Government plots raid on landlords to plug £50bn black hole

Government plots raid on landlords to plug £50bn black hole

10:34 AM, 7th November 2022, About A year ago 47

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The government will target landlords in a bid to plug a £50bn hole in the country’s finances, reports reveal.

The move could see landlords losing thousands of pounds when selling their property under proposals which will come as a fresh tax blow for investors.

One report says that landlords could face an £8,400 squeeze in capital gains.

The revelation of the plan comes after thousands of landlords have already cashed in and left the PRS this year after facing increasing legislation, punitive tax changes, the potential of section 21 being abolished and having to upgrade properties to potentially meet an EPC rating of C.

Those who have sold up have enjoyed years of house price growth – but the Government now looks set to take a bigger slice of the profits made when selling.

Increasing the headline rate of CGT

That’s because the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is looking at increasing the headline rate of CGT – and shaking up allowances.

Experts say that if capital gains were to be aligned with income tax, which has been recommended previously by a Government tax advisory body, then a higher rate landlord would not pay the current 28% on any gains, but 40%.

One analysis by tax accountants Blick Rothenberg has calculated that the move would see a higher-rate landlord paying an extra £8,400 in tax.

Their calculation is based on buying a property in 2017 for £226,000 and selling it today for £296,000 to achieve a gain of £70,000.

The tax firm points out that a second homeowner who bought a more expensive property would be hit even harder under the proposals.

‘Landlords are considering their options in the property market’

The firm’s Nimesh Shah told the Daily Telegraph: “Many individual landlords are considering their options in the property market, given increasing mortgage costs, and the compounded effect of the mortgage interest relief restriction introduced in 2017.

“With the suggestion that landlords will be hit with significantly higher capital gains tax, investors will need to seriously consider selling their properties before any rate rise takes effect to ‘lock-in’ the current highest rate of capital gains tax of 28pc.”

Other proposals being discussed include raising the rates on dividends or reducing the £2,000 allowance.

The Government’s plan would be a blow to those landlords who have been relying on the capital appreciation of their investment property or holiday let as a pension plan.

Various news outlets say the plan could be unveiled as part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

It follows a move by Rishi Sunak in 2020 when he asked the Office for Tax Simplification to review capital gains tax in an effort to simplify the tax regime in the UK.


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Comments

Rerktyne

14:57 PM, 7th November 2022, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Coastal at 07/11/2022 - 11:24
Hidden agenda? It’s absolutely transparent to anyone with an IQ higher than 10! They want to attack PRS because they think it will lead to a flooded market enabling lots of people to buy their homes! Crap!
Those without homes will never have the massive deposits required unless houses dropped by a loony 50%!! If they dropped by 20% then you get 2008 all over again: negative equity (including Knightsbridge), no funds for business, mass unemployment……..A slump!! Even homeowners will lose their homes never mind Ist timers never buying. After all, with sky high rents due to low supply how do you save a deposit?
A healthy property market inflating at 5% per annum is the only thing that sustains an economy!
Bash the landlord, bash society!!

geester24

15:17 PM, 7th November 2022, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by mark smith at 07/11/2022 - 11:04
Hi Mark. Do you mean go to an LLP structure for 3 years and THEN incorporate ?
What would you say is the minimum portfolio size to make this a viable option ? Gary

Lordship

15:19 PM, 7th November 2022, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 07/11/2022 - 11:38
Well said DSR - my thoughts exactly.

Bernard Mealing

15:50 PM, 7th November 2022, About A year ago

You can look at Mark Smiths suggestion I did and still reaping the benefits

cashcow

17:23 PM, 7th November 2022, About A year ago

Gosh when they gonna stop, I guess when all small Landlords have sold to the big boy corporations, we are sitting ducks trapped in a government tax pincer movement.
Its theft when you wait for the risk taking, hard working LLs to see some profit then take it away with the tax's and regulations mentioned many times in these 118 comment columns.
Question, as I'm not able to incorporate can I disappear abroad to avoid this new rate CGT, not every bodies option but looking like the only way out for some.

Rod

20:04 PM, 7th November 2022, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by cashcow at 07/11/2022 - 17:23
Back in the day it was 7 years abroad to change status. Now, well wish, pray and gawd help you

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/capital-gains-tax-for-non-residents-uk-residential-property

Paulo in London

3:51 AM, 8th November 2022, About A year ago

I've sold my PRS property as, due to ever increasing legal obligations and an ever decreasing yield, I realised that rather than the rental income being my future pension, it was actually a drain on my monthly outgoings AND - with mooted higher CGT eliminating long term purchase-to-sale profits - it was better to sell up sooner (sold it all in October) and thus realised the current lower-CGT sale profits and also eschewed myself of the tiresome battle of paying MORE each month than I had incoming that seemed worthwhile if there's going to. be a higher future yeild and increased Capital Gain but, upon doing the maths, those future higher outgoings and higher CGT made it better to sell up and take the gain. The stupid thing is that I was letting the cheapest 2-bed garden flat in the area so, with it now sold to a FTB, prospective tenants have less choice and a higher starting price point for PRS flats.

Old Mrs Landlord

10:50 AM, 8th November 2022, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Annie Landlord at 07/11/2022 - 12:02
What makes it even more of a bitter pill to swallow, Annie, is that when we bought the properties there was a sliding scale of capital gains tax which reduced the rate over time, culminating in nil CGT when the properties had been held for ten years. This is just one of many changes to the terms under which we set up the enterprise eighteen years ago, Section 24 of course having the next most impact on our current position now we are in our eighties. Both of these changes are retroactive in effect and were therefore impossible to plan for.

Kulasmiley

10:53 AM, 8th November 2022, About A year ago

"The Wrapper" - to legally save our property business (either trading and selling or investment landlords) and mitigate looming higher taxes and 40% inheritance taxes so our kids are kippered?!

1. Incorporate with smart property structure with alphabet shares?

2. Family partnership Ltd or LLP?

3. Trusts?

4. SSAS or SIPPS Pensions?

5. All/mixture of some of the above?

Over to you......let's get this right!!

ps. I have been selling off two properties per year from my portfolio and taxed at 20%, I have 8 properties in my portfolio, approx 2.2 mil assets, 750k mortgages.

Shouldn't we be thinking about a scenario we we slowly extract away from the PRS and diversify using a combination of the above strategies, and then re-invest into a no hands on approach commercial property investment into companies with proven track records?

Mr.A

22:36 PM, 8th November 2022, About A year ago

" to review capital gains tax in an effort to simplify the tax regime in the UK."
What a pathetic excuse, more like, to see how much they can fleece the landlord's....
Let's really simplify it ,10% ,how simple is that .

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