Letting Agent charging for HMRC tax assessment

Letting Agent charging for HMRC tax assessment

10:44 AM, 13th November 2015, About 9 years ago 15

Text Size

The latest statement from my letting agent had a fee of £35 for ” HMRC tax assessment”. Letting Agent charging for HMRC tax assessment

When I queried what this was for her reply was; “the HMRC requested information from me under new Agent Regulations that have ‘just’ been enforced, and I had to provide to them a detailed spreadsheet of all landlords (those managed and even non managed properties) for income received for 2014/2015.”

I also of course called HMRC to have this verified by them and they confirmed it’s to chase landlords who are not paying tax and it is something that will be required every year, approximately the same time too.

Can my agents charge me for doing this as it was HMRC who wanted it, in their own format, within weeks !

Has anyone else heard of this and do you think it is right for letting agents to pass this fee on to Landlords?

If she manages say 100 properties that is a quick £3,500 for her to produce a spreadsheet!

Any thoughts or advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

Rachel


Share This Article


Comments

16:39 PM, 16th November 2015, About 9 years ago

To be fair to Rachel's agent I charge more than £70 for a Legionnaires assessment. I have to offer my landlords the service for due diligence reasons and genuinely make no money from it, so I'm delighted when they decline and say they'll do it themselves.

Obviously the contractor who does them is making money at those prices - but he has to, he's doing it for a living.

Nice to hear that in other respects Rachel's agent has been excellent.

Graham Bowcock

20:49 PM, 16th November 2015, About 9 years ago

Hi Rachel

My agency makes no charge for completing the HMRC forms. They are a nuisance to deal with but really are a cost to my business.

Our accountant actually suggested we should not specifically tell our clients we provide the information as we may be deemed to be tipping them off under money laundering regulations. That sounds a bit extreme.

Graham

Teg's Dad

20:53 PM, 16th November 2015, About 9 years ago

Graham
Accountants tend to take life too seriously. We took the view that we had a duty of care to advise landlords that we would be releasing this information as we were legally bound to do.

Most replied that they already declared the income.

Definition of an accountant? A computer with a sense of humour bypass!

Ian Ringrose

21:38 PM, 16th November 2015, About 9 years ago

I should be one button press on the agent's software to do ALL of them for ALL landlords. If not, it is the agent's problem for not buying the correct software.

Lyndon Whitehouse

13:39 PM, 17th November 2015, About 9 years ago

Hi - I'm a letting agent in the West Midlands. ( see my profile). In the past 5 years we've had two of these requests from HMRC.
Mark is correct, it isn't time consuming. We provide this information and more free of charge to landlords. We inform them regarding the request for obvious reasons.
All part of the service, but perhaps that's why we aren't the subject of continuous complaints and landlords recommend us!!!

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now