Closing down a VAT registered partnership

[Lily the Pink]

We (husband and wife) are now well past retirement age and have been downsizing our farming business over the last several years, we went from a Ltd company to a partnership and that now has very little income; it could almost be considered a hobby; the accountant's fees to draw up the partnership tax return are a relatively significant item of expenditure. The partnership owns a significant amount of equipment and buildings, with VAT having been reclaimed on relevant purchases.

Year end is the end of this month and I'm thinking now could be the time to wrap it up - but I would want to keep most of the equipment/buildings for my own use. Will that mean I have to repay the VAT on retained equipment and if so how is that calculated - on depreciated book value, deemed open sale value, or some other method ?

[deggles]

I am not an accountant but I believe VAT is payable on the market value. Unless the VAT owing is <£1000 (i.e. stock/assets less than about £5k) in which case you don't need to pay anything back.

[Eric Mc]

. Goods taken out of the business for personal use, on which Input VAT was reclaimed originally, should have Output VAT declared based on the market value of the assets or stock at the date they were taken out of the business, subject to the de minimus threshold.