VAT7: the form to cancel your VAT registration

Form VAT7 is HMRC’s application to cancel a VAT registration by post. Many businesses can now cancel online through their VAT online account, so VAT7 is mainly used when a business changes its legal status, is sold without its VAT number, disbands a VAT group or stops trading after liquidation. You complete the form on screen, print it and post it to the address printed on the form.

What is form VAT7?

VAT7 is the paper route for deregistering from VAT. It tells HMRC why you are cancelling, from what date, and what happens to the business and its assets. HMRC’s detailed rules are in VAT Notice 700/11, and the wider question of whether and when to deregister is covered in our guide to VAT deregistration. This page focuses on the form itself.

Key fact	Form VAT7
Form code	VAT7, application to cancel your VAT registration
Who uses it	Businesses changing legal status, sold without the VAT number, disbanding a VAT group, or stopping after liquidation
How to file	Complete on screen, print and post to the address on the form
Deadline	Within 30 days of no longer being eligible to be registered
Penalty	You might be charged a penalty if you do not cancel within 30 days
Replaced by	Online cancellation for many simpler cases

Who needs to use VAT7 rather than cancel online?

HMRC says you must cancel by post using VAT7 if:

• your legal status has changed and you want a new VAT registration number
• you sold your business and the new owner is not keeping the VAT registration number
• your VAT group is disbanding, in which case you also complete the VAT group form and send both together (see VAT group registration)
• your business stopped trading after liquidation

You can cancel online instead if you have stopped trading and are not in a VAT group, your taxable turnover is below £88,000, you have stopped making taxable supplies, or you are applying for an exemption because most or all of your sales are zero rated. You need your sign in details.

If the buyer of your business wants to keep your VAT number, you do not use VAT7. Form VAT68 is used instead, and it cancels your registration as part of the transfer (see transferring a VAT registration number).

When must you cancel, and when can you choose to?

VAT Notice 700/11 says you must cancel if you are no longer eligible to be registered. That includes stopping making taxable supplies, selling the business, changing legal status, disbanding or joining a VAT group, and joining the Agricultural Flat Rate Scheme. You must cancel within 30 days of stopping being eligible or you might be charged a penalty.

You can choose to cancel if your taxable turnover is below £88,000. HMRC expects you to show that turnover in the next 12 months will not go over the cancellation limit, explain why it will fall (for example reduced opening hours or lost contracts), and give the expected figure excluding VAT. HMRC will refuse if the fall is because you are stopping trading or suspending taxable supplies for 30 days or more in the next 12 months.

How do you fill in and send VAT7?

The form is completed on screen. HMRC says you need to fill in the form fully before you can print it, and you cannot save a partly completed form, so have everything ready before you begin: your VAT number, the reason for cancelling, the date the reason took effect, and details of stock and assets held.

• If you sold the business and the buyer is not keeping your number, VAT Notice 700/11 says to state “transfer of a going concern”.
• If you are changing legal entity and not keeping the number, give “changing my legal entity” as the reason.
• Insolvency practitioners select “The business has gone into liquidation” so that the insolvency questions appear. HMRC added a bank details section to VAT7 from 10 March 2025.

Print the completed VAT7 and send it, with any other forms, to the address printed on the form.

When does the cancellation take effect?

A compulsory cancellation takes effect from the date the reason for it happened, such as the day you stopped making taxable supplies. A voluntary cancellation takes effect from the date HMRC receives your application or a later date HMRC agrees. VAT Notice 700/11 says you cannot cancel from a retrospective date, and you should keep charging and accounting for VAT until HMRC confirms the cancellation.

Illustration only. Grace runs a café as a sole trader and sells it on 30 June 2026 to a buyer who will register with his own VAT number. Because the new owner is not keeping her number, she completes VAT7, gives the reason and the date, and posts it in early July, within 30 days. HMRC confirms the cancellation in its letter. She then files a final return covering the period up to and including the cancellation date, and keeps her VAT records for 6 years.

What happens after you send it?

HMRC usually confirms the cancellation within 40 working days, though it can take longer in busy periods. Confirmation comes through your VAT online account or by post. From the cancellation date you must stop charging VAT. Cancelling your VAT registration also cancels your EORI number automatically.

Unless your VAT number is transferring to a new owner, you must send a final VAT return covering the period up to and including the cancellation date, by its due date. Once you are no longer registered you cannot use Making Tax Digital software, so the final return goes through your VAT online account (see the VAT100 VAT return). Points to watch:

• Stock and assets: you account for VAT on stock and assets you hold at cancellation if you reclaimed, or could have reclaimed, VAT on them and the total VAT due is over £1,000. HMRC says that for standard rated assets this is a total gross value over £6,000.
• Late invoices: do not delay the final return waiting for purchase invoices. You can claim that VAT later (see claiming VAT after deregistration).
• Records: keep the cancellation notice with your VAT records for 6 years, along with a list of business assets on hand at cancellation and their values.

If HMRC later finds you should not have cancelled, it will register you again and you will have to pay any VAT you should have paid in the meantime.

What are the common mistakes with VAT7?

• Using VAT7 when the buyer wants to keep the VAT number. That needs VAT68.
• Waiting until the final sale or the last invoice before applying, and missing the 30 day limit.
• Stopping charging VAT as soon as the form is posted. You keep charging until HMRC confirms.
• Forgetting the VAT on stock and assets in the final return when it is over £1,000.
• Asking for a backdated cancellation date. HMRC does not allow a retrospective date.

Frequently asked questions

Can I cancel my VAT registration online instead of using VAT7?

Often, yes. If you have stopped trading and are not in a VAT group, your taxable turnover is below £88,000, you have stopped making taxable supplies, or most of your sales are zero rated, you can cancel online. VAT7 is for changes of legal status, sales where the buyer does not keep the number, disbanding VAT groups and liquidations.

How long does HMRC take to confirm?

Usually within 40 working days, and sometimes longer in busy periods. Confirmation comes by post or through your VAT online account.

Do I still need to file a VAT return after cancelling?

Yes. You must send a final return covering the period up to and including the cancellation date, even if it is a nil return. If you need to register again later, you apply in the usual way (see form VAT1).

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Sources

• GOV.UK: Vat application to cancel your vat registration vat7
• GOV.UK: Cancel your registration
• GOV.UK: Vat notice 70011 cancelling your registration
• GOV.UK: Vat7 form update insolvency practitioner bulletin 1 2025
• GOV.UK: How to send vat return

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 6 November 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.