Tax Saving Trust Declaration

Tax Issues for Landlords – Removal of finance costs and utilising a Declaration of Trust / Tax Saving Trust Declaration.

Tax Saving Trust Declaration

  • It is essential that landlords scrutinise very carefully their income and expenditure to reduce the amount of tax payable to HMRC
  • The withdrawal of finance costs as a fully deductible allowance began in tax year 2017-18 and the allowance was fully withdrawn by 2020-21.
  • Landlords will receive basic rate tax relief at 20% of the finance costs and it is important to note the following which has applied since tax year 2017-18. 

Finance Costs

  1. Finance costs cannot be deducted as expenditure against rental income and therefore the gross rental profit is now considerably higher than when previously deducted as an allowable expense. As an example if the gross rental income is £10000 with £2000 allowable expenses and £6000 finance costs the net profit increases from £2000 to £8000
  2. The changes were phased in over 4 years and from tax year 2020-21 the basic rate tax relief at 20% of the finance costs is only allowed which results in a significant increase in tax payable for individuals paying tax at a higher rate than 20%
  3. Landlords may face additional tax increases if the total income breaches the Child Benefit threshold whereby the benefit is reduced by 1% for each additional £200 income above £60000 up to a maximum of 100% at £80000.
    The Child benefit figures were changed in the March 2024 budget and apply to the 2024-25 tax year.
  4. Any previous losses brought forward to use against rental profits can still be utilised but are rapidly reduced since the figure used is the profits without deduction of finance costs or any tax relief.

Options 

There are many options for a landlord to consider with the objective of minimising the effects of the removal of the finance costs. 

However, the most straight forward method is to utilise a Trust Declaration to agree beneficial interest in the rental property with a spouse, partner or other family member thereby allowing all the rental income to be allocated to that person and taking advantage of any unused personal allowance or lower tax band. The resulting tax savings can be very significant. 

Tax Saving Trust Declaration information for joint owners of a property 

A Trust Declaration will allow you to allocate your rental profits to a spouse or civil partner in order to maximise any potential tax savings that are available. The Trust Declaration is completed by yourselves and your signatures witnessed.

The original is retained by yourselves and a copy is sent to HMRC along with their Form 17. Your rental income can be allocated according to your Trust Declaration from the date of signing the document. You would agree the allocation to use up any tax free personal allowance or lower tax banding.

Please note that this procedure is perfectly acceptable to HMRC and further information can be obtained here at the HMRC site.

Q: What action is required of joint owners with HMRC?

A: A copy of the Trust Declaration and completed HMRC Form 17 must be received by HMRC within 60 days of signing the documents for tax purposes.

Registration on the Trust Register is not required for Anti Money Laundering since joint owners are both shown on the title deeds at Land Registry.

  • We can supply the Tax Saving Trust Declaration document and instructions on its completion for £39 and the cost includes advice on completing the documentation and the additional service of any later guidance and clarification on any issues regarding the Trust Declaration.
  • The Trust Declaration is supplied as a PDF document and can be reused if you wish to change your agreement at some future date.

 If you are happy to proceed with the Trust Declaration and pay by Internet Banking our account details are as follows:

Name: Tax Landlord Ltd
Sort Code: 05-03-73
Account Number: 71440026
Business Account: Yorkshire Bank, Cleckheaton (Virgin Money Group)

We also provide a self assessment tax return service for £75 for one person which covers personal income and income from one property. The service would be provided at a discounted £55 on purchase of the Trust Declaration. The cost for tax returns for two people and one property would be discounted from £125 to £105 for the first year. Each additional property is £25.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch by email to paul@taxlandlord.com if you require clarification on any matters or if you wish to purchase the Trust Declaration.

Trust Declaration information for the sole owner of property

 A Trust Declaration will allow you to allocate your rental profits to any another person in order to maximise any potential tax savings that are available. The Trust Declaration is completed by yourselves and your signatures witnessed. Since you are the sole owner of the property the Trust Declaration is retained by yourselves and would be produced to HMRC in the event that they wished to see evidence of your agreement –  joint owners must send a copy to HMRC along with the HMRC Form 17.

Please note that this procedure is perfectly acceptable to HMRC and further information can be obtained here on the HMRC’s site. 

Q: What action is required for sole owners with HMRC?

A: The Trust Declaration is not required to be sent to HMRC and no Form 17 is required for tax purposes.
The document is retained and a copy only produced to HMRC in the unlikely event of a compliance check.

The Trust Declaration must be registered on the Trust Register for Anti Money Laundering purposes. The reason is that a person other than the owner of the property recorded at Land Registry is receiving the rental income from the property. HMRC are the Government Organisation maintaining the register, but registration is totally unconnected to tax.

Further information regarding registration is available at Trustlandlord.com or by sending email to info@trustlandlord.com

  • Your rental income can be allocated according to your Trust Declaration from the date of signing the document. You would agree the allocation to use up any tax free personal allowance or lower tax banding.
  • We can supply the Trust Declaration document and instructions on its completion for £39 and the cost includes advice on completing the documentation and the additional service of any later guidance and clarification on any issues regarding the Trust Declaration.
  • The document is supplied as a PDF document and can be reused if you wish to change your agreement at some future date.

If you are happy to proceed with the Trust Declaration you can pay by Internet Banking our account details are shown above in the section relating to jointly owned properties.

The same benefits apply to the tax return service regarding the prices and resulting discount from purchasing the Trust Declaration

Please do not hesitate to get in touch using our contact form if you require clarification on any matters regarding the Trust Declaration for a sole owned property or if you wish to purchase the document.