🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Landlord Tax Calculator

Calculate income tax on your UK rental property for 2025/26. See how Section 24 affects your mortgage interest relief, compare Rent-a-Room vs buy-to-let, and find your effective tax rate on rental profit.

£
Total rent received per year
£
Agent fees, insurance, repairs, accountancy
£
Interest only — not capital repayment
£
Your employment or self-employment income

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How to Use This Calculator

Rental Profit Tax tab

Enter your annual rental income, allowable expenses (letting agent fees, insurance, repairs, accountancy), mortgage interest, and your other income (salary or self-employment). The calculator works out your rental profit, applies income tax at your marginal rate, then deducts the Section 24 tax credit (20% of mortgage interest) to give your net tax on rental income and effective tax rate.

Section 24 Impact tab

Compare the old rules (mortgage interest fully deductible from rental profit) with the current rules (Section 24 — no deduction, only a 20% tax credit). See exactly how much more tax you pay under Section 24. This tab is most revealing for higher-rate and additional-rate taxpayers, who lose the most from the restriction.

Rent-a-Room vs BTL tab

Compare Rent-a-Room Relief (renting a room in your own home, tax-free up to £7,500/year) with a buy-to-let property. Enter monthly income for each, plus BTL expenses and mortgage interest. See the net income comparison after tax to decide which route makes more financial sense.

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The Formula

UK landlord tax under Section 24 works differently from most income taxes:

Rental Profit = Annual Rent − Allowable Expenses
(Mortgage interest is NOT deducted from profit)

Total Taxable Income = Salary + Rental Profit
Income Tax = Tax on Total Income − Tax on Salary Alone

Section 24 Tax Credit = Mortgage Interest × 20%

Net Tax on Rental = Income Tax on Rental − Section 24 Credit
Effective Rate = Net Tax / Rental Profit

Rent-a-Room: First £7,500 is completely tax-free
Property Allowance: First £1,000 is tax-free (alternative to expenses)

The key difference from the old rules: before Section 24, a higher-rate taxpayer with £5,000 mortgage interest saved £2,000 in tax (40% × £5,000). Now they only get a £1,000 credit (20% × £5,000) — costing them £1,000/year extra.

For basic-rate taxpayers, the difference is zero — 20% deduction vs 20% credit produces the same result.

Example

David — Higher Rate Taxpayer, BTL Landlord

David earns £50,000 salary (higher rate taxpayer). He owns a buy-to-let flat that earns £12,000/year in rent. His mortgage interest is £5,000/year and he has £3,000 in allowable expenses (letting agent, insurance, minor repairs).

Rental Profit Tax tab

Annual rent£12,000
Allowable expenses£3,000
Mortgage interest£5,000
Salary£50,000
Rental profit£9,000
Tax on rental at marginal rate£3,600
Section 24 credit (20% of £5,000)-£1,000
Net tax on rental£2,600
Effective tax rate28.9%

David's £9,000 rental profit is taxed at his marginal rate of 40%, giving £3,600. The Section 24 credit reduces this by £1,000, leaving £2,600 net tax. His effective rate on rental income is 28.9%.

Section 24 Impact tab

Under the old rules, David would have deducted £5,000 mortgage interest from his rental profit, giving a taxable profit of just £4,000. His tax would have been £1,600 (40% of £4,000). Under Section 24, he pays £2,600. Section 24 costs David an extra £1,000/year.

FAQ

Rental income is taxed as part of your total income at your marginal tax rate: 20% (basic rate), 40% (higher rate), or 45% (additional rate). You calculate your rental profit by deducting allowable expenses (letting agent fees, insurance, repairs, ground rent, accountancy fees) from your gross rent. Mortgage interest is not deductible since Section 24 took full effect in April 2020 — instead you receive a 20% tax credit. If your rental income is under £1,000, you can use the property allowance and pay no tax. You must report rental income on your Self Assessment tax return.
Section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015 restricts tax relief on mortgage interest for individual landlords. Before Section 24, landlords could deduct mortgage interest from their rental profits before calculating tax. Now, mortgage interest cannot be deducted at all. Instead, landlords receive a basic-rate (20%) tax credit. This means basic-rate taxpayers are unaffected, but higher-rate (40%) and additional-rate (45%) taxpayers pay significantly more tax. The restriction was phased in from 2017 to 2020 and is now fully in effect. It applies to individual landlords only — limited companies can still deduct mortgage interest, which is why some landlords have incorporated.
Allowable expenses include: letting agent and management fees, buildings and contents insurance, repairs and maintenance (but not improvements), accountancy fees, legal fees for lets of a year or less, ground rent and service charges, council tax (if you pay it, not the tenant), utility bills (if included in rent), and advertising for tenants. You can also claim Replacement Domestic Items Relief for replacing furniture and appliances on a like-for-like basis. Note: improvements (e.g., adding an extension or upgrading a kitchen beyond its original standard) are not allowable expenses — they may reduce your Capital Gains Tax bill when you sell instead.
Rent-a-Room Relief lets you earn up to £7,500 per year tax-free from renting a furnished room in your own home. This applies to lodgers, not separate properties. If you earn under £7,500, you do not need to report it to HMRC or file a tax return for it. If you earn over £7,500, you can choose to either: (a) use the £7,500 allowance and pay tax on the excess, or (b) deduct actual expenses instead. You do not need to own the property — tenants who sub-let with permission can also claim. The relief is halved to £3,750 if you share the income with another person (e.g., a partner).
Yes. When you sell a rental property, you pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on the profit. For 2025/26, residential property CGT rates are 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 24% for higher/additional-rate taxpayers. You have a £3,000 annual CGT allowance. You must report and pay CGT within 60 days of completion using HMRC's CGT on UK property service. Allowable deductions include: purchase costs, stamp duty, solicitor fees, improvement costs (not repairs), and selling costs (estate agent, solicitor). If you lived in the property at any point, you may qualify for partial Private Residence Relief.

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