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Supplies of land and buildings, such as freehold sales, leasing or renting out the property, are normally exempt from VAT. This means that no VAT is payable, but the person making the supply cannot normally recover any of the VAT incurred on property expenses.
However it is possible to waive the exemption, or “opt to tax” the land. For the purposes of VAT, the term ‘land’ includes any buildings or structures permanently affixed to it. You do not need to own the land in order to opt to tax. Once you have opted to tax all the supplies you make of your interest in the land or buildings will normally be standard-rated, and you will normally be able to recover any VAT you incur in making those supplies. See updated HMRC Notice 742a for details:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/opting-to-tax-land-and-buildings-notice-742a
If you are notifying HMRC of a decision to opt to tax land and buildings, you are normally required to notify HMRC within 30 days by either:
The 30 day deadline was temporarily extended to 90 days to help businesses and agents during the pandemic. That temporary extension has now ended so for decisions made from 1 August 2021 onwards, you must notify HMRC within 30 days.
See: Changes to notifying an option to tax land and buildings during coronavirus (COVID-19) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
09 Jun 2025
HMRC has launched a new online interactive tool to help guide both businesses and individuals through tax compliance checks.
Almost 300,000 people filed their tax return in the first week of the new tax year, setting a new record, HMRC has revealed.
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