Tax Planning for Property Developers

Anyone who is a property developer is likely to be taxed as a property trader on the basis that they are buying, selling or renovating properties with the intention of resale. It's worthwhile noting that if possible they should consider any arguments that could apply for investment status even on some of the properties acquired. See this article: How property developers should be minimising income and maximising capital Essentially given the cut in the rates of capital gains tax this makes investment status very attractive. Aside from this any property developers should be looking at standard tax planning techniques to minimise their trading profits. In particular contributions to pensions schemes, the effective use of provisions to reduce trading profits, deferring income and accelerating expenditure are the general principles of tax planning for traders. In terms of property developers tax planning would include the effective treatment of costs and expenses on long term developments (eg to work in progress or directly to the P&L?), the tax treatment of finance costs and claiming tax deductions for unrealised losses on trading properties.