Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Anti-avoidance definition

What does Anti-avoidance mean? Anti-avoidance describes measures used to stop parties structuring transactions to sidestep statutory liabilities or weaken creditor protections. In pensions practice in the UK, it most often refers to The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) powers to deter or remedy avoidance of defined benefit scheme obligations, especially the section 75 employer debt. Although “anti-avoidance” is a descriptive term, key powers are set out in legislation. Under the Pensions Act 2004 (as amended, notably by the Pension Schemes Act 2021), TPR may issue: - Contribution notices (CNs), requiring payment to a scheme. Statutory “tests” include main purpose, material detriment, and (from 2021) the...

UK VAT: Option to Tax Land and Buildings—Scope, Exercise and Notification, Disapplication, Revocation, TOGC and Practical Considerations for Property Lawyers

Published by a LexisNexis Tax expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note addresses opting to tax land and buildings. It looks at who may make the election, the breadth of that election, how it is exercised and notified, the consequent effects, when it can be withdrawn, and the pros and cons of opting. For situations where the election is expressly disapplied, see Practice Notes: Option to tax—disapplication for residential and other property and Option to tax—disapplication under anti-avoidance rules.

Why does this matter?

By default, property dealings are VAT‑exempt (see Practice Note: Exemption from VAT for land and buildings), meaning no VAT is charged and associated input tax is irrecoverable. Electing to opt generally converts supplies into taxable ones and enables input tax recovery. In day‑to‑day practice, the majority of commercial property is covered by an option to tax. As a rule, once a property owner has opted, the election governs all of their transactions involving that property. Accordingly, if they have opted to tax lettings, the same option will also apply on a later disposal of the property. This covers, for example, disposals as well as lettings...

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Martin Scammell

Martin Scammell is an independent VAT consultant, specialising in property and construction matters, who works with tax departments in major corporates and universities, and with a number of law and accountancy firms. He is the author of the leading reference work on VAT and property.Martin started out in VAT Policy in Customs & Excise, was a Partner at Ernst & Young, where he headed up the VAT real estate group, and then became head of indirect tax at Eversheds.He has been involved in the development of VAT legislation and policy over many years, and regularly serves on working parties established by HMRC. He was a member of the Office of Tax Simplification’s consultative committee for their review of VAT in 2017, and in 2018-19 of HMRC’s external stakeholder group considering the proposed reverse charge for building work. Martin currently works with HMRC as...

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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