HMRC
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Latest property news
NAEA ‘surprise’ at 250% money laundering supervision fee rise
Estate agent are to face a significant rise in the supervision fees they pay HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). From May 1 this year all estate agencies with a turnover of more than £5,000 must pay £300 a year to be registered for money laundering supervision, while those with a turnover under £5,000 must pay £180 a year. The current annual fee is £130. HMRC says the rise is needed to fund more staff to track down agents who are not compliant with the UK’s money laundering regulations, and to increase the level of education and training. “While we welcome the increased resources from HMRC to tackle the issues around anti-money laundering, we are somewhat surprised at the significant uplift in fees in the region of 250%, particularly at a time when the industry is beleaguered by additional legislation,” says Mark Hayward, Chief Executive, NAEA Propertymark. “However, we look forward to seeing more enforcement activity as a result of the increase.” The fee increases, which apply to all businesses required to register under money laundering regulations including estate agents, accountants and banks, are on top of several other charges levied by HMRC. This includes a £40 fee per employee to…
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Latest property news
Estate agents heavily criticised by MPs within parliamentary report on AML
Report form Treasury Select Committee says agents are weakest link in fighting AML after hearing from NAEA Propertymark and National Crime Agency.
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Features
Washing up
Money laundering isn’t just the preserve of upmarket estate agents selling expensive properties in central London, says HMRC chief Simon York, as criminals increasingly target property to launder their dirty cash.
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Uncategorised
It’s time the industry got serious about money laundering
Forget the near comedy of TV documentary 'From Russia with Russia' - the government is urging estate agents to play their part in tackling the growing levels of much more subtle money laundering in the UK.
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Latest property news
Review and likely overhaul of Rent a Room tax break revealed
An investigation into the effectiveness of the Rent a Room relief and other tax breaks given to private home owners who take in lodgers has begun eight months after it was revealed by the Chancellor in his 2017 Autumn budget speech. The Rent a Room relief enables home owners to earn up to £7,500 in rent tax free and was first introduced in 1992. Then, last year, an additional tax-free allowance of £1,000 was introduced for any other income earned from a home. HMRC and HM Treasury are jointly running the consultation and say they want to understand how many people are using the Rent a Room relief and also the impact it’s having on local private rental property markets. The original reason for introducing the relief was to increase the supply and variety of low-cost housing in the private sector, but the consultation document suggests civil servants are worried that it has instead fuelled a boom in Airbnb short-term booking by holiday makers and business travellers. “The government would like to hear views on whether this is an appropriate use of tax relief, or whether the relief should more explicitly support residential accommodation provided on a longer-term basis, or…
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Latest property news
AIPP asks government to clarify if overseas property agents to face same regulation as UK ones
The Association of International Property Professionals has asked the government to clarify if legislation applies to 'passive' overseas agents.
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Latest property news
Property sales remain flat during January, says HMRC
Property sales in the UK during January increased by 1.3% month-on-month, hitting 102,610 transactions says HMRC, but down 0.1% year on year. These figures, which are seasonally adjusted to take account of the Christmas shutdown, are for all residential sales over £40,000. “Property transactions have remained stagnant for quite some time now,” says Richard Sexton, Director of e.surv (pictured, left). “Although our latest research showed one-fifth of mortgage approvals went to first-time buyers last month, if we are to see a real boost in numbers and overall market activity, we need to address our country’s limited housing supply which is acting as a roadblock.” Jeremy Duncombe, Director, Legal & General Mortgage Club, (pictured, right) says: “It is clear that a lack of housing supply across the UK continues to take its toll on the market. “Not only is it having an impact on potential borrowers who want to make their first move onto the property ladder, but it’s also limiting the options available to those who are looking to downsize in later life.” But HMRC’s detailed figures also reveal that, despite much commentary from agents about a difficult market in London and the South, overall UK transactions have been increasing each…
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Latest property news
House sales have slumped this year – or have they?
The number of house sales in England has dropped by 12% compared to a year ago, according to latest figures from the government’s statisticians, the ONS. The figures are for August and are based in part on the latest set of sales results to be released by the Land Registry. The data also reveals that the number of homes sold dropped elsewhere too – by 15.8% in London and by 3.4% in Wales, both by the same measure. But the house sales report is entirely contradicted by figures from HMRC which reveal it believes that the number of homes sold in the UK increased by 9.2% during the year to October 2017, and by 1.7% over the past month. We spoke to the Land Registry, who were unable to explain the difference between the two house sales numbers and, we are told, neither is the ONS. So baffling is the difference between the HMRC data, which is based on Stamp Duty receipts, and the Land Registry data, that the Negotiator has been told analysts at Savills have spent a lot of time and energy on finding out why. “I would back the ONS figures every time because they are the…
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Latest property news
Is this the wiggle room Hammond needs? Property transactions rise by 9.2%, says HMRC
The number of residential property transactions during October increased by 9.2% year-on-year, according to the latest figures from HMRC. Last month 105,260 residential properties were sold above the value of £40,000 in the UK which, as well as being substantially higher than October last year, is 1.7% higher than September. But the market in England has some way to go before it attains the heady heights of the pre-financial crash years during which transactions reached over 130,000 a month. “The uptick in property transactions demonstrates the underlying stability of the sector, and is a positive message to the market ahead of Wednesday’s Budget, which is expected to be largely housing focussed,” says Stephen Wasserman, Managing Director of West One Loans (pictured, left). “It will take some time for the market to fully recover from the upheaval of stamp duty hikes and economic uncertainty caused by Brexit negotiations, but if Hammond scraps stamp duty for first-time buyers, as it’s rumoured he may do so, we could see the market grow at a faster rate.” These latest HMRC figures come just a month after it revealed that its revenues from Stamp Duty levied on residential properties increased by 10% to £11.76 billion…
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Latest property news
Landlord jailed for evading tax of over £150,000
A landlord who evaded over £150,000 in Capital Gains Tax from the sale of properties has been jailed for two years and three months at Winchester Crown Court (pictured, right). Following an investigation by HMRC, Richard Fuller was found to not have declared tax due on capital gains made on properties he had sold in and around Aldershot in Hampshire between 2006 and 2013. Last week Fuller was sentenced to the jail term following a trial in July – he was arrested at Gatwick Airport in October 2014 after returning with his family from a holiday in Turkey. “The jury found you guilty of dishonesty. This is a serious matter, you deliberately failed to pay your Capital Gains Tax over several years,” said The Recorder of Salisbury His Honour Judge A J Barnett. The 53-year-old had been found guilty by a jury of two counts of Cheating the Public Revenue and three counts of Fraud by False Representation to the tune of £157,725. Task force The HMRC says the fraud was discovered by its property task force and then referred for a criminal investigation. The outstanding tax due by Fuller will now be recovered through confiscation proceedings. “Fuller thought he…
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