Are Holiday Lets The Next Big Thing?

Are you fed up with being targeted by HMRC for being a residential property investor? In his budget last week George Osborne made it clear he won’t be backing down on his war against buy-to-let investors, announcing that the 3% stamp duty surcharge will definitely go ahead and that while the capital gains tax (CGT) rate will be cut, this won’t apply to residential properties.

Did you know that some of the recent negative tax changes do not apply to holiday lets and serviced apartments? In fact, there are a number of tax benefits to investing in this type of business.

The problem – residential investments are taxed heavily

I have written before about the 2016 budget announcement for property investors and how it will affect residential investors. But by the looks of things, if you own a holiday let, then you’ll escape the worst of its effects, especially if you have a limited company.

Here are the headline downsides for residential property investors:

• Tax relief on mortgage interest to be limited to 20%
• Withdrawal of the 10% wear and tear allowance for furnishing your property

Now let’s compare this to holiday lets:

• Capital allowances — you can claim capital allowances on the furniture and other items that you buy for the property, which may be higher than the 10% wear and tear allowance. Accommodation is considered to be ‘furnished’ if the tenant is entitled to the use of furniture. In practice, due to the nature of holiday lettings, queries about whether the accommodation is furnished are unlikely to arise.
• Losses on holiday lets may be property losses offset against your total income(including employment income), provided the loss was due to the above capital allowances. Any claims of this nature must be made within 22 months after the year end when tax relief is given.

Capital allowances —what are they?

Examples of capital allowances for holiday lets:

• vehicles
• tools used for maintenance
• office equipment used in running the rental business
• fixtures in a let property

Example of how to offset losses on holiday lets

Guy’s rental business makes a loss of £30,000 in 2005-06 after taking into account capital allowances. For that year Guy has net capital allowances (after deducting balancing charges) of £35,000 for his rental business. The entire loss of £30,000 is therefore eligible for what are known as ‘sideways’ loss claims for 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Guy has no rental business losses to be brought forward at 6 April, 2005. But Guy’s total relievable income for the two above years together is only £20,000 and so only relief up to this amount can be given.

The balance of Guy’s 2005-06 loss (£10,000) can be carried forward and set against later rental business profits, but not claimed sideways against general income.

Holiday lets/serviced apartments are still treated as property income for tax purposes under Schedule A of your self assessment, unless you are in a partnership or run the business through a limited company.

How a property qualifies as a holiday let/serviced apartment 

For your property to qualify as a holiday let a number of qualification tests for holiday lets need to be passed. These include:

• The property must be let out on a commercial basis to make a profit
• The accommodation must be available for commercial letting to the public generally as holiday accommodation for not less than 210 days per year
• The periods for which it is let must amount (in the aggregate) to at least 105 days per year
• The property must not normally be in the same occupation for more than 31 days (known as ‘longer term occupation’). If it is, these periods do not count towards a year’s qualifying number of days, and if these ‘longer term occupation’ periods add up to more than 155 days in any year, your property will lose its holiday let status for that year

For a property that has been used as a holiday let for many years, the year will be defined as the dates the tax year runs for each period. If, however, the property is acquired, sold or has a change of use during a tax year, the year will be calculated differently according to the dates of these changes. There are also some options to average across units for those that own more than one holiday let.

CGT relief benefits

Roll-over relief

In addition to the other tax benefits, there are also capital gains tax (CGT) benefits if you have a holiday let/serviced apartment. If you sell your property, you can claim roll-over relief for commercial buildings, meaning if you buy another commercial property (such as another holiday let) intended to be used for business purposes then the CGT may be mitigated, provided that the entire capital gain is reinvested. There are a few caveats, however:

• The roll-over relief is only available to items affixed to the building rather than the furniture within
• To claim roll-over relief the property must have been used on a commercial basis (holiday let/serviced apartment) basis during the entirety of its ownership
• The roll-over relief must be claimed within four years of disposal of the asset. For example, if a disposal is made by a sole trader in 2006-07 and the consideration received is reinvested in replacement business assets in 2008-09 the time limit for a claim to roll-over relief is 5 April 2013
• To claim roll-over relief you have to use the appropriate form

Examples of roll-over relief:

An individual disposes of an asset in June 2004 for £250,000, making a gain of £100,000. In his tax return for 2004-05 he makes a declaration that he intends to reinvest the whole of the consideration in new assets for the purpose of a claim to roll-over relief.

No tax is paid on 31 January 2006 on the gain of £100,000. The relevant date by which the proceeds must be reinvested is 31 January 2009. If no valid claim to roll-over relief has been made by that date, then the individual will have to pay tax on the gain, together with interest from 31 January, 2006.

Entrepreneurs’ relief

You can also claim entrepreneurs’ relief for a business that owned holiday lets/serviced apartments, whether you owned the asset in your own name or you sold/closed a limited company that owned the business.

Gift relief

If you gave away a residential property to your children you would have to pay CGT based on the market value, at the date of transfer, less the cost of purchase and capital items of expenditure.

However, hold-over relief may be claimed if you gift a commercial building (including a holiday let business) to someone such as a friend or family member. There is no CGT immediately payable, however the recipient will pay a higher rate upon the sale.

HMRC gives us a handy example to explain exactly how this works:

“You give an asset worth £50,000 to your brother. It cost you £17,000. The chargeable gain is therefore £33,000. If a claim is made by you and your brother, you do not have to pay tax on your chargeable gain, which is known as the ‘held-over gain’. Instead,your brother’s cost for the purposes of calculating his CGT liability on any future disposal of the asset, which would normally be its value of £50,000, is reduced by the amount of the held-over gain, £33,000, leaving a base cost of £17,000.”

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Next steps — book time with us

If you want to understand how to implement this strategy or to discuss other finance/tax questions then please book some time with us using the below link: http://www.optimiseaccountants.co.uk/financetaxconsultation/ 

If you are looking for a new accountant then please book some time with us using the below link: http://www.optimiseaccountants.co.uk/accountancytaxservices/ Please note that this booking is to describe our services and will not be used to discuss your personal tax affairs.

Budget Announcement – March 2016

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/budget-2016-some-of-the-things-weve-announced

Tax bands:
– Personal Allowance will increase to £11,500, and the higher rate threshold will rise to £45,000 in April 2017

Mortgage Interest Relief:
– Mortgage interest relief will be limited to 20% tax relief. In basic terms for high rate tax payers this means that any mortgage interest you have will be halved as a cost. If your mortgage interest is £1,000 then you will only be able to offset £500 as a high rate tax payer, as an example without complicating it with formulas.

SDLT – BTLs (residential)
– 3% surcharge will apply if you or your limited company is buying a second property in your name or limited company for any property over £40K. The 3% applies to the total value of the property. If the property is £100,000 then you will pay the £3,000 SDLT
– The 15 property mitigation suggestion was ignored. You will therefore pay the surcharge irrespective of how many properties you purchase.

Solution: SDLT multiple dwellings relief

More analysis: 3% SDLT premium

Solution: to the removal of the 10% wear & tear allowance to reduce SDLT & tax

SDLT – Commercial
– SDLT will be tiered like resi property investments as follows:
– 0% SDLT for £0 – £150K
– 2% SDLT for £150K – £250K
– 5% SDLT for £250K+
– Previously SDLT % was charged on the full value but is now phased on the above % rates
– for example, if you buy a property for £270,000, you would have paid over £8,000 in stamp duty. From 17 March 2016, the SDLT will be £3,000.

Wear & tear allowance has been removed:
– If you have a furnished property and had net rent of £2,000 per month then you were allowed to have a 10% wear & tear allowance (£200) set of against your income
– You will be allowed to offset the replacement costs of furniture in the future, so arrange to buy the furniture and electrical from the seller and reduce your tax and SDLT.

See here for a solution to the removal of the 10% wear & tear allowance

CGT reduction (not for resi property investors though)
– Basic rate tax payers will pay just 10% instead of 18%
– High rate tax payers will pay 18% instead of 28%
– The above does not relate to people with residential property investments so the old rates still apply

Corporation tax
– Corporation tax will eventually drop to 17%, which is significantly lower than basic rate tax bracket of 20%.

Entrepreneurs relief

– Entrepreneurs’ relief will be extended to long term investors in unlisted companies. This will provide a 10% rate of CGT for gains on newly issued shares in unlisted companies purchased on or after 17 March 2016, provided they are held for a minimum of three years from 6 April 2016, and subject to a separate lifetime limit of £10 million of gains.

Anyone investing in commercial properties in a limited company had a good day. High rate tax payers that invest in resi investments in their own name did not have such a great day.

See here for more details of the 10% entrepreneurs relief

Offshore property developers

The government believes it is unfair to allow property developers to use offshore structures to avoid UK tax on their trading profits from developing property in the UK. By enforcing the international rules on the taxation of trading profits derived from property, the government will level the playing field between UK and offshore developers. The government will introduce legislation in Finance Bill 2016 to ensure offshore structures cannot be used to avoid UK tax on profits that are generated from developing UK property.

If you want to understand how to implement this strategy or to discuss other finance / tax questions then please book some time with us using the below calendar

If you are looking for a new accountant then please book some time with us using the below calendar. Please note that this booking is to describe our services and will not be used to discuss your personal tax affairs

Mitigate Capital Gains Tax with EIS Investments

Are you looking to sell a buy to let property investment?

Are you worried about the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) bill you’re likely to face? Paying CGT has a negative impact on your cash flow and may even change your decision as to whether or not you wish to sell the property at all.

Let’s say you’re thinking about selling a property investment that is now valued at £100,000 more than the price you originally paid for it. This is how your CGT will be worked out:

• £100,000 capital gain (profit on selling a property)
• -£11,000 CGT allowance
• £89,000 capital gain subject to CGT
• £24,920 28% CGT liability (assuming an individual is a higher rate taxpayer).

Basic rate taxpayers will pay 18% up to the higher rate tax band.

Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) and tax relief

One way to avoid giving almost 25% of the money you’ve made to HMRC is by investing in Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) investments, which will provide you with tax relief. The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is aimed at helping smaller trading companies raise finance by offering a range of tax reliefs to investors purchasing new shares in those companies.

Of course there is some risk involved in EIS investing, but if you are using it to mitigate CGT rather than gain a return on investment it would make sense to choose something low risk, with a typical yield of about 1-2%, rather than opt for something higher risk in the hope of a higher return on investment.

The real gain you’ll make is on the tax relief you can obtain, which is 30% of the investment that you make into the EIS. If you invested the entire £100,000 from the above example, then you can get tax relief of 30%.

As a bonus, the payment of tax on a capital gain can be deferred where the gain is invested in shares of an EIS-qualifying company. The gain can arise from the disposal of any kind of asset, but the investment must be made within the period one year before or three years after the gain arose. You could then sell your EIS investment in stages to make use of your yearly capital gains tax allowance — sell just £10,000 in each year and you’ll stay under the £11,000 allowance.

You can also claim income tax relief from the previous year if you have invested in EIS.

To qualify for the EIS tax relief you must ensure that:

• The company is able to accept your investment
• Shares must be full-risk ordinary shares, and may not be redeemable or carry preferential rights to the company’s assets in the event of a winding up
• The shares may not be acquired using a loan made available on terms which would not have applied other than in connection with the acquisition of the shares in question
• The shares must not be issued under any ‘reciprocal’ arrangements, where company owners agree to invest in each other’s companies in order to obtain tax relief
• Income tax relief can only be claimed by individuals who are not ‘connected’ with the company (non directors/shareholders)
• Companies must have fewer than 250 full-time employees (or their equivalents) at the time the shares are issued
• Companies are not allowed to raise more than £5 million in total in any 12-month period from the venture capital schemes
• The company to be invested in must carry out a trade, not an investment (shares, land, property development, hotels, guest houses, nursing or care homes)

You should speak to and clarify the above points with an IFA and make sure you are comfortable with the risks involved in any EIS you are considering.

Practical steps you should now take to invest in EIS and get your tax relief

It is one thing to understand the theory but it is another to put it into practice. Follow these basic steps to implement this strategy:

1. Identify an IFA to work with
2. Work with the IFA to identify the investment
3. Invest the capital gain into the EIS
4. Complete the relevant forms with the IFA to get the tax relief
5. Ensure that you complete the relevant sections on your self assessment EIS relief to claim the relief

Next steps

If you want to understand how to implement this strategy or to discuss other finance/tax questions then please book some time with us using the below calendar:

If you are looking for a new accountant then please book some time with us using the below calendar. Please note that this booking is to describe our services and will not be used to discuss your personal tax affairs.