Am trying not to leave my tax return until Jan so have made a start. It has thrown up a couple of questions.,
We were renting out our house while we lived overseas and have now moved back to the UK. I had an accountant do my self assessment but now want to do my own! Therefore I have a few questions:
1. while the tenants were still in the house the dishwasher died. We didn't replace it until after we moved back in, I assume I can't claim for this even though we would have had to replace it for the tenants.
2. can I put through a charge against the rental income for my time prepping the accounts . I know it is still my income but as I am under the threshold it woudl save my husband some tax. Not much but everylittle helps.
3. We had to stay in a hotel the night before we moved in as we had to do the inspection etc can this be charged?
For item 1 it depends if a wear and tear allowance was claimed on previous tax returns (assumed it was furnished?). Probably was, so no claim can be made.
Item 2 If the property is jointly owned (tenant in common I think its called, which is the normal for husband and wife) then the income is split equally. There may be a loophole in there somewhere but you cant normally charge yourself and claim it back.
Item three is a bit trickier but I guess boils down to the facts, were you still landlords at that time? was the stay wholly and exclusively business. I think the test falls down on the last point, as the hotel was your home for the night not a break in travel from your home a such. When did you take possession? Had the tenant vacated. Was it still a business when you stayed in the hotel?
As you see by my vague response, it is dependant on lot of things, and I would generally err on the side of caution and say none are allowable.
