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Can a Residential Property Investor use Incorporation Tax Relief?
There are many reasons why residential property investors are now rushing to incorporate, the biggest reason being the Restriction of Mortgage Interest Tax Relief.
Clause 24 of the Finance Bill sets out plans is to restrict individuals on claiming mortgage interest as a cost against their property investment income, for individuals it will work as follows
2017/18 75% of the interest can be claimed in full and 25% will get relief at 20%
2018/19 50% of the interest can be claimed in full and 50% will get relief at 20%
2019/20 25% of the interest can be claimed in full and 75% will get relief at 20%
2020/21 100% will get only 20% relief
For a 20% tax payer that’s fine but for higher rate taxpayer its a disaster that will lead to them paying a lot more tax
These rules will not apply to Companies, Companies will continue to claim full relief.
When you sell or give a residential property to your Company you will incur Capital Gains Tax if you make a gain, its for this reason many investors and their advisers believe that they are ‘automatically’ entitled to claim Incorporation Tax Relief, but in many cases Incorporation Tax Relief will NOT be available!
In summary Incorporation Tax Relief allows Sole Traders to postpone/hold over a gain by transferring all their business assets into a limited company in return for Shares.
The key problem area is the Property Investment is generally not considered to be a Trade.
Some of the issues were resolved in EM Ramsay v HMRC [2013] UKUT 0226 (TCC)
Mrs Ramsey carried out the following activities
- Mr & Mrs Ramsey personally met potential tenants
- Mrs Ramsey check the quarterly electric bills
- Mrs Ramsey arranged insurance
- Mrs Ramsey arranged and attended to maintenance issues (drains)
- Mrs Ramsey and her son maintained the garages and cleared rubbish
- Mrs Ramsey dealt with post
- Mrs Ramsey dealt with fire regulation issues
- Mrs Ramsey arranged for a fence to be erected
- Mrs Ramsey created a flower bed
- Shrubs were pruned and leaves swept
- The parking area was cleared of weeds
- The flag stones were bleached
- Communal areas were vacuumed
- Security checks were carried out
- She took rubbish to tip
- She cleaned vacant flats
- she helped elderly tenants with utilities
This work equated to at least 20 hours per week and Mrs Ramsey had no other employment.
It is because she did the work herself that her property investment was considered a ‘Business’ and eligible for Incorporation Tax Relief. In summing up the Judge said…
If Mrs Ramsay had employed a Property Management Company or Letting Agent to do the work she would NOT have been able to claim ‘Incorporation Tax Relief’.
Most Buy to Let Landlords with one or two properties are Passive Investors who delegate all the responsibilities to professional letting agents, they will not be doing enough to comprise a business!
Is Commonhold better than Leasehold for Flats?
Most residential flats are owned on Long Leasholds but this creates tax issues – Stamp Duty, Capital Gains, Income Tax/Corporation Tax.
Take a look at HMRC Helpsheet 292 and CG70700 to get an idea of Capital Gains Tax issues!
Fortunately ESC/D39 can be applied to Lease Extentions
In practice, the surrender of an existing lease and the grant of a new lease should not be treated as a disposal for Capital Gains Tax purposes if the taxpayer so wishes and all of the following conditions are satisfied:
- the transaction, whether made between connected or unconnected parties, is made on terms equivalent to those that would have been made between unconnected parties bargaining at arms length;
- the transaction is not part of or connected with a larger scheme or series of transactions;
- a capital sum is not received by the tenant;
- the extent of the property under the new lease is the same as that under the old lease;
- the terms of the new lease (other than its duration and the amount of rent payable) do not differ from those of the old lease. Trivial differences should be ignored.
The terms of a particular lease may provide for its extension if the tenant so requests. If such a request is made, the extension of the lease does not have any immediate Capital Gains Tax consequences.
In 2002, Commonhold was introduced in the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (CLRA 2002). Commonhold can be applied to both Commercial and Residential buildings.
The advantage of commonhold is that it gets rid of the concept of the declining asset – sellers and purchasers of commonhold properties will no longer have to worry about how many years are left on the lease.
Under the commonhold system, all flat owners will automatically be members of a company – the Commonhold Association – that owns the freehold and thus the block.
This means that it should be easier to run the building for the benefit of the flat owners.
However, blocks of flats will still need to be managed.
And as a form of community ownership, commonhold brings with it various tensions.
To alleviate any possible problems, members will have to sign up to a “Commonhold Community Statement”.
This statement will set out all the rules and regulations you normally find in a lease, for example rules about subletting, pets, noise and use of gardens.
Which is better?
steve@bicknells.net
5 Key Tests the employer must pass to borrow from a Pension Scheme
There are five key tests that a loan from a Pension Scheme must satisfy to qualify as an authorised employer loan. If a loan fails to meet one or more of these tests an unauthorised payment charge will apply.
The five key tests are
- security
- interest rates
- term of loan
- maximum amount of loan and
- repayment terms.
Security [S179, Sch 30]
If a registered pension scheme makes a loan to an employer the amount of the loan must be secured throughout the full term as a first charge on any asset either owned by the sponsoring employer, or some other person, which is of at least equal value to the face value of the loan including interest.
If the asset used as security is taxable property then there may be additional tax charges under the taxable property provisions if the registered pension scheme is an investment regulated pension scheme.
Taxable property consists of residential property and most tangible moveable assets. Residential property can be in the UK or elsewhere and is a building or structure, including associated land, that is used or suitable for use as a dwelling. Tangible moveable property are things that you can touch and move. It includes assets such as art, antiques, jewellery, fine wine, classic cars and yachts.
Interest Rates [S179, Sch 30]
All loans made by registered pension schemes to employers must charge interest at least equivalent to the rate specified in The Registered Pension Schemes (Prescribed Interest Rates for Authorised Employer Loans) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/3449). This is to ensure that a commercial rate of interest is applied to the loan.
The minimum interest rate a scheme may charge is calculated by reference to 1% above the average of the base lending rates of the following 6 leading high street banks:
- The Bank of Scotland
- Barclays Bank plc
- HSBC plc
- Lloyds TSB plc
- National Westminster plc and
- The Royal Bank of Scotland plc.
The average rate calculated should be rounded up as necessary to the nearest multiple of ¼%.
Term of Loan [S179, Sch 30]
The repayment period of the loan must not be longer than 5 years from the date the loan was advanced. The total amount owing (including interest) must be repaid by the loan repayment date.
Maximum Amount of Loan [S179, Sch 30]
Section 179 (1)(a) of Finance Act 2004 restricts the amount of a loan which can be made to a sponsoring employer to 50% of the aggregate of the amount of the cash sums held and the net market value of the assets of the registered pension scheme valued immediately before the loan is made. These restrictions are necessary because although such loans provide a useful source of business funding, there may be liquidity problems for the scheme if there is a sudden requirement to provide scheme benefits. It may also not be prudent to lend scheme funds to one company.
Repayment Terms [S179, Sch 30]
All loans to employers must be repaid in equal instalments of capital and interest for each complete year of the loan, beginning on the date that the loan is made and ending on the last day of the following 12 month period – known as a loan year.
Often Land and Commercial Property are used as the security for Pension Scheme loans but the problem is having first charge over the asset!
steve@bicknells.net
Is your pension going Dutch?
I love Holland but are their Collective pensions better than ours?
Collective funds pool all contributions into one big fund, so the administration costs are lower and pensions are paid from the fund rather than having to buy annuities.
By running funds collectively rather than individually (the British model) costs are reduced.
Some experts suggest that savers will increase their investment returns by 30%.
An article in the Telegraph 3rd June 2014 commented…
What is certain is that the schemes are a long way from the final salary “gold standard”. There are no guarantees, not even the certainty of a fixed income that you get with an annuity. You may get inflation-linked increases, you may not.
Assuming that these schemes do become available in the coming years, the best course for most workers would probably be to use them for some, not all, of their pension savings, with the rest in traditional schemes, self-invested pensions or Isas.
But will they ever see the light of day? There is little incentive for companies to back them – finance directors remember what happened with final salary schemes, which drove many firms to the brink of bankruptcy thanks to endless “gold-plating”.
So will your pension be going Dutch?
steve@bicknells.net
Are you waiting for a New ISA?
From 1st July 2014, individual savings accounts (ISAs) will be reformed into New ISAs (NISAs) with an annual limit of £15,000.
You can invest your NISA in Cash, Stocks and Shares or in any combination.
The limits for Junior ISAs and Child Trust Funds have already been increased from £3,700 to £4,000.
From July, restrictions on corporate bonds and gilts will have the 5 year rule removed allowing you to invest in short dated securities such as Retail Bonds.
There are plans to enable Peer-to-Peer loans to be held in NISA’s but that’s still in the consultation stage.
Between now and July the most you can invest in an Cash ISA is £5,940.
So are you waiting for a New ISA?
steve@bicknells.net
What is the 10% Crowdfunding Rule?
Crowdfunding is a way in which people and businesses (including start-ups) can try to raise money from the public, to support a business, project, campaign or individual.
The term ‘crowdfunding’ applies to several internet-based business models, only some of which we regulate.
The Financial Conduct Authority don’t regulate:
- Donation-based crowdfunding: people give money to enterprises or organisations whose activities they want to support.
- Pre-payment or rewards-based crowdfunding: people give money in return for a reward, service or product (such as concert tickets, an innovative product, or a computer game).
The FCA do regulate:
- Loan-based crowdfunding: also known as ‘peer-to-peer lending’, this is where consumers lend money in return for interest payments and a repayment of capital over time.
- Investment-based crowdfunding: consumers invest directly or indirectly in new or established businesses by buying investments such as shares or debentures.
Further details on their website
The Financial Conduct Authority is proposing that starting from this year inexperienced investors in equity schemes will have to certify that they will not invest more than 10% of their portfolio in unlisted businesses.
Firms that run the website platforms say the rules are too tight and will put off potential investors.
Barry James, founder of The Crowdfunding Centre, says: “Make no mistake, the infamous 10% rule – however it’s dressed up – does just that: it takes the crowd out of equity crowdfunding.”
Despite the crackdown, investors who lend to small companies will not be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme which protects investors if they are mis-sold an investment or if the company they invest in goes into liquidation.
The FCA believe there is high risk that consumers could suffer losses from peer-to-peer lending.
Is the risk too high? would you invest?
steve@bicknells.net
Why property investors like Micro Entity Accounts
A company meets the qualifying conditions for a micro-entity if it meets at least two out of three of the following thresholds:
- Turnover: Not more than £632,000
- Balance sheet total: Not more than £316,000
- Average number of employees: Not more than 10
There are approximately 1.56 million micro-entities in the UK, as compared with a total number of companies on the UK register of approximately 2.8 million.
Most property businesses will have less than 10 employees and less than £632,000 turnover.
If you are a property investor filing Abbreviated or Full Accounts you have to report property values at their fair value, which means you tell everyone what you think the property is worth. You may not want to do that, especially if you are planning to sell as it tells the potential buyer what you think its worth and that might be an issue in negotiations.
Under the Micro Entity regime you aren’t allowed to use fair value and have to use Historical Cost. Which most Property Investors will prefer.
No notes are required with Micro Entity Accounts and any advances or financial commitments are shown at the foot of the Balance Sheet, often this is simply the value of the Mortgage outstanding.
steve@bicknells.net
How to use the new UK pension rules to make £500….
Here is the theory….
- You pay £8,000 into a defined contribution pension fund
- Its topped up by £2,000 (tax back from the government)
- So that’s £10,000 in your pension pot
- You take out £2,500 (25%) tax free
- You then pay 20% tax on £7,500 = £1,500
- So £8,000 in + £2,000 credit – £1,500 tax = £8,500 which is £500 more than you paid in
This is based on the HMRC rules.…
You must be at least 60 years of age to take your pension pot as a lump sum.
You may qualify to take all of your pension pot as a lump sum if:
-
one of your pension pots is worth £10,000 or less
If a lump sum is paid instead of a small pension before you started to get that pension, only 75 per cent of the lump sum is taxable.
There will be some charges from your pension provider but these should be small, take look at this list for a comparison
ABI data suggest that 25% of pension pots are less than £10,000
steve@bicknells.net
HMRC demand payment from Landlords
HMRC launched the ‘Let Property Campaign‘ on the 10th December 2013.
If you’re a landlord who has undisclosed income you must tell HMRC about any unpaid tax now. You will then have 3 months to calculate and pay what you owe.
The Let Property Campaign is an opportunity open to all residential property landlords with undisclosed taxes. This includes:
- those that have multiple properties
- landlords with single rentals
- specialist landlords with student or workforce rentals
- holiday lettings
- anyone renting out a room in their main home for more than £4,250 per year, or £2,125 if the property was let jointly, but has not told HMRC about this income
- those who live abroad or intend to live abroad for more than 6 months and rent out a property in the UK as you may still be liable to UK taxes
According to the Telegraph….
Fewer than 500,000 taxpayers are registered with HMRC as owning properties other than their home. And yet other sources put the number of Britain’s growing army of landlords at between 1.2million and 1.4million.
Why the discrepancy? No one can say for sure, but the taxman has his answer: not enough people are declaring – and paying tax on – their property incomes and gains.
HMRC will identify those who they believe should have made a disclosure by:
- comparing the information already in their possession with customers’ UK tax histories
- continuing to use their powers to obtain further detailed information about payments made to and from landlords
Where additional taxes are due HMRC will usually charge higher penalties than those available under the Let Property Campaign. The penalties could be up to 100% of the unpaid liabilities, or up to 200% for offshore related income.
If you owe tax, you must tell HMRC of your intention to make a disclosure. You need to do this as soon as you become aware that you owe tax on your letting income.
At this stage, you only need to tell HMRC that you will be making a disclosure.
You do not need to provide any details of the undisclosed income or the tax you believe you owe.
steve@bicknells.net
Garden bagging – profit from property development in your back yard
The rate of new housing required to meet demand in England is now estimated at between 240,000 and 245,000 units a year, an increase of 10,000 new homes annually on previously accepted figures.
Gazumping and other nasties that flourished in the last property boom are making a return, as competition for homes increases with the bringing forward of the second phase of Help to Buy.
So now could be the time to sell off your garden:
- Its a way of building homes without building on the Green Belt
- It can be a zero risk way to make money if you sell the plot
Garden Bagging works as follows:
- Home Owners with suitable land approach a local builder
- The builder buys the right to seek planning permission for a nominal fee
- If the application is successful the builder will pay up to 85% of the open market value of the consented plot less his costs
Alternatively you could develop the plot yourself for a typical self build its estimated that 35% would be the land cost, 40% build cost and 25% profit margin.
steve@bicknells.net
Business Accountant 