UK If I buy a business that owes business rates, will I be liable to pay them?

[Barca]

If I buy a business that owes business rates, will I have to pay the business rates that they owe, and if not, who would be liable for them?

 

[Bob66]

By rates, if you mean past due income, excise, property tax etc it would depend how you purchased the business. In the US a corporation can be purchased by buying the outstanding stock of the corporation or by purchasing the assets inside the corporation. A stock purchase means you buy the corporation including all debts, taxes due etc and an asset purchase means you buy the only the assets. So on a stock purchase you would negotiate with the seller regarding the taxes and other debt for a reduction in the purchase price or make sure the seller pays off the items prior to the sale. In the asset purchase just the asset is purchased and if there is any debt on the asset have the seller pay off or reduce the selling price by the debt.

US tax law is different than your country so maybe another member of the forum will respond.

 

[Queried]

I would agree with that. UK Councils are concerned only with the legal entity named on their system. Unless you have paperwork specifying who would be responsible for debts, they would look to you for payment as the named legal entity.

 

[alfonso_aigbekaen]

The logic is do your due diligence before purchasing the business so you do not inherit their debts. Some times they tend to be negligent about this so the future acquirer can deal with it.

 

[Fidget]

If you're buying a business, as opposed to just buying an interest in it, then you're buying its net assets i.e its assets and liabilities.