Lodger, maximizing the money they can give us without having to do taxes

CarrieVS

antrobus wrote: »

Don't worry, you can't just put someone on the deeds. The someone has to consent and sign the transfer form.

Aye but I wouldn't have known the implications when I was 18 and living in my parents' home. I imagine many such people might just trust that their parents know best if they say it's a good idea.

But please let's heed Hanlon's razor: there's no reason to assume OP is callously indifferent to their children's financial future - if they were, why would they be concerned about inheritance tax? More likely they had just not fully thought through the implications themselves. Fortunately they asked for advice, and advice was given.

It's perfectly reasonable to want to lawfully minimise one's tax burden - while I applaud anyone's decision to just pay what is asked because they can afford it, I don't l think it's any less moral to take maximum advantage of tax breaks than it is to refrain from giving generous donations to charity. OP is not complaining about their tax bill, just trying to find out if they can reduce it.

To say nothing of the fact that OP may also be motivated by a desire to avoid the hassle of needing to complete a self-assessment - see the title of the thread! "...without having to do taxes." I believe that's part of the purpose of Rent a Room, to make it simpler to let part of your home as well as providing a tax break to many live-in landlords.

OP doesn't seem to have a very strong understanding of taxation or the Rent a Room scheme, based on the ideas they had - but they clearly realise that they don't understand it, as they asked for advice on their ideas (or for any other suggestions.) Not knowing is much less of a failing than being unwilling to learn.

G_M

22 replies and counting.

This is a moneysaving website and so, yes, people here tend to support or suggest ways to save money.

But those 22 replies are all pretty unanimous in their opinion that what you are proposing are illegal ideas, or detrimental to your kids, or similar.

Not good ideas I'm afraid.

Svenena

How about only renting the second room for part of the year, so you don't exceed the allowance?

theartfullodger

You'll also appreciate that, regardless of how you disguise the rent ( I 'ates tax cheats even more than I 'ates benefit cheats, tax cheats get away with way more..) you may find some of your benefits are affected.


What happened to those British traditions of decency and fair-play?

G_M

theartfullodger wrote: »

What happened to those British traditions of decency and fair-play?

They were always mostly an illusion I'm afraid artful....

00ec25

needabed wrote: »

I read on another site that it's £3,750 per owner. So if our 2 kids who are 18/19 were on the deeds? Need to do that in any case to lower the inheritance tax...

which is lower: your ability to interpret or to read?

has it not crossed your mind that the 7,500 is split between each owner? It does not say 3,750 per owner, where there is joint ownership it is 3,750 for each of the two owners, there being 2 people, if you have 4 owners then obviously it is 1,875 each

00ec25

Svenena wrote: »

How about only renting the second room for part of the year, so you don't exceed the allowance?

wonderful, so lose the exemption from Capital Gains Tax because there are now 2 lodgers, in return for minimising the amount of rental income that the room could achieve. Brilliant.

MysteryMe

needabed wrote: »

You all seem to love paying taxes... I'm just looking for legal ways to reduce my taxes...

I can't speak for anyone else on here but I just want to pay my fair share. The country needs X amount of tax revenue to function. If it can't collect enough tax revenue then the government has to consider other areas where savings could be made. One of which might be to withdraw tax allowance on schemes such as rent a room........

chunkytfg

Svenena wrote: »

How about only renting the second room for part of the year, so you don't exceed the allowance?

Or maybe rent one room to a lodger and then AirBnB the other room to bring the total up to £7500 limit? (Although I confess to having no idea if the AirBnB idea would have different tax implications from the rent a room scheme)

Marvel1

needabed wrote: »

Could the lodger(s) do any or all of these?
Pay all utilities
Pay all food shops
Pay for our petrol/public transport
Pay to have new kitchen, bathroom, decorating etc?

Are you being real? :eek: