Richard Wild considers whether remaining with your Lennartz arrangements is the right way forward after the HMRC outlined options for organisations committed to the accounting system.

Two little-known VAT concessions on land and property are to be radically amended by HMRC this year. Broadly speaking, these concessions are of benefit to a property owner who is charged VAT on the purchase of a property, is initially denied VAT recovery because he treats the rent as exempt, but decides later to opt to tax the building.

So, farewell Lennartz? Herr Lennartz was (or is) a German tax consultant, whose name became the tag of a VAT accounting treatment which has become well-known among UK charities.