How to find a business tax accountant?

gterr

Hi there,


I am looking for a business tax accountant to give an opinion on whether a property can be sold without VAT, by being regarded as the transfer of a going concern. This is a one-off enquiry, not a complicated one, for which I'm happy to pay a fee. However, it's a bit urgent, so I would prefer to give the info and receive the opinion by email. Any recommendations?

Dazed_and_confused

Do you know anyone, friend, relative, trusted neighbour, colleague, who might be able to make a personal recommendation?

That may be a safer bet than a recommendation from some random on a public forum!

kidmugsy

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

Do you know anyone, friend, relative, trusted neighbour, colleague, who might be able to make a personal recommendation?

If all else fails, perhaps approach somebody local who seems to you to run his business well, and ask him for a recommendation. Competent people probably hire competent accountants.

Pennywise

VAT on property is pretty specialised. I wouldn't just randomly pick a general accountant at all. There are a few VAT specialists who do that kind of advisory work regularly.

I've had clients use both these firms who seem to know their stuff:-

https://www.davebrownvat.com/
https://www.thevatpeople.co.uk/

chrismac1

I think you may struggle with this, if you want to get an accountant where you'll be covered under the PII if anything goes wrong. It's not something I personally would do, for example, even though I've done numerous TOGCs with no problems.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/non-statutory-clearance-service-guidance

You may want to consider going directly to the HMRC clearance team for VAT at Southend. Note that you need to be accurate and complete in what you write, and especially not exclude anything just because it might steer them into giving you an answer you don't want.

I've used them twice in 8 years and always had a 28 day response, which is going at the speed of light compared to normal HMRC standards.