This week’s opinion

This week’s Readers’ Forum question from Airman on property rental income taking a trader over the VAT threshold made me think about what I would have done were I in the same position (which for the avoidance of doubt I am not!). Assume that I was a conscientious citizen who wanted to keep the right side of the taxman always. I would have looked at the VAT threshold when I started my main business and known that as long as my turnover was below £85 000 I did not need to bother with VAT. When I began to rent out a spare room in my house I would have looked at the guidance about rent-a-room relief and property income and declared the correct income tax. I would also have looked up the VAT treatment and seen that property rentals are exempt supplies for VAT. If I had been...