It’s not often that HM Revenue and Customs wants to give money to holiday-home owners, but in this case it’s true. If you own and let out a holiday home in Europe, then you could be eligible for a retrospective tax break – but you’ll have to act fast, as the deadline is approaching.

Any Brits who have furnished holiday lets in Europe have only a few weeks left – until 31 July 2009 – to claim a tax rebate that could be worth thousands.

Previously, the rebate only applied to those with UK-based holiday lets, but a change in the legislation this year means that it temporarily applies to European properties too. Make the most of it though, as the benefit will be scrapped completely from 6 April 2010.

To be eligible for the tax rebate, the European property must be available for holiday lets for at least 140 days during a 12 month period. Letting periods must also be shorter than 31 days. The exact requirements can be a bit confusing, so if you think you could be eligible, it’s best to get an accountant to check if you qualify.

Claims can currently be accepted by HM Revenue and Customs for late amendments to 2006-2007 tax returns. They’ll even accept, by letter, claims dating as back as far as 2003 and 2004.

Time is running out though, so don’t delay your claim, or you could miss out on a tasty payout.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.