UK businesses lost an estimated £28m in unclaimed tax relief in April

Regulation changes implemented from 1 April onwards means that any individual or business that owns a commercial property has to identify the capital allowances in their commercial property at the point of being bought or sold, or they could be lost forever.

However, as very few parties involved in commercial property transactions understand the changes to the tax regime, the amount of lost tax relief will continue to grow month on month.

Mark Tighe, Managing Director, Catax Solutions commented: “As we expected, Britain’s commercial property owners are already losing a staggering amount of tax relief due to the lack of understanding and knowledge of capital allowances. And its extremely worrying to know that £28m is just the start – in just one month.

“This tax relief has now been lost forever. And there is no doubt now that a very large percentage of transactions will continue to take place this year without capital allowances being identified.

“It is also very worrying to know that this loss if just the start of what could be a very messy process. It is only a matter of time before finger pointing begins, and legal action will ensue as more and more property owners are affected by these losses.”