The Budget 2018 introduces some new business rates reliefs, including a one-third business rates discount for smaller shops for two years from 2019, but shows no sign of addressing the fundamental problems that beset the business rates regime - which are an excessively high tax rates and an overly complex system. ...Read More

The September 2018 Consumer Prices Index (CPI) figure has been announced and shows a 2.4% increase over the previous year. This sets the upper limit by which next year's Uniform Business Rate (UBR) multiplier is expected to increase in England and Wales. ...Read More

The Welsh Assembly Government has issued a consultation paper on tackling business rates avoidance. The consultation paper seeks views on a range of proposals designed to tackle alleged avoidance of business rates, particularly rates in respect of empty properties. ...Read More

The Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government, Rt Hon Sajid Javid, has announced an independent review of his own department's process and procedures for the governance of the business rates system. The review will be led by Andrew Hudson, the former Director General for Public Services at HM Treasury, who is also a former Chief Executive of the Valuation Office Agency. The review recognises the increasing importance of business rates in funding local government. ...Read More

The legislation to reverse the effects of the Supreme Court judgment in Woolway (VO) v Mazars LLP (2015) has now been introduced into Parliament. The Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill provides that, where two or more hereditaments occupied or owned by the same person meet certain conditions as to contiguity, those hereditaments may be treated for the purposes of non-domestic rating as one hereditament. ...Read More

In his Spring Statement 2018, the Chancellor has announced that the next rating revaluation in England will be brought forward from 2022 to 2021. This change forms part of the response to a 2016 Government consultation on delivering more frequent rating revaluations. But unless there is some wider, and genuine, reform of the business rates system, altering the date of the revaluation will simply bring forward, but at a slightly earlier date, the fundamental problems of the rating system - which are too high a level of tax and too much complexity. Is the proposal to change the date of the revaluation simply rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic? ...Read More

Regulations have been laid before Parliament to introduce penalties for ratepayers who give inaccurate information in connection with a business rates appeal. The draft Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England) (Amendment) Regulations (2018) will introduce penalties of £500, reduced to £200 for small businesses, where inaccurate information is supplied "knowingly, recklessly or carelessly" in connection with a business rates appeal. ...Read More

The Government has announced details of the legislation it proposes to introduce to reverse the effects of the decision of the UK Supreme Court in Woolway (VO) v Mazars LLP (2015) UKSC 53. The proposal to reverse the effects of this court decision, which resulted in properties that had previously been assessed as one for business rates becoming assessed as more than one, was announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement 2017. The Government has now produced a consultation paper setting out how it proposes to reverse the effects of that decision. ...Read More

The Autumn Budget 2017 contains some good news for business ratepayers because the increase in business rates next year in England will be less than expected. The Chancellor has announced that business rates will be uplifted in line with CPI, rather than RPI, from next April. This is expected to reduce the Uniform Business Rate for small businesses next year from 48.4 pence to 48.0 pence, a reduction of about 1%. There were other business rates announcements that will be of interest to ratepayers over the longer term, but still no sign of real fundamental reform. ...Read More

The September 2017 Retail Prices Index (RPI) figure has been announced and shows a 3.9% increase over the previous year. This sets the upper limit by which next year's Uniform Business Rate (UBR) multiplier can increase in England and Wales. ...Read More