Entries from August 2007 ↓

The Taxman has stated that he considers thousands of landlords have been claiming too much tax relief on their buy to let mortgage payments and he is now gearing up for a crack down on them.

It has been suggested that some landlords claim the whole of their montly mortgage payment against tax, whereas they should only actually be claiming the interest element of the payment. If you have an interest only mortgage you have nothing to worry about but if you have been claiming too much you should recalculate your figures and ask your accountant to submit amended tax returns as appropriate.

We hear that the Taxman is trying to enfore a minimum 10% private usage on all motor expenses of the self employed. If you have genuinely used your car less than this for private purposes, stand up to him. Ask the Taxman to produce calculations to support his assertions and they will usually back down immediately.

Of course, if you accept an adjustment, the Taxman will usually then ask for extra tax on all of the previous 6 years!

HMRC has announced slightly increased mileage rates from 1 August 2007. These are the rates that employers can pay to employees for business journeys undertaken in company cars:

For the new rates, see the HMRC website