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Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used increasingly for tax research by taxpayers, accountancy practices, professional tax departments and law firms. The prospect of saving valuable time summarising tax legislation, identifying relevant case law and interpreting complex tax rules is understandably attractive. 

Mark McLaughlin advocates extreme caution when using artificial intelligence in tax research and especially in preparing for tax cases. 

The question of how best to minimise taxes on income or gains normally comes down to two main considerations: can the income or gain be re-allocated to someone who will pay tax on it at a lower rate, or can the tax date of receipt be delayed until (hopefully) a lower rate will apply? 

For a property letting business, a corporate structure can help with the efficient allocation of income.  There are, however, a large number of other considerations to take into account when making a decision about whether to operate a letting business via a company.   
 
Paul Davies looks at some of the options for owning rental property and considers to what extent they can be used to help minimise taxes. 

Unsurprisingly, income received from jointly owned property is usually allocated between the owners on the basis of beneficial ownership. However, this is not the case for married couples or civil partners (referred to here as spouses) who live together and own property jointly outside of a formal partnership. Instead, a default fiction of a 50:50 split for income tax purposes only applies (courtesy of ITA 2007, s 836(1)).  
 
Debbie Reyland highlights tips and pitfalls to look out for when using Form 17 for jointly owned property.  

For tax purposes, profits from UK land or property are treated as from a business. While the profits and losses for the property business are calculated in the same way as for a trade, the taxpayer is not treated as actually trading. The profits of an unincorporated property rental business are charged to income tax, while those of a property rental company are charged to corporation tax. 

Sarah Bradford explains how to determine when a property business starts and finishes. 

Property partnerships seem popular these days – typically, as a stepping-stone to greater things. Regular readers will know that I have long criticised HMRC’s published position on whether a property partnership exists, as distinct from simply co-owned property. My argument is that HMRC has drawn up its guidance to set an unreasonably high threshold to ‘make the grade’ as a partnership.

Lee Sharpe looks at whether a joint property letting activity amounts to a partnership, and why it is relevant to landlords.  

Most people do not expect to have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) when they sell their home. Private residence relief (also known as main residence relief or principal private residence relief) normally applies in full when the property has been the taxpayer’s only or main residence throughout the whole period for which they have owned it.  

Sarah Bradford outlines the concept of a ‘main’ residence for capital gains tax purposes. 

The government (HMRC) has become increasingly worried about the volume of small and medium-sized enterprise research and development (R&D) tax credit payments where a company claims to have undertaken eligible R&D activity (and it is important to keep in mind that only certain types of R&D may qualify – there are a lot of criteria).

Lee Sharpe looks at tax aspects of modernising property and the risk of disallowance as improvements that constitute capital expenditure, losing income tax relief in the property business. 

Whether to buy commercial or residential property depends on various factors, not least the more beneficial tax system for commercial lets and whether an individual or a company is purchasing the property. The government wishes to encourage commercial lets and therefore permits a more generous tax regime than residential lettings. 

Jennifer Adams considers some important tax benefits of investing in commercial property.