How we sorted a Margate guest house and cafe's tax for £7,400 saving
Client K runs a guest house and cafe in Margate's Old Town, benefiting from the area's tourism revival, with strongly seasonal income. The business was run as a sole trader, the holiday-let element hadn't been reviewed since the Furnished Holiday Let rules changed, the seasonal cash flow caused tax-payment stress, and there was no structure for the partner who worked full-time in the business.
We reviewed everything in light of the abolition of the Furnished Holiday Let regime from April 2025, the lettings now fall under the standard property rules, so we re-based the treatment, captured all the legitimate running costs across the guest house and cafe, modelled whether incorporating made sense, brought the partner into a proper structure, and set up a cash-flow plan to smooth the seasonal tax payments.