Landlord accounts keeping & tax return

[AlexC1981]

Hi All,

I have a few newbie questions if you don't mind. I have not needed to do a tax return before as I have always been employed. I am just about to let a place out and I was wondering about the best way of keeping records for when I need to do a tax return next year.

I understand I can offset the tax I pay with a limited set of expenses, so accurate records of costs and income is important.

For costs to be eligible to offset, do they need to be invoiced to me? I have for example an electrician's invoice for works arranged by the letting manager. The invoice is made out to the letting agency and the manager has suggested that he can pay it or I could settle it directly. If I settled it, would it need to be re-invoiced to me for it to be eligible?

How should records be kept? I'm not set up as a business and it is only one property, so I am thinking that a spreadsheet backed up to Onedrive will do, and that I will scan or photograph receipts and invoices. Most invoices are received electronically, so I don't suppose there is much point printing them out and filing them for years. Are photographed receipts ok?

I don't have any other income apart from my employer who will send me a P60 annually and a small amount of interest from a cash ISA.

Thanks.

[AlexC1981]

That's great, thanks everyone. I'll set up a folder for each year as suggested, though sounds like I'll have to set up quarterly folders in a couple of years. I'll keep electronic invoices and photographed receipts on my PC and Onedrive.

That's also a good idea about downloading the CSV file from my bank. I just tried it on my current account and I can see it's really going to help. I originally thought it wouldn't be worth having a separate bank account just for one flat, however it is starting to sound a lot more sensible to help manage quarterly figures.