Tax return - division of rental income if one person is SAHM

[Schnullerbacke]

Hi all,

property is owned by DH and myself. As I understand, the rental income has to be divided by two, each party claiming a share. What about repair bills etc? I don't earn my own money so would it be legal to let DH put all the expenses against his tax return?
Thanks.

"I don't earn my own money so would it be legal to let DH put all the expenses against his tax return?"

I doult it.

The rules are very clear and set out this circumstance. It depends how you and your dh own the property ie. as tenants in common or as joint tenants. If you are joint tenants or tenants in common with a 50-50 split then both the income and the expenses of managing the property is split. It is possible to own a property as tenants in common and one tenant to own 90% of the property and other tenant to own 10% of the property, but mortgage companies often don't like that kind of arrangment. If you have no mortgage on the property then you can put the property 100% into your name.

I am not a legal person and I suggest you talk to an accountant.

As far as I know, everything is split fifty fifty, whether income or expenditure, Don't forget about the mortgage interest.

Since you're married and own the property jointly then everything - income and expenses - need to be split 50/50. (If you're not married but own jointly then the split can be on a different basis but this doesn't apply here).

If your ownership is anything other than 50/50 (for example - you own 90%) then you can fill in a form (Form 17) to apply for a different split of profits based on the underlying ownership. But you need to prove that underlying ownership is different from 50/50 and you need HMRC's permission to split the profits in any other proportion. Until you've received the permission you still need to split 50/50

I am pretty certain that riksti is wrong. We have a buy to let and are in process of putting the propety into the joint names. It used to be solely in dh name and we were not allowed to use my allowances.

Please contact a proper accountant. We found that having an accountant to help with self assessment has saved us money as he has suggested all kinds of ways of reducing our liablity.

What do you mean? Isn't that what I said - if you own the property jointly. You didn't own the property jointly so of course you can't use your allowances against your husband's income. It's only where property is owned jointly where the question of splitting the profits arises.

riksti I spent 15 years working in tax and you are right. Really the property has always been owned jointly so the income and expenses are split 50/50 unless a Form 17 has been completed.