HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are in the process of contacting landlords to ascertain additional information regarding their rental income and further measures. It is thought that landlords with property in London, East Anglia and the South of Wales are being most targeted.
Questions
Some of the information that HMRC are requesting includes property addresses and the number of tenants residing within them. In addition, landlords may be asked to provide details of how they came to acquire the property and if they have a mortgage. Landlords using Self Assessment will be asked to provide information to support their declaration of income.
Crackdowns
This particularly move from HMRC comes as part of the process to crackdown on rogue landlords. October last year saw the Inland Revenue start to use more extreme measures to chase landlords who had either paid little or no tax. Then, in November, a campaign was launched designed to tackle so-called accidental landlords who had underpaid taxes.
HMRC said that they were presenting landlords with a fair, “opportunity to bring their tax affairs up to date,” and to get, “the best possible terms to pay the tax they owe.”[1] This will be covered under the Let Property Scheme, which requires full information on unpaid tax in return for a fair option for preferred payment conditions.
[1] http://www.landlordexpert.co.uk/2014/03/14/residential-landlords-across-the-country-are-facing-a-new-crackdown-as-hmrc-targets-underpayment/