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Can a charitable museum avoid paying VAT when buying a new building?
I have a VAT dilemma. I am the trustee of a museum which is a registered charity owning the freehold of two sites in London. Our plan is to sell both sites and house the entire collection for display at one property in a better location. We also plan to buy the freehold of that new property for £300 000.
Our problem is that the owner of the new property wants to charge us VAT on the sale because he has opted to tax.
The charity is not VAT-registered because our admission fee income is exempt from the tax and our coffee shop sales are below the threshold. The new venue will also have a coffee shop which will occupy about 10% of the total floor space. However this area could be adjusted if needed.
My question is whether we can somehow avoid paying the VAT on the...
