How to Declare Your Rental Income with the Let Property Campaign

Let Property Campaign (LPC) is an initiative by HMRC aimed to encourage landlords who own or rent out residential properties to disclose any undeclared rental income.

Who Can Benefit from the Let Property Campaign?

Let Property Campaign offers a wide range of benefits for landlords; however, there are some eligibility criteria that landlords must follow to claim it. These include:

• Renting out a room in your main home for more than rent a room scheme threshold of £7,500.
• Renting out single or multiple properties.
• Living abroad and renting out the property in the UK.
• Living in the UK and renting out the property abroad.
• Renting out holiday home even if it is for personal use.

There are, however, some exceptions to this. LPC cannot be applied by:

• Landlords renting out non-residential properties like shops, garages, lockups etc.
• Landlords who are representing a trust or a company and want to report their income.

How to Make a Let Property Campaign Disclosure?

The process of making an LPC Disclosure involves quite a few steps and requires you to provide several pieces of information related to your expenses and rental income. These steps are:

• Calculating the Tax Owed
• Making a Formal Disclosure
• Making the Payment

In the case where you cannot pay the full amount, it is crucial to inform HMRC about it before sending in your disclosure.

What Are the Penalties for Not Declaring Your Rental Income?

The penalty for undeclared rental income depends on the behaviour that led to the understatement, whether you came forward voluntarily, and the quality of the disclosure. The penalty reduction is based on how you respond to the questions from HMRC (telling) which is of 30%, helping with their assessment (helping) which is of 40%, and giving access to records and documents wherever required (giving access to records) which is of 30%.

Non-Disclosure Penalties for the Let Property Campaign can take two forms.

• Penalty for Failure to Notify
• Penalty for inaccurate returns

The amount of penalty you have to pay will be determined based on which form of non-disclosure it is, and the reasons behind the non-disclosure.

We hope this helps. If you want to learn more about the Let Property Campaign, you can visit its complete guide.