Heighten Accountants

020 3900 2424

Effortlessly manage your accounting needs with your dedicated property accountant

There are many taxes to consider while investing in property and to maximise your return and achieve financial freedom it is crucial that you engage right property accountants from the beginning to make sure your property project is operating in the most tax efficient way.

Our expert property tax accountants focus on landlords running a profitable buy to let, rental, B&B, furnished holiday let and property business.

Our specialised team can help you in:

  • Rental income
  • Capital Gain Tax (CGT)
  • Claiming property tax reliefs
  • Tax reliefs such as primary residence relief
  • Inheritance Tax planning
  • Setting up a property limited company (SPV)
  • And much more

Your dedicated property accountant will not only do the tax compliance work and claim every possible expense but also conduct regular tax efficiency reviews  and be on hand to answer your questions, remind you when the statutory reporting is due and advise you on the tax minimisation tools and all available tax reliefs.

Why do you need landlord accounting services?

Hiring a specialist property accountant can provide huge advantages to make your investments successful.

Here are five reasons, why you need landlord and accounting services from property accounting firm:

  1. You get access to specialist property accountants’ wealth of knowledge and advice that can save you money and time.
  2.  Property tax legislation is regularly changing. Property accountants ensure that you stay compliant all the time.
  3. There are certain property tax reliefs and a specialist property accountant can easily discover which ones are best for their clients.
  4. Most of the HMRC investigation triggers due to errors in the landlord tax returns. Experienced property accountants can significantly help you avoid tax investigations.
  5. They provide the right financial information and advice when you plan to grow.

Paying less tax and maximising the wealth you have created is important when you work as hard as you do. At Heighten Accountants, our tax accountants based in London, can assist you in

  • Reducing your property tax liabilities
  • Maximising your wealth
  • Easing the administrative burden of tax compliance
  • Help you plan your future and run your property business efficiently

Heighten are the Best Property Accountants

We joined the firm 9 years ago since then they have been doing rental income tax return for our jointly owned property. We found them very knowledgeable and skilful. We have always been benefited by their tax saving tips and advice. We are happy with the service and recommend them without any hesitation.

Neil Robertson

Accounting solutions for landlords (What is included)

You could be a landlord in charge of your first investment or an established company overseeing a large portfolio, either way, you need right accounting solutions to make you a happy investor.

Specific tax rules apply to UK property business and investments. Property tax affects landlords and investors and knowing what to pay and when is not always straightforward.

At Heighten Accountants, our property accountants are familiar with the industry and will be able to provide invaluable solutions to your all property tax and accounting needs.

Here is a list of some of the main services we offer to landlords and property business owners:

  • Buy to let property income tax returns
  • Accounting for furnished holidays let business
  • Accounting for property developers
  • Accounting for B&B businesses
  • Tax minimisation services for property owners
  • Capital gain tax return on a sale of property
  • Inheritance tax planning
  • VAT advice on property-related transactions
  • Property business tax planning
  • Incorporation of a property company (SPV)
  • Let property campaigns
  • HMRC property income investigations

How our property & landlord accounting services work

Our property accountants and tax advisors have specialist skills in advising individual landlords, property investors, property businesses and developers and can deliver practical solutions to help maximise profits and achieve financial freedom.

We understand that accounting needs vary as you grow your property portfolio. Our property & landlord accounting services are therefore tailored on three different levels to support individual buy to let, property portfolios and property business owners.

Our property & landlord accounting services work in very simple 3 steps:

  1. Schedule a Call
  2. Get a Custom Plan
  3. Achieve your desired happiness and financial freedom

If you are looking to change to a property specialist accountant then Our ‘Switching Made Easy’ service allows you to move your accounting with us hassle free.

During our Initial ‘Getting to know you’ meeting, we’ll discuss your specific property tax and accounting needs, and let you know how we can help you best.

Our onboarding team will spend time with you to fully understand your needs and tailor a bespoke solution for you.

Together, we’ll choose your perfect package and the add-ons you need. It’ll take about three months to get ready to work together.

Our dedicated team of experts are members of the ICAEW Construction & Real Estate Group, ensuring our clients and landlord community are kept up to date with the latest sector developments and legislation

The overall journey with us will look like as follow:

  • You’ll accept the tailor-made personalised proposal
  • Be assigned a dedicated property accountant
  • Discuss your goals with us
  • Get you set up online for MTD and/or streamline your property apps
  • Bookkeeping, compliance & statutory reporting is done
  • Have regular reviews and check-ins regarding tax savings and financial growth

I can thoroughly recommend them…

I have been using Heighten Accountants for a number of years now and they have always provided an excellent, timely and professional service.I can thoroughly recommend them and will be continuing to use them in the future. Thank you.

Dr. Dan Martin

Founder and Business Owner
NW3 Medical Practice

Rental property accounting tips for landlords

You can minimise tax on rental income through allowable expenses, however, there are set rules which stipulate what you can and can’t deduct. You can deduct expenses that are wholly and exclusively for the purposes of renting out the property.

A list of some common allowable Expense for Rental Income

  • General maintenance and necessary repairs, improvements are excluded
  • Accountants, Letting agent and management fees
  • Replacement of some domestic items
  • Landlord, buildings, contents and public liability Insurance
  • Water rates, Council tax, gas and electricity (if paid by you)
  • Legal fees for lets of a year or less
  • Legal fees for renewing a lease for less than 50 years
  • Direct costs – e.g. business phone calls, stationery and advertisements
  • Vehicle running costs for your rental business
  • Local authorities licence fees

Incorporation of a property company
It could be more tax-efficient to purchase a buy-to-let under a limited company rather under your private name. You don’t pay any Income Tax (Corporation Tax instead) on rental income from these Special Purpose Vehicles. This means it can work out cheaper, which is one of the main reasons many of our landlord clients consider using a limited company (SPV) for their BTL property.

It is advisable to speak to a property accountant to find out more on how you can save in tax and have more flexibility with the expenses you can claim on a limited company buy-to-let.

Property Tax Planning
Depending on the structure of your property business, there are many tax reliefs to maximise your return, this include Entrepreneurs’ Relief, Rollover Relief, Gift and Capital Gain Tax Reliefs.

Looking online for the suggestions on how to avoid landlord taxes are usually unreliable and more risk than they’re worth. Instead learn about the reliefs that suit your situation and discuss tax-efficiency with your accountant. You may learn how to pay less in tax on rental income than you first thought.

I am so glad that I chose Heighten as my accountant

I am so glad that I chose Heighten as my accountant when setting up my business and cannot recommend them highly enough. As a new business owner, I needed a lot of guidance and I have been fortunate to have the very knowledgeable team of accountants support me over the last few years. Without their advice, I would be truly lost! No question was ever too small or silly, they would respond quickly and with a high quality of advice. The prices are very competitive and the quality of service is excellent.

James L

MD & Entrepreneur
Do It With Love

Landlord accounting service FAQs

By becoming a landlord, you’re setting up an ongoing financial source of income i.e. the rental income you receive from tenants. You pay tax on rental income like any other monthly earnings.

However, you do not pay National Insurance on the rental income. As long as you have your personal allowance (PA) available your rent up to PA (currently £12,570) is tax free. The tax-free amount could be doubled for a joint ownership.

Yes, even if you make a loss on your rental income you are required to complete and submit your tax return. These losses can be utilised against any other rental income for the same year or carried forward to offset against future rental income.

As for your property is eligible as FHL, Good news is it will escape dreadful Section 24 interest relief restriction. The Section 24 restriction relief means you will be able to claim full relief on mortgage interest if you are a higher rate tax payer. For many buy-to-let landlords, moving from traditional long-term lettings to FHL or Airbnb may be significantly rewarding resulting from extra income and less tax.

You pay Capital Gain Tax (CGT) on a sale of property. How much CGT will you have to pay? It depends. Sadly, this isn’t always easy to figure out. Luckily, there are certain reliefs and you may not have to pay Capital Gains Tax on UK property; but you might – and it may be more than you think.

You can avoid the shock of any unforeseen tax bills by speaking to property tax experts before the contract exchange happens so you know how much you’re liable to pay. If you have already sold the property, property accountants can still help you minimise your CG tax to make sure you pay absolutely the right amount and not a penny more.

The Let Property Campaign is an opportunity open to all residential property landlords with undisclosed taxes. If you owe tax on rental income from letting out a property which you own, then as a landlord you are obliged to tell HMRC about this, especially if you have not declared it.

If you do not report undeclared rental income HMRC have a sliding scale of penalties depending on how helpful you are in declaring the tax that you owe. Ultimately the penalty can be 100% of the tax so you need to act now if you believe you owe any tax under this scheme.

If you owe tax from a rental and are thinking of using the Let Property Campaign then speak with our property tax investigation specialist before you speak with HMRC.