Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 51

Request to be registered

Section 51 allows a person who is not required to be VAT registered, and is not already registered, to request voluntary registration where they intend to make relevant supplies connected with an option to tax or meeting specific conditions.

• A person not liable to register can request registration if they intend to exercise an option to tax and make relevant supplies, or already hold such an option and plan to start making relevant supplies, or intend to make supplies meeting specified conditions
• HMRC may register the person from an agreed date and may impose whatever conditions they consider appropriate, including conditions based on prescribed rules or other criteria
• Any conditions imposed by HMRC can be varied at any time, regardless of when they were originally set
• If the person is already entitled to register under paragraphs 9 or 10 of Schedule 1, they must be registered under that Schedule instead, not under this voluntary route