Owners of holiday homes here in the UK that rent their property out for a large proportion of the year are expected to be hit by a stealth tax. Around 60,000 holiday home owners will be affected by the new taxes, wth each one being charged an extra £4000 every year.

The stealth taxes will hit those who offer their house for atleast 140 days each year. The holiday home also has to be rented out for atleast 70 of those 140 days that it’s available. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw some people renting their houses out for 139 days a year.

The new taxes will be coming into force because, according to the Treasury, the tax rules at the moment break European laws. This is because current holiday home owners are able to receive tax reductions on certain things because they are classed as traders. The new tax laws will mean that they have to pay more taxes as they will now be classes as investors.

Although this isn’t good news for holiday home owners, it is good news for the Government. Due to the large number of home owners being affected, the Government look to make around £20 million each year from the new taxes. Despite the Government making this extra £20 million, it could prove to be worse for the Government than first appears.

This new stealth tax won’t come as good news for holiday home owners. Many already pay high amounts for things like maintenance and holiday cottage insurance. Now due to holiday home owners being charged more, therefore making less profits, many holiday home owners will be forced to close down. According to analysts, the resulting action of the stealth tax could cost the tourism business over £200 million. Not only will money be lost from a reduced amount of tourists, but jobs will also be lost with the increased amount of closing holiday homes. Yet more bad news for the current recession.

If you’re trying to find insurance for holiday homes based in the UK, or maybe overseas property insurance for your holiday home abroad, Schofields is the place to go.

Tags: government, holiday homes, home insurance, insurance, taxes

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