If you decide to let your UK property whilst you are overseas, it will be necessary for you to keep records of the rental income and expenditure to demonstrate whether you have made a profit or a loss, therefore, it is recommended that annual letting accounts are prepared in line with the tax year.
Up to 5th April 2017, HMRC were prepared to accept letting accounts as being prepared on a "cash basis" (rents received and expenditure incurred during the tax year), provided the gross rents were less than £15000 per annum. Where the gross rents were £15000 or more, the statutory "earnings basis" (rents and expenditure relating to the tax year concerned, whether received/paid during that tax year) was to be used.
However, from 6th April 2017, the limit has increased tenfold. The "cash basis" is to be the default method to establish the profit/loss for the tax year, where the gross rents are less than £150000.
Any profit made is taxable, subject to the availability of claiming personal allowances, whereas losses can be carried forward and offset against rental profits made in future years, all the while the "rental business" is continuing.
Bank statements, letting agent statements, invoices, receipts and annual mortgage interest certificates should be kept in support of the income and expenditure figures, in case HMRC request sight of them as evidence. With HMRC's introduction of "Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and Self Assessment", these records are also required to be kept digitally using approved bookkeeping software and filed with HMRC on a quarterly basis. This follows the abolition of the self assessment tax return and applies to all landlords where the gross rental income exceeds £10000 per annum. Where the rental property is jointly owned, the £10000 threshold relates to each individual landlord’s total share of the gross rents and not the total gross rents from the individual property (or properties if there is more than one).
For businesses who are registered for VAT, quarterly reporting started from 6th April 2019. For sole trader businesses and landlords, quarterly reporting for income tax has been delayed further and is not now due to commence until the tax year starting 6th April 2024. For general partnerships, the start date MTD for ITSA has been delayed until 6th April 2025.