On the 9 July I posted the top 10 tax considerations residential landlords need to take into account. Following is my answer to the final point – Do you realise that seeking professional advice from a property specialist tax adviser can save you time and money?

Tax advisers and accountants can often ‘pay for themselves’ – highlighting tax efficiencies worth more than the cost of our their services. They can also spot mistakes, reducing the risk of you having to face an investigation by HMRC and possible penalties for getting your tax wrong.

There are a lot of tax allowances such as those referenced in my property repairs and renewals article which go unclaimed every year. A tax adviser knows what these are and can help you to claim them to be more tax efficient. We can also advise on the best course of action on big decisions or purchases, such as gifting assets to family members, selling second properties and making large pension contributions.

If you are non-UK domiciled or non-UK resident, it is particularly important to seek professional advice, there are too many occasions to note where our clients have not realised that they should be filing returns in their country of domicile or residence and penalties for this omission can mount up significantly. For example, I personally deal with a great deal of US related tax advice matters and the one issues which crops up time and again is US tax filing obligations for those who are UK resident and a US National or were born in the US. See my article Do I need to submit a US tax return? for more on this.

It is our job to act keep an eye on changes in tax legislation and highlight those relevant to our clients; we can act as an ‘early warning flag’ for big changes which will impact on you, for example the imminent changes to on CGT on property disposals.

If you are considering getting help, it’s worth appointing a tax adviser early. A vast amount of people go through Self-Assessment at the same time and if you leave it late, you might struggle to find a tax adviser who has capacity.

Contact me david.rickwood@shawgibbs.com if you are interested to know more about our tax services.