let property campaign

sweta

Hi, i have a client who wishes to take part in let property campaign to declare rental property income started by HMRC.
Does anyone have experience in taking part and don,t mind sharing their experience with me?

JodieR

I've not used that actual scheme but I did have to declare rental income going back about 10 years for a client who found out when her husband passed away that he'd never declared any income from their 3 properties on their tax returns. She was so worried about what would happen to her but HMRC were great - they just said to send in a schedule of what we thought was due along with a cheque and that's what we did and they didn't charge any penalties. I think I had to include interest in my calculations. Maybe they went easy on her because of her situation but the whole thing was much easier than I expected it to be!

sweta

Thanks Jodie, i read HMRC article which did not mention that coming forward without prompt would reduce any penalties or interest for the client, which i think would encourage more people to come forward. what are your views on this?

JodieR

If you read the rules on how penalties are calculated there are 2 separate scales - one for prompted disclosure and one for unprompted disclosure and the penalties are definitely more if HMRC finds it before you've disclosed it. When HMRC set up these schemes though they usually reduce the standard penalties for the amnesty period.

sweta

Thanks Jodie