First time doing tax return, please advise

itsabeautifulday1876

Hello all, I am hoping someone can help me. I will try and be concise. I have been renting out my house whilst working abroad. I am back in the UK now. 

During the tax year April 24-25 my UK income was £1719.  I rented out my property for 8 months of the tax year. The income from this was £12000 (used to pay a mortgage and topped up by me to pay the mortgage).  Of this £12000 £2352  was agents fees / a locksmith bill / a plumbing bill which I believe I can count as ‘deductibles’ please correct me if I am wrong. 

I have been separated from my husband for 7 years however his name is still on the mortgage. I am the registered landlord and all the rental payments go into an account in my name. My questions are:
1. Does my ex husband need to do a tax return? 

2. Am I correct that the agent fees and tradesman bills are deductibles?

Many thanks in advance for an insights. 

Woodstok2000

1. If your husband isn't getting any income from the property then he shouldn't need to do a tax return.

2. Yes, you can claim letting agent fees and maintenance costs as long as they are solely for the purposes of renting the property.  This is helpful:  https://www.which.co.uk/money/tax/income-tax/tax-on-property-and-rental-income/allowable-expenses-and-allowances-aKT7h4c8jJta

sheramber

Only interest part of the mortgage is eligible for tax relief at 20% , as a deduction from the tax due.

Capital repayments  of the mortgage are not eligible for tax relief. 

sheramber

Were you registered with HMRC as a non resident landlord? 

itsabeautifulday1876

sheramber said:

Were you registered with HMRC as a non resident landlord? 

Yes I was 

itsabeautifulday1876

We are just concerned it looks like a ‘tax dodge’ however he hasn’t lived in the property for 7 years, or paid towards the mortgage or made any profit and we have proof of this. 

Woodstok2000

itsabeautifulday1876 said:

We are just concerned it looks like a ‘tax dodge’ however he hasn’t lived in the property for 7 years, or paid towards the mortgage or made any profit and we have proof of this. 

Thinking about it a bit more, you may want to seek tax advice just to be sure. HMRC default to a 50/50 split for married couples and if he's still an owner of the property it may cause some issues down the line if it looks like he's under-declared and youve over-declared. Even though you're declaring all the rental income, HMRC may see it as a tax dodge if (for example) he would pay a higher tax rate than you on the income. 

This looks like the place to start, but as I said, best to get some professional advice if you can:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-declaration-of-beneficial-interests-in-joint-property-and-income-17