I’m selling part of my business, and the buyer has asked for the VAT records relating to purchases and sales made by that section. It would be difficult to separate out those records, so do I have to hand them over?
If the assets you are selling can be operated as a separate business the wholesale should be treated as a transfer of a going concern to avoid charging VAT on the sale, in which case you as the seller should hang on to the VAT records. The law was changed on this point for sales of businesses made from 1 September 2007. You need to provide the buyer with any information that may affect his VAT returns, such as details of assets under the capital goods scheme. Otherwise, you should only hand over VAT records if you are also transferring your VAT number, but that is very unlikely with the sale of only part of your business.
