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Rental income & maternity allowance

Bibbitybob
Bibbitybob Posts: 843 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
Morning all,

Been awake since 5am trying to work this one out...apologies if I haven't posted on the right board.

My only self-employed income at the moment is from two rental properties, and I am due to have a baby in March next year. Does anyone know if rental income counts as self employed income when maternity allowance is being calculated?

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • anselld
    anselld Posts: 8,685 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Rental income is not self-employed income, it is property income.

    Completely separate section of the tax return since it is classed as investment income rather than trading.
  • Bibbitybob
    Bibbitybob Posts: 843 Forumite
    Thanks anselld - that's really obvious now you've said it!

    So in that case it won't count towards my wages needed for maternity allowance. Beans on toast for us for a while then...
  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 49,990 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Name Dropper
    Rental income won't count, but time spent managing the properties may do. Giving yourself a management fee for doing so would be earnings.

    Just musing in type, but it may be possible. If you had held the properties in a company, you could charge out to the company for managing the properties. I don't know if you could do the same if you own personally, but it is something worth exploring.
    I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.
  • Bibbitybob
    Bibbitybob Posts: 843 Forumite
    That might be something worth exploring silvercar, thank you. Just not sure who to explore it with!
  • Cheeky_Monkey
    Cheeky_Monkey Posts: 2,072 Forumite
    Bibbitybob wrote: »
    That might be something worth exploring silvercar, thank you. Just not sure who to explore it with!

    A forlorn hope IMO - sorry :think:
  • yoshiyella
    yoshiyella Posts: 610 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    But surely you are still getting the rental income after you have given birth so why would you need the maternity allowance? Thought the whole point of maternity allowance was to go towards lost income? I may have completely missed the point though :)
  • Bibbitybob
    Bibbitybob Posts: 843 Forumite
    Haha that's a good point you've made there actually yoshiyella - I suppose I just naively hoped that after years of paying tax & NI I might be eligible for a bit of financial support for once. It's not the end of the world if I'm not...but it would have been helpful.

    Having looked at it anyway, I have been both employed and self employed on top of my rental income during the 66 weeks prior to baby's due date, I've just been taking a bit of a break after two miscarriages in a row left me struggling with depression. I took matters into my own hands and started advertising my self employment again this afternoon, and have managed a whopping 40 orders already so looks like I'll be both busy again AND earning between now and Christmas at least :j

    Thanks for all your replies - next time I have a 5am panic I will wait until I'm a bit more rational before I post on a public forum :rotfl:
This discussion has been closed.
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