Tax dodge of the week: beware the taxman’s crackdown

The taxman's crackdown on landlords began in earnest last week so make you are declaring and paying the correct amount of tax.

The taxman's crackdown on landlords began in earnest last week, so it is a good idea to make sure that you are declaring and paying the correct amount of tax, says David Budworth in The Sunday Times. Fortunately, there are still plenty of legitimate ways of reducing your tax bill.

Firstly, rent is subject to income tax, so if one spouse is a basic-rate taxpayer it makes sense to have it in his or her name until you want to sell. When you do sell, you should transfer half the property back into your name so as to make use of both of your capital gains (CGT) allowances (£9,200 per person).

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