Office of Tax Simplification: Review of Property Income - Call for Evidence
LITRG has responded to the Office of Tax Simplification’s call for evidence for its review of the taxation of property income.
In our submission, we highlight that there are many lower income taxpayers who receive property income for a variety of reasons – property rental is not merely an income stream of the wealthy. For this lower income and/or unrepresented population, we have expressed concern that there is a lack of clear (yet suitably detailed) public-facing guidance on GOV.UK, even at a basic level – for example, on Self Assessment registration requirements.
This lack of effective guidance is made worse when considering that some areas of tax legislation related to property can be particularly complex in nature – for instance, the furnished holiday let regime, distinguishing between capital and revenue expenditure, and overseas tax interactions. Our response explains that these more complex areas are just as likely to touch lower income and unrepresented taxpayers. Our experience suggests that these taxpayers can be left feeling daunted and confused, which in turn can lead to instances of non-compliance and incorrect submissions.
As ever, we continue to insist that digital capabilities of unrepresented taxpayers must be borne in mind, and that taxpayers who are less digitally confident must be supported and, if necessary, provided with alternative methods to remain compliant.
The OTS call for evidence document can be found here.
LITRG’s submission can be found here.