Commercial and residential property

VAT is often at its most complex in property matters.

There are a myriad of potential treatments and reliefs applicable to different categories of land and buildings. Businesses need specialist help when considering high value property transactions and our team is equipped to provide it.

We specialise in all areas of VAT property matters. If you are involved in residential or commercial property investment, development or construction, you could benefit from our pro-active and commercial approach to advising clients.

Buying or selling property

Our team is highly skilled at identifying issues and coming up with practical working solutions. We are familiar with all aspects of ‘transfer of a going concern’ relief for property businesses and how to achieve it. We understand how an option to tax can be beneficial and when it creates extra cost.

Clients benefit from our innovative solutions to reducing risk during property transactions. We work closely with our tax and advisory colleagues to ensure our advice fits with our clients’ overall business objectives.

We will identify ways to reduce VAT costs and to ensure your property owning structures are as VAT efficient as possible.

Obtaining VAT relief

We are experienced in all aspects of VAT relief and compliance requirements on property disposals, conversion or construction.

We advise clients on how to obtain VAT relief and how to comply with the relevant conditions. We can guide you through the process of obtaining clearance from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), where applicable, and advise you on the practical problems you may encounter during the course of a project.

Reducing VAT costs

We help clients negotiate and agree special partial exemption methods with HMRC to reduce their irrecoverable VAT costs. We can quickly identify if your VAT recovery method is fit for purpose and advise on the benefits and risks of seeking to change your method.