Foreign Rental Property – Should I declare them to HMRC ?

Foreign Rental Property – Should I declare them to HMRC ?

12:43 PM, 3rd November 2014, About 10 years ago 5

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I wonder if anyone can help by providing some advice regarding foreign rental property?

My wife and I currently own 2 rented properties in Australia that have a mortgage against them. We have had them for 7 years and submitting annual taxation returns to the Australian Taxation Office. We are substantially in tax credit and have all of our records since purchasing the property.

We also have property in the UK that is rented out and annual tax returns submitted via our UK Accountant. When enquiring with him he mentioned that he wasn’t interested in the property abroad and therefore only required the information regarding the property in the UK, as we are already submitting tax returns in Australia. After doing my own research I am wondering whether this is correct, because even though we have no tax to pay due to being in substantial tax credit the HMRC may still be required to be informed. If this is correct could I just inform my accountant to add all of the information on my next tax return so everything is correct? Or is my accountant correct because we are providing tax returns in Australia.

My concern is if my accountant is providing incorrect information and everything is not correct, when I require to bring the funds back to the UK it might trigger HMRC due to the high amount of funds being transferred.

Many thanks

Nigelramsay


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

14:15 PM, 3rd November 2014, About 10 years ago

I cannot comment on property owned in Australia, but I do own a property in Florida and my accountant assures me that I must declare that income to HMRC.
.

Adrian Jones

16:07 PM, 3rd November 2014, About 10 years ago

For peace of mind why not contact HMRC and get written advice. If it differs from your accountant's you need to look for another one.

r01

16:13 PM, 3rd November 2014, About 10 years ago

Ring HMRC and ask. Explain the circumstances in full, you will find they are extremely helpful.

Make sure you ask the full name, position and contact details of the person you speak with and ideally record the call so that should you find out something different later you can prove you gave the correct and full information and were given that particular advice.

There are differing rules for various tax authorities so you are wise to check.

Mike W

17:14 PM, 3rd November 2014, About 10 years ago

Nigel,
If you are resident in the UK you are required to inform them of any source of income where ever it is sourced. And HMRC can take a dim view of ignorance. Whether it is already taxed in Aus is irrelevant. It just makes the presentation of accounts a little more complex. You will need to use the 'Foreign pages'. You better inform HMRC and request a reasonable amount of time to prepare the accounts. For one thing the Aus tax year is different to the UK one. And moreover Aus tax rules may be different to UK ones. (I don't know). So you may have to prepare a different set of accounts. Your adviser may have been replying on the basis that he was only doing the UK return - ie the UK property pages not the foreign pages (of the SA return). I am not a tax adviser. But Google is wonderful.

Bruce Hogarth-Jones

17:48 PM, 3rd November 2014, About 10 years ago

Yes, if you are UK-resident you need to declare net income from lettings abroad in UK, even if you have already been taxed on them in the foreign country. You will usually be able to claim relief under the relevant tax treaty, though, so that you are not double-taxed. Beware that Australia has a federal system, so it may make a difference which state the properties are in (are they both in the same city?)

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