HMO bills included

dlk

Filling in my tax return and can't find a definitive answer as to where to include the inclusive bills (I pay the gas/electric, tv license etc).

I'm undecided as to whether it's meant to be Cost of Services provided or Rent,rates, insurance, ground,rents section (which I know is where the water and council tax bills are included).

Can anyone with any knowledge advise?

Bookworm105

HMO status is irrelevant in this context, as the tax return only differentiates between Furnished Holiday Letting (FHL) and "rental property". An HMO is not an FHL, so sits with other non HMO rental property as total rent income in Box 20

if your gross rental income is <£85,000 then you are not required to provide a breakdown of any costs in the first place. You are simply allowed to report a single (consolidated) total in box 29

if <£85 & you voluntarily choose to show the cost breakdown with separate totals as applicable in boxes 24 - 28 (why would you?) then the total in box 28 (cost of services provided) is where you would report the gas/electric bills + TV licence you pay, as they are part of the service you provide !
UK property notes (2022) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Box 28  PIM2076 - Deductions: main types of expense: cost of providing services - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Box 24 PIM2140 - Deductions: main types of expense: rates and council tax - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Caveat
The above assumes you do not occupy any part of the building yourself and therefore would need to split costs between business and personal

dlk

Thank you. I always have provided the breakdown for clarity but you're right, it is pointless as my rental income is quite a bit less than 85k

Bookworm105

dlk said:

Thank you. I always have provided the breakdown for clarity but you're right, it is pointless as my rental income is quite a bit less than 85k

there is probably an over riding argument that better to be consistent with which box you have previously reported those costs in. The split of costs does not really matter as long as they are valid costs, but if you have variation of analysis from year to year "the computer" may move you up the list of returns subject to "random" checking