Holden Associates – Accountants & Business Advisers Blog

If you are buying or selling a VAT registered business this is for you. From 1 September 2007 the TOGC rules changed.

The vendor (seller) is no longer required to transfer the records of the business to the purchaser, nor to obtain the ‘vatmans’ permission to retain the records.

From 1 September 2007 the seller will retain the records, however the seller must:

• make available to the buyer information necessary for the buyer to comply with his/her duties under the VAT Act,
• where the buyer applies to HMRC to take on the seller’s VAT number, the seller is still required to transfer the records to the buyer, unless the seller needs to retain them, in which case the seller must apply to HMRC for permission to do so.

For full guidance on the TOGC record keeping requirements go to the Revenues website.