If you’re a director of a limited company and you do some work at home, the company can pay you rent for your home office. Work can include time spent doing CPD.
The benefit of doing this is you can take money from the company with little or no tax charge:
- The company will get a corporation tax deduction of 19% on the rent it pays to you
- Assuming you’re a basic rate tax payer, you pay 20% income tax on rental profits
So this incurs a very small tax charge of 1% (the difference between 20% and 19%).
You can also then reduce the 20% income tax by offsetting some of the costs of your home such as mortgage interest, insurance, energy, etc.
Example
| Davina Dentist Ltd will make £30,000 profit this year. The company decides to pay Davina £2,500 home office rent for the year.
The company’s profit is reduced to £27,500 and saves £475 of corporation tax. Davina claims £400 for mortgage interest, insurance, heat, light, etc, and so pays £420 income tax (£2,500 – £400 = £2,100 x 20%) Davina and her company have made a small tax saving, and now Davina has £2,500 in her personal bank account that would have otherwise been tied up in the company. |
When we compare this to other ways of taking money from the company for a basic rate tax payer, the tax is much higher
For example, dividends:
- No corporation tax deduction
- Income tax on your dividends of 7.5%
And how about salary?
- The company will get a corporation tax deduction of 19%
- You pay 20% income tax plus 12% national insurance
- So effectively you pay an extra 13% tax/national insurance
Pay a commercial rent
The amount of rent paid needs to be reasonable, and not above a commercial rent. An amount between £100 and £250 per month would generally be reasonable.
Jointly owned home
If you own the property jointly (for example, with your spouse), then you need to split the rental income between you. If the company pays £2,000 home office rental, then that’s £1,000 income each for you and your spouse.
Rental agreement for mixed use of your house
The space in your house that is shared between you and your business has mixed use – private and business. This is important, because if part of your house was used for business only, you could be liable to pay business rates, or Capital Gains tax when you sell your house.
Ensure that the mixed use is documented by creating and signing a home office licence agreement.
What do I need to report to HMRC?
If you’re completing a self assessment tax return for other income, include your home office income on your tax return.
However, if you don’t need a tax return for other types of income, and your property income is under £2,500 per year, you just need to contact HMRC by phone or letter to let them know
