Calculate Simplified Expenses When You Work From Home
This one, like the previous one, boils down to not making assumptions. Property management requires a lot of administrative work, which most landlords do from home. If you work from home and are self-employed, you can deduct the costs of running your home office as a tax deduction.
Most self-employed people will deduct a standard amount using the government's work from home expenses. This is because there are no calculations required, and HMRC is far less likely to argue with you about your expenses if you use their rates. There are additional simplified expenses that you can claim, and this Tax Insider article does an excellent job of breaking them down. However, for some people, doing the actual math is worthwhile, especially if you have an office space in your home.
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You can compute percentages of your bills and compare them to the flat rate. You only need to perform this calculation once to determine whether you're better off sticking with the flat rate or deducting more by breaking down your work from home expenses. There is no good article on this that we can recommend, but if you sign up for the free Property Tax Portal tax strategies course here, the seventh module includes an easy step-by-step guide on how to calculate your expenses and compare them to the flat rate. The other tax tips you'll pick up along the way are just as juicy and beneficial to landlords.
Return Your Taxes on Time
Isn't it obvious? However, nearly 1 million people missed the 2020 tax return deadline. More than 700,000 people waited until the day of the deadline to file, with over 26,000 filing in the final hour before the deadline.
You will be fined if you do not complete your tax return and pay your liability on time. This is money that will be wasted. In addition to the one-time late filing fee, you may be charged interest on late payments, which will compound if you continue to withhold your tax refund. There are numerous ways you can assist yourself in filing on time, including:
- Using software to record your income and expenses throughout the year.
- Making use of a bookkeeper or accountant.
- Calculating your tax liability each month and saving it in a savings account so you don't have to come up with a lump sum at the end of the year.
- Keeping track of the numerous HMRC emails sent in the run-up to the tax return deadline.
- Signing up voluntarily for Making Tax Digital so that you can submit four smaller returns digitally via software throughout the year. This makes it a little faster, but it also means you pay your tax in four smaller instalments rather than one large one.
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