We have less than 7 days to go before the end of the tax year. The good news is there is still time to act, but you need to do so now.

Some other tips are very useful to get right now and making the most of the next financial year and beyond.

If you have any other key property tax tips, please comment below!

Expenditure

If you are going to spend any monies on the property then don’t put off making the expenditure. Do it on or before 5 April 2017. This does not apply to putting down a deposit for something needed in the next tax year. It is always better to get the tax relief a year earlier.

Income

When you are tallying up the rental income for the year do not include any deposits received from the tenants as that is not income.

Record Keeping

Make sure that you review all expenditure you have made towards the property in the tax year and you having a supporting invoice for the item or work undertaken. In the event of a investigation by the HMRC you do not want to be scurrying around trying to get invoices.

If it helps use a separate bank account for the 2017-18 year to help keep all rental income and expenditure in one place.

Joint Ownership

More a planning note but do assess whether it would be beneficial to transfer ownership of a property to a spouse with income in the lower tax band if the other spouse is a high earner. There is no capital gains tax issues with this sort of transfer between spouses but there may be stamp duty implications if the property has a mortgage on it.

Taxation

Do remember to keep a bit more to one side for tax in the light of the various tax changes that have taken place in the last couple of years. The tax payment date of 31 January 2018 can feel like a long way off but it is worth making a rough calculation to help with budgeting.

These tips have been provided by Sunil Parekh, PJT Accounting.

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