Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 49

Transfers of going concerns

Section 49 deals with the VAT consequences when a business, or part of a business, is transferred as a going concern, including registration obligations, continuity of liabilities, record-keeping duties, and information-sharing between the parties.

• The transferee is treated as having carried on the business before and after the transfer for the purpose of determining VAT registration liability, with the transferor's supplies counting towards the transferee's turnover history.
• HMRC may make regulations to ensure continuity, including transferring record-keeping duties from the transferor to the transferee, and allowing liabilities, duties, and rights to VAT repayments or credits to pass between them — but only where both parties have jointly applied.
• Where the transferor retains a duty to preserve business records after the transfer, the transferee can require the transferor to provide information, supply copies of documents, and make records available for inspection, so far as is reasonably necessary to meet the transferee's own VAT obligations.
• HMRC may disclose information about the business as carried on by the transferor to the transferee, to help the transferee comply with its VAT duties.