HM Revenue & Customs has urged UK landlords to make full tax disclosures “sooner rather than later”.
A Government initiative launched in 2013 to settle financial affairs encouraged around 13,000 landlords to disclose unpaid tax.
But HMRC still thinks there are thousands more landlords waiting to come forward. They believe that because most landlords owe only a few hundred pounds in tax, their tax return is often left forgotten.
A spokesperson for HMRC said: “If you’re a landlord and you have undisclosed income you must tell HMRC about any unpaid tax now. You’ll then have 90 days to calculate and pay what you owe.
“If you make a full and voluntary disclosure of all unpaid liabilities in these circumstances you can usually expect a lower penalty than HMRC would otherwise seek if they raised an enquiry or compliance check without the disclosure.”
HMRC has not yet proposed a deadline for the scheme, but it has stated that those who delay in disclosing may be subject to higher penalties.
“Regardless of whether the errors were due to misunderstanding the rules or deliberately avoiding paying the right amount it is better to come to HMRC and admit any inaccuracies rather than wait until HMRC uncovers those errors,” the spokesperson said.
