If you are an avid reader of Taxation (a weekly magazine for Tax Professionals) you will already be familiar with the campaign by one of our Property Team, Megan Lewis-Bourke, against HMRC levying Class 2 National Insurance (NI) demands against landlords.
HMRC were arguing that the receipt of rental income should be classed as a trade and therefore Class 2 NI should be charged, whilst Megan made the point that it is, in most cases, simply passive investment income which is not subject to NI. Where a landlord engages professionals e.g. estate agents to deal with the properties on his/her behalf they could not be deemed to be undertaking the work themselves and therefore should not pay the NI demanded.
The issue was picked up by the local and national press and Megan appeared in The Times discussing the issue in January. The cases in question were closed with HMRC eventually conceding the point and HMRC have now updated their guidance to reflect the points that Megan raised. As such, if you have been paying Class 2 NI on your rental profits, there may be scope to apply to HMRC for a refund. Please get in touch if you think that this applies to you.
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