In accordance with Article 7(2) of the Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value Added Tax (the "Decree-Law"), the transfer of whole or an independent part of a business from a person to a taxable person for the purposes of continuing the business that was transferred is not considered to be a supply for VAT purposes.
As a consequence of not being a "supply" for VAT purposes, such transfer of a business, commonly known as a "transfer of business as a going concern" or a "TOGC", is not subject to VAT. This rule has a compulsory application.
This Public Clarification discusses the conditions that have to be met for a transfer to qualify as a transfer of a going concern under Article 7(2) of the Decree-Law.
A company can be bought and sold by transferring shares of that company. The company itself is not involved in the transaction and therefore such a transfer of shares does not give rise to any changes in the business operations of the company - it still retains all its assets, liabilities, licences, employees and relationships. ...