Many property owners in the UK may have recently received a letter from HMRC regarding 'income from letting property'. Individuals will receive letters where the HMRC compliance department have reason to believe that the individual has one more properties that are rented (or have been rented in the past), and the income has not been declared to HMRC. Do I have anything to report/pay? Subject to certain certain specific exemptions, if an individual rents property and receives an income, they will need to report the income and expenses to HMRC each tax year (6 April to 5 April each year). Where there is a profit for the year, there may well be pay tax on these profits. It is important to note, especially for individuals who have not ...

Private residence relief (“PRR”) was first introduced over 50 years ago and is one of the more widely known tax reliefs, providing relief from capital gains tax ("CGT") on the sale of your home. That said, there has been contention over the definition of the terms “period of ownership” and “periods of occupation”, both of which are crucial for determining if PRR can be applied. Last year we wrote a blog on the case of Higgins v HMRC where the Upper Tribunal held that the period of ownership for PRR purposes starts from the date the contract for purchase was signed, even though the property in question had not yet been built. Mr Higgins has appealed his case to the Court of Appeal who has now reversed the Upper Tribunal�...