Business owners stand to lose thousands of pounds in rate rebates due to a proposed change in legislation if they do not act promptly.
Currently successful rating appeals will result in savings for the ratepayer backdated to 2010, but as of April 1st 2015 the ability to recover overpayments will disappear, with major repercussions for those who will potentially lose five years of rates savings. The measure was quietly announced as part of the government’s budgetary statement in December, with little or no publicity, leaving businesses less than four months to respond.
Challenges to Rateable Values will seemingly now need to be registered with the Valuation Office before 1st April this year in order to protect the current position of backdated changes going all the way back to 1st April 2010. If an appeal is made after this date then the earliest that the Valuation Office will backdate any changes to the rating assessment will be April 2015.
As a result if the Rateable Value is found to be too high then the billing authority will only be able to backdate any business rates rebate to that same date and up to five years of rates savings will be permanently lost.
Paul Wade, Head of Business Rates for leading property firm Stiles Harold Williams said of the matter: “This blatantly unfair measure seems to have been introduced by stealth by the Chancellor in the recent budget and should be a matter of great concern for ratepayers.”
“Anyone who has yet to make an appeal against their 2010 Rating List assessments faces the prospect of potentially losing thousands of pounds of backdated rates savings, if action is not taken now. In order to prevent this from happening ratepayers should contact us as soon as possible for further advice and help, before it is too late.”
