# VAT1614G: switching off a seller’s option to tax when a housing association buys land - **Canonical URL:** https://formspedia.com/uk/vat1614g/ - **Country & Language:** United Kingdom (`en-GB`) - **Form:** VAT1614G - **Revision:** HMRC 09/15 - **Issuing Agency:** HM Revenue and Customs - **Tax Area:** VAT and sales tax - **Who Must File:** Relevant housing associations purchasing land or buildings to construct dwellings or relevant residential buildings - **Filing Method:** Issued directly to the land seller (not sent to HMRC unless requested) - **Filing Deadline:** Before the price is legally fixed - **Legal Basis / Statute:** Value Added Tax Act 1994, Schedule 10 - **Official Form PDF:** https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80c3b840f0b623026955fb/VAT1614G.pdf A seller has opted to tax a plot of land, so the sale would normally carry VAT. If the buyer is a housing association that will build homes on it, a one-page certificate can switch that option off for this sale and make it exempt. The certificate is VAT1614G, and when the seller receives it decides whether they have to accept it. The form in use is marked HMRC 09/15. HMRC's page offers two versions of the same certificate: one to fill in on screen and print, and a PDF to print and complete by hand. ### Which buyers can issue it Only a relevant housing association, buying land to construct dwellings or relevant residential buildings. Notice 742A, paragraph 3.6.1, lists four kinds, and the form has a box for each: - a private registered provider of social housing under section 80(3) of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 - a registered social landlord under Part 1 of the Housing Act 1996 (the form labels this box for Welsh registered social landlords) - a registered social landlord under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 - a registered housing association under Part 2 of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 A private individual building their own home does not need this form at all. Paragraph 3.7 of the same notice disapplies the option for that sale without any certificate. ### When the certificate has to arrive Paragraph 3.6.3 and its Section C have force of law. The certificate has to reach the seller before the price is legally fixed. Notice 742A gives exchange of contracts, missives or letters, and the signing of heads of agreement as examples, while warning that heads of agreement do not always fix the price. Given in time, it binds the seller: the supply of that land must be exempt. Given late, the seller can refuse it. Under paragraph 3.6.4 the seller may still accept it, but only for supplies made after it arrives. On a freehold sale the supply usually happens at completion, so a late certificate can still work if the seller agrees. On a lease with periodic rent, only the rents falling due after the certificate is received can be exempt. ### Filling in the certificate There are four blocks. **Housing association's details** Full name, an X against one of the four status boxes, address, postcode and phone number, and whether the association is VAT registered (with the number if it is). **Supplier's details** The seller's name, address and postcode, and their VAT registration number if they have one. **Details of opted land that is being acquired** The address and postcode of the land itself. **Signature and declaration** Signature, name and status of the signatory (director, partner and so on) and the date. The declaration says the signatory is entitled to sign for the association and that the land will be used, after any demolition, to build one or more dwellings or a building solely for a relevant residential purpose. #### When only part of the land will be housing The certificate disapplies the option only for the part that will be built on for those uses. Paragraph 3.6 tells the seller to split the price between the exempt part and the part that stays taxable. ### Who keeps it The housing association gives the completed certificate to the seller. Nothing goes to HMRC; the form says no copy is needed. The supplier keeps it as the record of why that sale carried no VAT. The bottom of the form has a warning for the issuer: a false certificate can lead to a penalty, and the association is responsible for what it states. ### Questions #### Is there a Welsh-language version? HMRC's page says you can email HMRC to ask for VAT1614G in Welsh. #### Is this the same as the certificate for converting a building into homes? That is VAT1614D, a separate certificate for buildings to be converted into dwellings. VAT1614G covers land on which new dwellings will be constructed. ### Sources - HM Revenue and Customs, VAT1614G Certificate to disapply the option to tax: land sold to housing associations, HMRC 09/15 ([assets.publishing.service.gov.uk](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80c3b840f0b623026955fb/VAT1614G.pdf)) - GOV.UK, Disapply the option to tax land sold to housing associations (VAT1614G) ([gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-certificate-to-disapply-the-option-to-tax-land-sold-to-housing-associations-vat1614g)) - HMRC, VAT Notice 742A: opting to tax land and buildings, paragraphs 3.6 to 3.7, last updated 26 May 2026 ([gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/opting-to-tax-land-and-buildings-notice-742a))