VATLP22370 | Option to tax: decision and notification: rules for options made before March 1995

Before 1 March 1995, a person did not have to notify Customs & Excise of an option to tax if the sum of all the supplies in respect of properties which they had opted to tax was expected to be less than £20,000 in the next 12 months. This applied even if a person had requested and been granted permission to opt to tax.

The law changed on 1 March 1995, and all options made on or after this date have to be notified to HMRC, except, with effect from 1 June 2008, in cases where prior permission is required (see section 5, Notice 742A) or where the option arises as a result of a Real Estate Election (see section 14, Notice 742A).