Landlord tax accountant in Harrow

Every UK landlord with rental profits over £1,000 must declare property income on the SA105 pages of the Self Assessment tax return. Getting this right is not just about compliance, it is about paying the correct amount of tax and no more. On every SA105 we prepare we review:

• Rental income by property, including deposits treated correctly and rent-free periods.
• Allowable expenses: letting agent fees, landlord insurance, repairs and maintenance, ground rent, service charges, safety certificates, accountancy fees and mileage to inspect properties.
• Replacement of Domestic Items Relief for like-for-like furniture, appliances and soft furnishings.
• Section 24 mortgage interest tax credit at 20%, with any excess finance costs carried forward.
• Capital allowances on qualifying commercial elements and communal areas of HMOs.
• Rental losses ring-fenced and carried forward against future property profits.

We routinely review returns prepared elsewhere and recover overlooked deductions worth several hundred to several thousand pounds per year. If you think your previous accountant missed something, send us the last two returns and we will tell you honestly.

Married couples and civil partners who jointly own a rental property are taxed 50:50 on the rental income by default, regardless of what the Land Registry title actually says. Where one spouse pays a lower rate of tax, this default is often the most expensive outcome.

By combining a Declaration of Trust with an HMRC Form 17 election, we can shift the beneficial interest and therefore the rental income to whichever proportion reflects reality, commonly 99:1 or 90:10 in favour of the lower-rate spouse. On a property producing £15,000 of rental profit, moving the income out of higher rate can save £1,500 to £3,000 of tax every year for as long as the ownership structure is in place.

We prepare the Declaration of Trust, file the Form 17 with the correct supporting evidence, and keep it on your file for future disposal and CGT calculations.

Every disposal of a UK residential property that produces a taxable gain must be reported and the CGT paid within 60 days of completion. Missing that deadline triggers automatic penalties from HMRC, even if there is no tax to pay after Private Residence Relief. We handle 60-day CGT returns on the government gateway alongside your annual SA100.

Where you have lived in the property, we apply Private Residence Relief and, where appropriate, Letting Relief for the qualifying period. Gifts to a spouse or civil partner use the no-gain-no-loss rule; gifts to children, siblings or friends are treated as disposals at market value and can produce a large tax bill on paper even when no cash changes hands.

For portfolio landlords, we model incorporation into a limited company honestly. Section 162 incorporation relief can defer CGT if the portfolio genuinely qualifies as a business, but SDLT on the transfer, refinancing costs, mortgage rates and the mismatch between corporate and personal tax must all be weighed. We build a side-by-side ten-year model so you can see the true cost and benefit before you decide.

Furnished Holiday Lettings lost their favourable tax treatment from 6 April 2025. Interest is no longer fully deductible, capital allowances on new expenditure have gone and profits no longer count as relevant earnings for pension contributions. We advise FHL owners on the transition, including whether to continue as a normal rental business, switch to a serviced accommodation model or dispose before values are affected.

HMOs and rent-to-rent operators have their own quirks: council licensing costs, room-by-room voids, higher wear-and-tear, communal utilities and often a mix of personal and company ownership. Short-let and Airbnb hosts must consider the £7,500 Rent-a-Room Scheme, VAT registration thresholds once turnover approaches £90,000, and local authority planning rules on 90-day letting caps.

MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment is now firmly on the timetable. Landlords with gross property income over £50,000 must keep digital records and file quarterly updates from April 2026. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027 and is expected to reach £20,000 from April 2028. Once you are in scope, you cannot use paper records or a spreadsheet on its own.

We are already onboarding landlord clients to Hammock, FreeAgent and Xero for Landlords, connecting bank feeds by property, and running quarterly reviews so the year-end return is a formality. If you are within a year of a threshold, the time to fix your bookkeeping is now, not the week before the first quarterly deadline.

If you live abroad for more than six months of the tax year and let UK property, you fall into the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme. Unless HMRC has approved you to receive rent gross via form NRL1, your letting agent or tenant is obliged to withhold basic-rate tax at source. We apply for NRL1 clearance, prepare the annual SA100 with SA105 and SA109 residence pages, and coordinate with your overseas accountant to claim relief under the relevant double tax treaty.