Budget 2018: Rent-a-room relief plans shelved

The government has dropped plans to introduce a shared occupancy test to qualify for rent-a-room tax relief, confirmed in the Budget 2018 delivered by the Chancellor, Philip Hammond.

Following on from our recent blog, which you can find here, the plans to introduce a ‘shared occupancy test’ under rent a room relief has been removed from Finance Bill 2018-19.

The government will retain the existing qualifying test of letting in a main or only residence, and will work with stakeholders to ensure the rules around the relief are clearly understood to stop abuse of the system.

Any changes would have brought an end to rent-a-room relief for those who rented out a single room while they were absent or from renting out entire properties while away from home.

Tax professionals campaigned against the change which they said added unnecessary complexity to the tax system and would draw thousands of people into the tax self-assessment system unnecessarily. Thankfully, the Government have heeded to the advice on this matter.

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