All you need to know about ATED

Residential properties owned by a company (or other collective investment vehicle) are described as being ‘enveloped’. This is because the ownership sits within a corporate vehicle which acts as a ‘wrapper’ or ‘envelope’.

ATED (annual tax on enveloped dwellings) is a tax charged on a company, a partnership with a company member, or a collective investment scheme which holds an interest in one or more UK residential dwelling(s). It applies when the single dwelling interest is worth more than £500,000.

Key facts:

• an ATED chargeable period runs from 1 April to 31 March
• normally, an ATED return must be made within 30 days of the date on which the property first comes within the charge to ATED for any chargeable period. Where the single-dwelling interest is held on the first day of the chargeable period, that is 1 April, the return must be filed by 30 April in the year of charge. ATED returns for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 are due to HMRC by 30 April 2024
• however, ‘new dwellings’ and ‘dwellings produced from other dwellings’ have been provided with a grace period, ie 90-day filing the ATED return
• this year’s (2024/25) ATED charge is based on the valuation of 1 April 2022; members are advised to pick up the correct banding for this valuation for the related ATED charge payable
• filing deadline for a newly built property, within 90 days of the earlier of the date:
  • the property becomes a dwelling for council tax purposes
  • it is first occupied

• an ATED return should be submitted to HMRC annually whether tax is payable, or relief is claimed
• a separate ATED return is required for each individual property which is subject to ATED tax.

Relief and exemptions

There are reliefs available which may reduce the liability in part or to zero. Generally, you may be able to claim relief for your property if it is:

• let to a third party on a commercial basis and isn’t, at any time, occupied (or available for occupation) by anyone connected with the owner
• open to the public for at least 28 days a year
• being developed for resale by a property developer
• owned by a property trader as the stock of the business for the sole purpose of resale
• repossessed by a financial institution as a result of its business of lending money
• acquired under a regulated Home Reversion Plan
• being used by a trading business to provide living accommodation to certain qualifying employees
• a farmhouse occupied by a farm worker or a former long-serving farm worker
• owned by a registered provider of social housing.

Follow sections 30 to 41 of the ATED technical guidance to meet the criteria on these reliefs.

Watch out for following situations that may lead to ATED charge:

• Empty rental properties – HMRC emphasises that the chargeable person should take necessary steps without delay to find a tenant when a property is vacated. Reliefs are possible if a newly acquired property requires some refurbishment in order to bring it up to the standard required for letting, subject to requirements of the relief
• Dwelling occupied by a non-qualifying person – occupation by a non-qualifying person will preclude the rental relief applying and will also affect the availability of many of the other ATED reliefs. This is the case even if that occupier is paying a full market rent for the property.

A non-qualifying person is someone who is connected with the settlor, the trust or the company. ‘Connected’ would include settlor of the trust, his/her relatives and spouses/civil partners of those relatives. ‘Relative’ includes brothers, sisters, grandparents, children and grandchildren.

There are exemptions from ATED for charitable companies, public bodies and bodies established for national purpose. They do not need to file an ATED if they meet all of the conditions mentioned in section 42–44 of the ATED technical guidance.

Events which may trigger a new valuation date

An initial statutory valuation date set by HMRC was 1 April 2012 and each five years thereafter, ie 1 April 2017 and 1 April 2022 onwards. The amount of tax due for each chargeable period depends on the value of the property owned on these dates. The following events happening in between statutory valuation dates may prompt a new valuation:

• Sale of any substantial part of the dwelling
  If a company disposes of part of a property for more than £40,000 then this will also trigger a new valuation date. This may result in a lower valuation for ATED purposes, subject to the value of the rest of the dwelling not increasing much since the previous valuation date. Otherwise the company could end up in a higher ATED charge if the value has increased.
• A new acquisition which links to the existing property subject to ATED
  If a company acquires an interest which is more than £40,000 in relation to a property which is subject to ATED, it will trigger a new valuation date for that property. A new valuation would be required if, for a leasehold property, more than £40,000 is paid for a lease extension.

HMRC ATED returns should be submitted online and clients/practitioners can sign up to use the ATED online service.