HMRC campaign gets £50m extra tax from private rental sector

A campaign targeting residential landlords has given HM Revenue and Customs an additional tax take of over £50m. 

The Let Property Campaign, which HMRC launched in September 2013, is now one of the revenue’s most successful voluntary disclosure opportunities it claims.

More than 10,000 landlords have come forward to disclose tax on previously undeclared income under the campaign.

“The Let Property Campaign ... is further proof that our campaigns approach works. HMRCs 20 campaigns have now together generated over £1 billion across a variety of sectors” according to Caroline Addison, HMRC’s head of campaigns.

However, the campaign is not at an end. HMRC is running a Twitter Q&A evening for those in the private rental sector from 6pm to 9pm on Tuesday October 20.

The Twitter Q&A will be run in partnership with a number of landlord professional bodies. These will each have 30 minutes to answer questions relating to wider aspects of renting out residential property, providing a one-stop shop for landlords to get rental advice throughout the evening.

ARLA, the NLA, RLA and Mydeposits will all be taking part, along with the tax authority.

“We want to help educate landlords, so the Twitter evening will give people a chance to get their questions answered by a group of expert organisations” says Addison. 

Throughout the Let Property Campaign, HMRC has written to over 80,000 landlords and over 50,000 people have used the campaign’s online educational products.