Option to tax changes from 1 February
From 1 February, HMRC will no longer acknowledge receipt of paper option to tax notifications. How do you ensure you receive evidence of the notification after that date?
By making an option to tax, a business can charge VAT (and therefore recover input VAT) on the sale or letting of land or non-residential property when the supply would otherwise be exempt. HMRC has issued a brief describing the changes to processing option to tax forms which take effect from 1 February 2023. From this date it will no longer issue an acknowledgement letter for the notifications it receives. This could lead to problems later on if HMRC claims not to have received your option to tax notification. However, if you submit the notification via email to optiontotaxnationalunit@hmrc.gov.uk, you will receive an automated response which will show the date the notification was submitted. Notifications sent any other way, e.g. by letter, are still valid but will not be acknowledged by HMRC. It's hoped that by scrapping the acknowledgement letters, HMRC will be more efficient in this area.
Related Topics
-
Alternative education providers can protect VAT refund claims
HMRC has confirmed that some alternative providers of higher and further education can submit VAT refund claims following a Court of Appeal ruling, despite HMRC appealing the decision to the Supreme Court. What do you need to know?
-
Old IHT forms will be rejected
HMRC has stopped processing old versions of the Inheritance Tax IHT100 forms from 31 August 2026. Anyone reporting an IHT chargeable event involving a gift or trust will need to make sure they are using the correct forms. What do you need to know?
-
The tax incentive to do a thorough stock-take
The annual stock-take isn’t exactly your favourite thing to do. You know resources could be better spent elsewhere so you try to get through it as quickly as possible. Why might it be worth a little more of your time?



This website uses both its own and third-party cookies to analyze our services and navigation on our website in order to improve its contents (analytical purposes: measure visits and sources of web traffic). The legal basis is the consent of the user, except in the case of basic cookies, which are essential to navigate this website.