Accounting and tax support for UK property investors

Before you buy: decide how you will own the property

The most expensive tax mistakes are made before the purchase, not after it. How you hold the property decides how the rent is taxed, what you can deduct and what happens when you sell or pass it on. That is why we bring the accountant in at the start, not at the first tax return.

There are three common routes, and each suits a different kind of investor:

• In your own name. Simple to set up and common for a first buy-to-let. Rent is taxed as your income. If you borrow, mortgage interest is not deducted from the rent; instead you get a tax credit at the basic rate, currently 20%, rising to 22% from April 2027.
• Through a UK limited company. Often chosen by portfolio landlords. The company pays corporation tax on its profit and can deduct finance costs in full, but taking money out as salary or dividends is taxed again, and lenders price company mortgages differently.
• Through an overseas company or other entity. Used by some family offices and holding structures. Since 2022 an overseas entity must be registered on the Register of Overseas Entities at Companies House, with its beneficial owners declared, before it can be registered as the owner of land in Scotland or the rest of the UK.

None of these is right for everyone. A higher-rate taxpayer buying one flat may be fine in their own name. A family buying six properties over three years probably needs a proper structure from the first one, because moving a property into a company later can trigger tax of its own. Your accountant weighs this against your income, your home country’s rules and your plans for the property. We give them the numbers: price, purchase tax, refurbishment budget, expected rent and running costs.

Purchase tax matters here too. In Scotland you pay Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, and on a second home or buy-to-let the Additional Dwelling Supplement of 8% of the whole price. Our investor tools work it out on your own figures before you speak to anyone.

Living in one country, letting in another

Rent from a property in the UK is taxed in the UK first. Your home country may tax the same income as well, depending on where you are resident and on its own rules. The UK has double taxation agreements with many countries, including Malta, the UAE and several in North Africa, and these usually stop you paying full tax twice, most often by giving credit at home for tax already paid in the UK.

How that works for you depends on your residence, your other income and the treaty itself, and it is exactly the kind of question your accountants should answer, not your property manager. What we can do is put your UK accountant in touch with your adviser at home, so the two returns tell the same story. For families with members in more than one country, that conversation is worth having before the first purchase, not after the first assessment.

How it works with us

1. A call before you buy. We talk through your plans, where you live and how many properties you have in mind.
2. An introduction. We introduce you to an independent accountant who works with UK property and with owners abroad, and we send them a short brief with the numbers.
3. You appoint them directly. You agree the scope and the fee with the accountant before any work starts. They advise you and file for you; they answer to you, not to us.
4. We keep them supplied. Quarterly statements, invoices and the agent’s figures go to both of you, without you having to ask.
5. A year-end pack. Everything for the tax return in one place, sent in good time for the deadline.

This is the part of property investing most people underestimate. Getting it set up properly at the start costs a little time and saves a great deal of it later.