Buy to let landlords could be hit with a national insurance (NI) levy on rental income, if the latest rumours about Treasury proposals are to be believed. At the moment this appears to be kite flying with no detail on how this will work but for the chancellor Rachel Reeves, landlords could be an easy target as their income falls outside the protected income tax, NI and VAT triumvirate.

The national insurance rate is 8% on income up to £50,270, then 2% thereafter, but the talk is this would be an NI levy, so is more likely to be a 1-3% surcharge, similar to stamp duty uplift for second home buyers.

The Treasury always declines to comment on any tax policy in advance of a major ‘fiscal event’, saying that the chancellor will lay out tax policy changes at the Budget at an unspecified date in the autumn.

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