Changes to notifying an option to tax land and buildings during coronavirus (COVID-19)
Check temporary changes to the time limit and rules for notifying an option to tax land and buildings.
The temporary change to the time limit to notify HMRC of an option to tax during coronavirus (COVID-19) has ended.
If you are notifying us of a decision to opt to tax land and buildings, you are normally required to notify us within 30 days by either:
- printing and sending us the notification, signed by an authorised person within the business
- emailing a scanned copy of the signed notification
We temporarily changed the rules to help businesses and agents during the pandemic.
Changes to the time limit
We temporarily extended the time limit to 90 days from the date the decision to opt was made. This extension has now ended.
This applied to decisions made between 15 February 2020 and 31 July 2021.
For decisions made from 1 August 2021 onwards, you must notify us within 30 days.
In some situations, HMRC may accept notification made more than 30 days after the decision to opt was made (see paragraph 4.2.1 of Opting to tax land and buildings).
You can email notifications to [email protected].
During the early stages of COVID-19, we allowed businesses or agents to notify an option to tax with electronic signatures. This was subject to the following conditions:
This change has now been made permanent.
If you are notifying an option as a business
You can submit the form with an electronic signature but we need evidence that the signature is from a person authorised to make the option on behalf of the business.
Examples of supplementary evidence include emailing the form:
- with an email from the authorised signatory to the sender within the business, giving authority to use the electronic signature
- from the authorised signatory with their sign off in the email and the form
- with an email chain or a scan of correspondence showing the authority given by an authorised signatory
If you are notifying an option as an agent
If you are an agent notifying us that your customer has made a decision to opt and you email the form with an electronic signature, you need to send us proof that:
- the signature is from a person authorised to make the option on behalf of the business
- authority has been granted to you by the business to use the electronic signature
Examples include emailing the form:
- with a current email or email chain from an authorised signatory of your customer’s business, giving you authority to use this signature and send it to us on their behalf
- with a scan of correspondence showing authority is granted by an authorised signatory to use their electronic signature on the form and to also send this form to us on their behalf
Find out more about opting to tax land and buildings.
Updates to this page
Published 14 May 2020Last updated 1 August 2021 + show all updates
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The temporary change to the time limit for notifying an option to tax has now ended. The temporary change to allow options to tax to be signed electronically has now been made permanent.
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The temporary changes on the rules on notifying an option to tax land and property during coronavirus (COVID-19) have been extended to 31 July 2021.
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The temporary changes on the rules on notifying an option to tax land and property during coronavirus (COVID-19) have been extended to 30 June 2021.
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The date the extended time limit for notifying an option to tax land and buildings applies to has been extended to decisions made between 15 February 2020 and 31 March 2021.
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We have extended the time limit from the date the decision to opt was made. This now applies to decisions made between 15 February 2020 and 31 October 2020.
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We have extended the time limit from the date the decision to opt was made. This now applies to decisions made between 15 February and 30 June 2020.
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First published.