Landlords with gripes about the way tax changes are implicating their letting businesses can vent their fury on the government through an official survey.
The Office of Tax Simplification has put a call to residential landlords who file annual self-assessment returns.
The number crunchers want to know how landlords keep their tax records, how much time is spent on keeping the books and if apps or specialist software are used.
The OTS also wants to find out if landlords would prefer to report and pay their tax in regular instalments rather than as an annual return.
Other controversial questions would like to know if landlords would sign up to losing control of their money to a bank or letting agent who would collect tax payments from income.
The 30 question survey only takes a few minutes to complete and does not identify the person answering the questions.
The call for evidence follows the OTS publication of a document proposing changes to the reporting and payment of income tax for the self-employed and landlords in July.
The document looks at ways to change annual tax reporting in to more of a real-time process as well as making keeping accounts and filing tax returns easier.
One idea is to pre-populate tax returns with financial data collected from third parties by HM Revenue & Customs, such as rental income.
The OTS says: “The work will be open to considering a relatively wide range of factors and possibilities, but only in limited depth. Considering the likely benefits or drawbacks of these will help identify the most promising or necessary areas for further, more detailed work, in the light of the findings made, and in the context of wider developments and discussions with HMRC.”
