Property ownership
We establish who owned the property and how rental income should be allocated between joint owners.
The Let Property Campaign gives individual landlords a route to disclose previously undeclared residential rental income to HMRC. The disclosure needs to identify the correct years, rental profits, interest, penalties and other relevant undeclared liabilities rather than simply total up rent received.
We begin with the ownership and reporting history. A landlord who never registered for Self Assessment can have a very different look-back period from someone who filed returns but made a careless error, and recent years may need to be dealt with through an outstanding or amended tax return rather than included in the campaign disclosure.
Give us the number of properties, years involved and whether HMRC has already contacted you. Sensitive records can follow through secure onboarding.
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The first questions are who owns the property, when letting began, whether Self Assessment returns were filed and why the rental income was not correctly reported.
HMRC needs the tax liability, not simply gross rent. Each relevant year should reflect rental income, allowable expenditure, the applicable finance-cost treatment, losses, the taxpayer's other income and any tax already paid.
The service covers the historic property calculation, disclosure mechanics and the landlord's ongoing tax reporting so that the position is brought fully up to date.
We establish who owned the property and how rental income should be allocated between joint owners.
Letting-agent statements, bank deposits and direct rental receipts are reconstructed for each relevant year.
Repairs, management, insurance, finance costs and other expenditure are reviewed under the rules applying to the relevant year.
The filing history and behaviour are reviewed before deciding how many historic years belong in the disclosure.
Late-payment interest and the appropriate penalty position are calculated alongside the underlying tax.
Current and future rental income is brought into the appropriate Self Assessment or MTD process rather than left inside the historic disclosure.
The campaign has a notification stage followed by a defined disclosure period, so the underlying records should start being reconstructed as soon as the disclosure route is confirmed.
We identify the properties, ownership, first letting dates, tax-return history and HMRC contact.
Where the campaign is appropriate, HMRC is notified of the intention to disclose and issues the relevant references.
Rental profits, other relevant undeclared income, tax, interest and penalties are calculated.
The formal disclosure and offer are submitted with payment or an agreed payment arrangement within the applicable deadline.
The campaign is designed for individual landlords with undeclared residential letting income. The property can be in the UK or overseas, but the taxpayer must have a UK tax liability requiring disclosure.
Individuals who have failed to declare all or part of the taxable income from residential property in the UK can potentially use the campaign.
The campaign can also cover an individual landlord's undeclared taxable income from residential property located outside the UK.
Each owner makes a separate disclosure for their own share. A husband and wife or civil partners do not make one combined campaign disclosure.
The individual-landlord campaign should not simply be used for company or trust liabilities. The correct entity-specific disclosure or tax-return process needs to be identified instead.
The campaign is not limited to landlords who own a large portfolio. A single inherited home, former main residence, jointly owned house or property rented while working elsewhere can all create undeclared taxable rental income.
HMRC's current guide explains who can use the campaign, how to notify and how the disclosure process works.
Official campaign guidance ↗Official guidance on taxable rental income, allowable expenses and calculating property-business profits.
Rental income guidance ↗The historic period is not automatically the same for every landlord. HMRC's current campaign guidance distinguishes reasonable-care errors, careless errors, failure to notify and deliberate behaviour.
Recent tax years need particular care. HMRC's guidance states that current-year rental income should be dealt with through the appropriate current return, and income for a recent year may belong on an outstanding or amendable Self Assessment return rather than being duplicated in the campaign disclosure.
HMRC's campaign guide explains the different maximum periods for reasonable care, careless behaviour, failure to notify and deliberate behaviour.
HMRC disclosure-period guidance ↗HMRC provides a dedicated campaign contact route for questions about whether the disclosure facility applies.
Official campaign contact ↗A landlord disclosure deals with historic underpaid tax. Residence, offshore property, current returns and a later HMRC investigation can create separate work.
The years, tax and penalty result depend on the landlord's reporting history and why the rental income was not correctly declared.
HMRC's campaign is aimed at individual landlords with undeclared taxable income from residential property in the UK or abroad. Other ownership structures can require a different correction route.
Once HMRC acknowledges the notification, the disclosure and payment are normally due within 90 days of the acknowledgement date.
It depends on why the tax was underpaid. HMRC's current campaign guidance refers to a maximum of four years for reasonable-care errors, six years for careless errors and up to twenty years in relevant failure-to-notify or deliberate cases.
Each owner should disclose their own taxable share. HMRC requires separate notifications and disclosures for separate individuals rather than one joint disclosure.
Yes, an individual can potentially use the campaign for undeclared taxable rental income from residential property abroad. Residence, foreign tax and offshore penalty issues may require additional review.
The records should first be reconstructed as far as reasonably possible. HMRC permits reasonable estimates where records genuinely cannot be obtained, but the basis of those estimates should be retained and capable of explanation.
HMRC's campaign guidance states that a year with no additional tax liability because the rental business made a loss does not itself need to be included as a tax-paying disclosure year, although the loss calculation can be relevant to later rental profits.
The correspondence should be reviewed before notifying under the campaign. Prior HMRC contact can affect the penalty position and, depending on the stage and nature of HMRC's action, may affect how the matter should now be handled.