Jul

Landlords welcome re-think on Digital Tax Changes

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Landlords are today welcoming confirmation that only those landlords with a turnover above £85,000 will be expected to keep digital tax records.

The Treasury’s announcement mirrors the calls that were made by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) in its submission on the consultation introducing the initiative, and reflects concerns expressed in oral evidence the RLA provided to a House of Lords Committee.

Under a new timetable to implement the change, only landlords and businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) will have to keep digital records and only for VAT purposes and they will only need to do so from 2019.

Ministers had previously said it would apply to those with turnover above £10,000. Businesses and landlords will also not be asked to keep digital records, or to update HMRC quarterly, for other taxes until at least 2020.

RLA Policy Manager, John Stewart, commented:

“The RLA has long called for an increase in the threshold at which digital tax records will be required, and for more time to enable landlords to properly implement this radical change.

“Whilst we support efforts to improve the efficiency of the system, faced with unhelpful changes to the way they will be taxed, the last thing landlords needed was an imminent change to the way they keep their records.

“The Treasury has made the right decision in giving landlords more time to prepare for the policy, where is applies to them, and we welcome the Government listening and responding so positively to our concerns.”

The RLA represents 48,000 private sector residential landlords in England and Wales.

Douglas Haig, the RLA’s Vice Chairman, gave evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs sub-committee investigating Making Tax Digital on 20th February 2017. The transcript can be found here

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