Deed of Assignment Question

Tax Planning and Financial

Hi, 

After working overseas for several years I returned to the UK in late 2021 with the intention of retiring.  That didn't quite work out and I agreed to continue working remotely on a reduced hours consultancy basis.  All good except now I was faced with how to best manage my UK tax affairs including rental income from 2 properties, pensions and my consultancy work.

Early in 2022/2023 tax year I found out about the possibility of using a deed of assignment of benficial interest (property) and so decided to set them up transferring 100% beneficial interest to my wife.  As a sole owner this also meant that rule 17 was not applicable.

I spent some time on the HMRC community forum reviewing any deed of assignment related questions and, at first, it seemed straightforward. A HMRC agent said I just had to have the DOA in place, I didn't have to submit it/them, just keep them in case they were requested at a later date.  So this is what I did.

However, after that I continued looking at the HMRC forum and started to see conflicting advice which suggested that, among other things, I had to show that all relevant monies were being paid to my wife rather than just into the business account I use for that purpose.  Additionally, I consulted a "tax professional" who gave me more conflicting information and said that the only way I could do this was to transfer the deeds to my wife or put them in joint names.

Does anyone here have experience of using a DOA to transfer the income to someone else or can anyone tell me what I need to do to be able to set this up properly?

Many thanks in advance for any advice!