VATREG29320 | VATREG29320 - Transfers of going concerns (TOGC): VAT Registration: Taxable Supplies

When a TOGC takes place and the seller is a taxable person, it is considered that the buyer is carrying on the same business following the transfer as the seller prior to the transfer. This means that the taxable supplies of the seller are now considered to be that of the buyer.

Therefore, if the seller’s relevant turnover in the 12 months prior to the date of transfer had exceeded the registration threshold, the buyer has a liability to register on the day of the TOGC. Relevant turnover in this context is the turnover of the business or part there of being transferred.

Where the buyer had been making taxable supplies of his own prior to the TOGC, they must add the value of these to the supplies made by the transferred business.

If the seller is not a taxable person, the pre-transfer turnover of their business does not count towards that of the buyer going forward.