Season of goodwill

Many years ago before VAT was invented I acquired a toy distribution business as a transfer of a going concern.

I am now very old and intend to sell up within the next 30 days. The options are to sell the business as a going concern to one of my employees or to sell my assets separately to the highest bidder.

I have been told that my goodwill is a valuable asset in its own right and that many established toy retailers in the UK would be prepared to pay several million pounds for my customer list.

I don’t expect to get much for my other assets and will probably end up practically giving them away.

Having always had a turnover of zero I have not bothered about VAT until now.

Leaving aside the question of previous supplies as raised in Claus v HMRC...