Bookkeeping tips for buy to let landlords

Whether you're letting one residential property or multiple ones, you must maintain a record for everything. A property tax accountant will be able to help you out the best in this aspect.

According to Pew Research Centre, approximately 72.5% of landlords are private or individual investors, and these people usually own one to four units. Therefore, whether you are a private or individual investor, you need to keep the records updated if you own a property.

Hiring a professional property tax accountant can play an important role in helping you maintain a record of your profits and expenses.

Why hire buy to let accountants for bookkeeping?

Bookkeeping can get highly complicated for the buy to let landlords. Moreover, you may find yourself in trouble when you don't know anything about accounting or taxes.

In such a situation, the best thing to do is work closely with a buy to let accountant. They are professionals and know the rules. As a result, they will take care of your finances while allowing your business to run efficiently.

When you hire a buy to let accountant, you don't need to worry about keeping or maintaining hefty records. Your accountant will do it for you.

Here are some of the common reasons why you should hire professional accountants:

1. Have financial clarity

IIf you have multiple properties, you need to clarify your financial records. The accountant will help to record all your transactions in one place. This will give you a brief idea of what your rentals should be.

The accountant will also inform you of any changes or improvements that are to be brought to the property. Furthermore, they can also explain how you expand the assets and get maximum profits.

2. No worries about taxation

Property owners often find themselves in the problem of maintaining taxes. When you do it manually, there is a risk that you will make some mistakes. However, when you hire a buy to let accountant, things become significantly easier.

They are professionals and will help maintain a record of all your transactions. Furthermore, they will ensure everything is clear when filing the taxes. Thus, you can manage your finances. Even when the higher authority conducts an investigation, you won't have to worry as all your records are clear.

5 Bookkeeping tips to follow

Bookkeeping all your professional and financial records can be of great help. It helps you worry less about the taxes and provides complete financial clarity.

When opting for bookkeeping for your rental properties, some of the tips that you should follow are mentioned below:

1. Update the records every monthly

Updating the monthly records is of utmost importance, and landlords should make it a habit to practice them at the beginning and end of the month.

Updating your financial records every month will also help prevent the risk of frantically looking for your papers in a year. You won't have to go through the documents frantically when you need to submit the record yearly. Furthermore, you will have to worry less when you make it a habit to practice updating monthly records.

When filing the taxes, you need to ensure that you don't create a mess. Therefore, updating the records every month protects you against this risk. Consequently, you should consult your property tax accountant and make sure to update the records every year.

2. Set up a separate account for each property

One of the best ways to prevent unnecessary mess for bookkeeping is to set up a separate account for each property. Since this is for professional use, you should never keep a record of your transactions in your personal account, which could lead to everything becoming haywire.

When you have your personal and professional accounts mixed up, it will be tough for you to transact the records. When you have a separate account for each property, you will be able to manage your finances in a better way. This will also help prevent the unwanted risk of letting anything go wrong while managing the properties. Your accountant will be able to do it efficiently.

3. Record all your expenses

One of the major mistakes that many landlords make is not recording their income. Although they monitor how much they are spending, they do not keep a check on what they are earning.

Not keeping a record of your income and expenses will often make it tough to determine whether you're in profit or loss. When landlords monitor their expenses thoroughly, it becomes easier for them to use their assets properly.

As a landlord, you should focus on optimising your income. Therefore, one of the most prominent things to do is to maintain the expense receipt to further help offer you relief from taxes.

4. File your records daily

Filing your records daily can be of great help for taking the records. You should prepare your files so that you don't unnecessarily spend any money or time. Hiring a professional property tax accountant can help keep a record of your daily expenses and income.

When you maintain your files, you need to ensure you have everything ready. Here is how you should maintain your lists:

• Keep all your income and expenses tracker in one file.
• In one file, maintain all your bank statements.
• Maintain all the records you need to submit to HMRC in a file.

5. Tally your records

While bookkeeping can help you keep a record of everything, sometimes it may get haywire. Therefore, there are chances of you making mistakes, and one wrong input can lead to problems in the entire record.

You need to reconcile and check the records to ensure the finances are accurate. Bookkeeping is simple, but a small mistake can lead to everything wrong. Therefore, when maintaining the records, you need to tally them multiple times to check for inaccuracy. This will help to determine accuracy.

Conclusion

It is advisable to hire a professional buy to let accountant who can help you maintain the records. No matter how many properties you own, hiring professionals who know the in and out of the industry will prevent you from spending any extra money. The accountants will help you maintain the records monthly or annually, as you request them.