Tag: Rent a Room

Rent a Room – What if Rent exceeds £7,500?

Many people think that Rent a Room is a tax free allowance, a bit like the personal allowance, but its not quite as simple as that.

If your total rent from a room in your home is less than £7,500 then that’s fine, but if your rent is above £7,500 these rules will apply

3.2 If your gross receipts are more than the Rent-a-Room limit

If your gross receipts are more than £7,500 (or £3,750), you can choose how you want to work out your tax:

Method A

You pay tax on your actual profit – your total receipts less any expenses and capital allowances.

Method B

You pay tax on your gross receipts over the Rent-a-Room limit – that is, your gross receipts minus £7,500 (or £3,750). You can’t deduct any expenses or capital allowances if you choose this method.

HMRC will automatically use your actual profit (Method A) to work out your tax.

If you want to pay tax using Method B, you need to tell HMRC within the time limit. You will continue to pay tax on your gross receipts over the Rent-a-Room limit until you tell HMRC that you want to change back to paying tax on your actual profit (Method A).

If you pay tax using Method B, this automatically stops if your rental income drops below the £7,500 (or £3,750) limit.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rent-a-room-for-traders-hs223-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs223-rent-a-room-scheme-2017

So in most cases if you have rent above £7,500 you probably won’t want to claim Rent a Room because you will not be able to offset any expenses!

steve@bicknells.net

Rent a Room and earn £7,500 tax free

Fotolia_45741373_XS cash

The Rent a Room Scheme lets you earn up to a threshold of £7,500 per year tax-free from letting out furnished accommodation in your home. This is halved if you share the income with your partner or someone else.

You can let out a room or an entire floor.

How it works

The tax exemption is automatic if you earn less than the threshold. This means you don’t need to do anything.

You must complete a tax return if you earn more than the threshold. From 6 April 2016, this is £7,500. For the 2015 to 2016 tax year, the threshold was £4,250.

When you can use the Rent a Room Scheme

You can use the scheme if:

  • you let a furnished room to a lodger
  • your letting activity amounts to a trade, for example, if you run a guest house or bed and breakfast business, or provide services, such as meals and cleaning

When you can’t use the Rent a Room Scheme

You can’t use the scheme if the accommodation is:

  • not part of your main home when you let it
  • not furnished
  • used as an office or for any business – you can use the scheme if your lodger works in your home in the evening or at weekends or is a student who is provided with study facilities
  • in your UK home and is let while you live abroad
  • the whole of your home, rather than a part of it

SpareRoom

SpareRoom, the UK’s busiest flatshare site. Every three minutes, someone finds a flatmate with SpareRoom.

The table below shows the change in monthly rents between 2009 and 2014 according to Spareroom:

Ave Rent 2009 (£) Ave Rent 2014 (£) Rental Increase %
London & suburbs £549 £691 25.8%
East Anglia £345 £398 15.4%
East Midlands £314 £353 12.6%
North England £304 £334 9.8%
North West England £316 £359 13.8%
South East England £390 £449 15.2%
South West England £347 £394 13.7%
West Midlands £334 £366 9.7%
Yorkshire & Humberside £312 £347 11.3%
Northern Ireland £238 £260 9.5%
Scotland £325 £403 24.2%
Wales £302 £332 9.9%
UK £500 £550 10%

Is it time to get a lodger?

Woman working on laptop while man vacuums

Renting out a Room is a great way to earn some tax free cash and in the Summer Budget an increase in the tax free allowance was announced…

The government will increase the Rent-a-Room relief from £4,250 to £7,500 a year from April 2016. The value of this relief has been frozen since 1997, so this increase will allow individuals who rent a room in their main residence to do so tax free on income up to £7,500 to reflect increases in rent.

You can use the scheme if:

  • you let a furnished room to a lodger
  • your letting activity amounts to a trade, for example, if you run a guest house or bed and breakfast business, or provide services, such as meals and cleaning

You can’t use the scheme if the accommodation is:

  • not part of your main home when you let it
  • not furnished
  • used as an office or for any business – you can use the scheme if your lodger works in your home in the evening or at weekends or is a student who is provided with study facilities
  • in your UK home and is let while you live abroad
  • the whole of your home, rather than a part of it

You can get further details in HS223

Finding a lodger shouldn’t be too difficult and websites like Spare Room can help.

steve@bicknells.net

Rent a Room and earn up to £4,250 tax free

You can receive up to £4,250 a year tax-free (£2,125 if letting jointly) by letting furnished rooms in your home. This is known as the Rent a Room scheme.

It doesn’t matter how much you earn from other sources – you still get the full tax-free amount.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/TaxOnPropertyAndRentalIncome/DG_4017804

In the current economic climate renting a room is becoming an increasing popular method for boosting income and there has been an increase of 52% in the number of new homeowners taking in lodgers in the past two years.

On average UK room Rent is £406 per month rising to £717 in London.

Accroding to www.spareroom.co.uk

So this could well be worth considering if you need extra cash.

steve@bicknells.net