An estimated £28 million worth of tax relief for commercial property owners has now been lost due to a lack of understanding on the regulation changes…

According to Catax Solutions, the UK’s largest capital allowances company, only five per cent of commercial properties sold in the UK since the implementation of the 2012 Finance Bill on 1^st April, have claimed any of the relief made available to them.

The five per cent equates to HMRC’s count of 9340 transactions of those that qualify for tax relief. The £28 million is the amount of relief that was available to companies in the month of April.

The regulation changes brought in mean that any owner of 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.

It is believed, though, that very few parties involved in commercial property transactions understand the tax regime changes and the amount of tax relief lost will continue to grow month on month.

Mark Tighe, Managing Director, at 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 it is extremely worrying to know that £28 million 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.”

Mark added: “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.”