Are mortgage cashback and broker's commission rebates taxable?

[JamesHopeful]

Hello all,

I had assumed that mortgage cashback and broker's commission rebates for BTL mortgages would be taxable. I have, however, just read Understanding and Paying Less Property Tax For Dummies which states that these sums are, in fact, allowed as a freebie by HMRC! This is good news, but can anyone confirm that this is still correct (the book's five years old)?

If it is, I thought it worth proclaiming more widely in case others had made the same mistake as me.

[Gordon999]

If you buy 20 pds of groceries at your supermarket by credit card and draw out another 20 pds as cashback, you still have to re-pay for the total of 40 pds to the card company ,
- its not a freebie.

The rebates on mortgage commission is not considered as profit and taxed as rental profit .

[JamesHopeful]

I don't quite follow the analogy -- the "completion cashback" is not added onto the loan, but it is a "gift" from the lender (albeit one which is presumably calculated for in a fractionally higher interest rate).

However if everyone agrees that cashback and rebated commission are not taxable income in HMRC's eyes, I'll happily accept it even if I don't quite understand why....