124,107 posts

282 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
The normal 10% Wear and Tear allowance is based on 10% of the Gross Rents MINUS local council tax and water charges.

If you make this claim, you are blocked from claiming for the actual cost of replacing furniture and curtains etc. So it isn't always the best option to go for.

It works like this -

Rent Recceived in Year (saY) - £30,000
Council Tax (say) - £1,000
Water Charges (say) - £200
Insurance (say) - £300
Agents Fees (say) - £1,200
Replacement furniture - £1,000

If you go the "actual" route, teh taxable rental profits will be - £26,300

If you go down the 10% Wear and Tear Route you won't claim the £1,000 furniture cost, instead you would claim 10% of £30,000 less £1,000 and less £200) i.e. £28,800 X 10% = £2,880.

Therefore your taxable rental income would be £24,420

In this scenario the W&T claim is more beneficial. This may not always be the case but once you have elected to use the 10% W&T claim, you must stick with it for as long as the property is rented out.

HIS LM

Original Poster:

1,348 posts

276 months

Sunday 29th January 2012
quotequote all
sumo69 said:
If the property was furnished prior to renting, then you have the choice of claiming 10% of rents per annum as an allowable deduction OR the cost as expended on renewing the furnishings (beds, settees, furniture etc).

Repairs on other areas (such as a new tap, washing machine etc) are still 100% allowable as expended.

If you haven't claimed the 10% before, you have 2 days to make a late claim for the 2009/10 tax year by "repairing" your return as well as the opportunity for 1 year and 2 days to repair the 2010/11 tax return. You can also claim for some earlier years but this will require written correspondence with your tax office which again you should be RECEIVED by HMRC before the 31st to maximise the number of years available to claim for.

This is normally a valuable deduction so I advise you to act quickly.

Get in touch if you need further help.

David
Thanks David,

Just to clarify the property is in EU it is occupied all year by the same people and it was fully furnished prior to renting. So can I apply the 10%
of rental income allowance (it's easier for me to keep track)