Useful Tax Bonus For Boarders

Salient Reporter

A Little-Known tax concession offers a substantial sum of tax-free income to members of the public who board students.

Any Person who keeps one boarder need not show any of the receipts from board paid as income.

This concession could add up to £100 to the real income of a family which boarded a student in Wellington for one year.

This estimate is based on the few available analyses of Wellington board costs, which show that about 40 per cent of money paid in board goes to pay the labour of the person offering the board.

In the case of private board, this sum would go to the family. Taking an average board rate of £5 per week—slightly below the average figure given by the university's accommodation service— this would give an average return of £100 free of tax.

Even with two, three, or four boarders, only 20 per cent of gross receipts is returnable as income, or less if the profit actually made is below this figure.