Value Added Tax Act 1994 Schedule 1A paragraphs 1–4

Liability to be registered

Section 1A paragraphs 1–4 set out when a person with no UK business establishment becomes liable to register for VAT, including the special rules for business transfers and the circumstances in which the liability to be registered ceases.

• A person must register if they make (or are about to make within 30 days) taxable supplies in the course of a business, have no UK business or fixed establishment, and are not already VAT-registered.
• Where the only reason for expecting taxable supplies within 30 days is a transfer of a going concern from a taxable person, registration is not required in advance — but the transferee must register at the point the transfer actually takes place if the four conditions are then met.
• If a person would have become liable to register but was already registered at the time, and that earlier registration is later cancelled, they are treated as having become liable at the original date.
• A person ceases to be liable to register only when HMRC are satisfied either that the person has stopped making taxable supplies in the course of business, or that the person now has a UK business or fixed establishment (meaning they fall under the standard domestic registration rules instead).