South West businesses are racing against the clock to beat the March 31 deadline for challenging potential business rates overpayments, according to a rating expert.
In recent weeks, the rating team in the Bristol office of commercial property specialist Colliers International has experienced an upsurge in enquiries from companies concerned about losing out on potential refunds in overpaid rates.
Ben Batchelor-Wylam, head of the Bristol rating team, said: “The danger of missing out on the March 31 deadline for challenging assessments within the 2010 rating list seems to have been realised by numerous businesses since the beginning of 2017.
“During January we noted a significant increase in enquires about what would be involved in lodging an appeal. It is already noticeable that this has risen further in February, and we are anticipating this momentum will gather pace considerably throughout February and March.”
Mr Batchelor-Wylam explained that businesses faced missing out in two ways if they failed to lodge an appeal before March 31, after which date the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will refuse to accept challenges to assessments on the 2010 rating list.
“Businesses that have not appealed by March 31 could potentially miss out on refunds worth thousands of pounds for overpaid business rates,” he said.
“In addition, they also risk losing out on possible savings from April 1 2017 as a result of transitional arrangements based upon the 2010 rating list.”
He added he was concerned that many businesses which could benefit from challenging their 2010 rating assessment were not doing so because of concerns about having to pay fees without any certainty of outcome.
“Any businesses contemplating obtaining advice on challenging their 2010 rating assessment using the expert advisors at Colliers International can be assured this advice would be provided for free, and that our billing is based upon savings achieved – in effect results driven or ‘No Win, No Fee’,” he said.
“Businesses have nothing to lose by enquiring about challenging their 2010 rating list assessment – but they might lose out on thousands of pounds in refunds by not doing so.”
The last business rate revaluation was carried out in 2008 for the 2010 listing, and those businesses that fail to appeal their valuation before March 2017 will be unable to claim for refunds to business rates paid between 2010 and 2015.
John Webber, head of rating at Colliers International, said it was unlikely that the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) would be able to cope with a flood of appeals before March 31.
“No-one is ready for the impending change – neither businesses, nor the Valuation Office, and the Government is making it increasingly difficult for appeals to be made, so it is not highlighting this deadline to businesses,” he said.
Mr Webber added: “Many businesses won’t be aware of these changes. They haven’t been publicised and there are genuine concerns that less business-rate savvy companies will really lose out.
