Bed & Breakfast purchase and VAT help

lawcher

Hello
my husband and I are in the last leg of buying a bnb- I had one years ago but  this VAT issue was never mentioned and I didn’t know.

our solicitor now said the seller said he is exempt from paying VAT but our solicitor said HMRC may not agree and we will be liable to pay the VAT.

we are paying £8500 stamp duty 

I found an article saying if the seller is VAT registered we need to be to transfer it to ourselves so we pay £0 
our conveyancer and he is commercial manager solicitor told us to ask an accountant 
The accountant said we aren’t liable as it’s the sellers vat but other online articles things indicate we can be liable.

The seller has multiple businesses and properties so he may have a high income and be liable for VAT so now we are unsure as solicitor doesn’t know & accountant isn’t 100%. 

Anyone actually know the rules Hmrc phone queue was forever

Thankyou    

Jeremy535897

I assume that there is no question of the seller charging you VAT on the property itself? It would be unusual if the vendor had opted to tax it. See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/opting-to-tax-land-and-buildings-notice-742a

I suspect it is more likely that the question is whether the vendor charged VAT to guests, which is likely to depend on whether the VAT registration limit was reached. This would affect whether VAT is charged on the transfer of furniture etc. See: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-a-business-as-a-going-concern-and-vat-notice-7009

lawcher

Jeremy535897 said:

I assume that there is no question of the seller charging you VAT on the property itself? It would be unusual if the vendor had opted to tax it. See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/opting-to-tax-land-and-buildings-notice-742a

I suspect it is more likely that the question is whether the vendor charged VAT to guests, which is likely to depend on whether the VAT registration limit was reached. This would affect whether VAT is charged on the transfer of furniture etc. See: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-a-business-as-a-going-concern-and-vat-notice-7009

Thank you very much for your help