In the run-up to next week’s Budget, it is business rates that seem to be generating the most noise.
In the run-up to next week’s Budget, it is business rates that seem to be generating the most noise.
The prime minister Theresa May has confirmed that English businesses hardest hit by next month’s business rates revaluation will receive ‘appropriate relief’ to help them adjust to higher bills. The government will prioritise its transitional relief package, spreading increases over a number of years for the ‘hardest cases’. Regular revaluations have nevertheless played an essential part in the management of the business rates system, May stressed.
At prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on 22 February, she said: ‘If we just stand back, we can see that business rates are based on the rental values of properties. Those values change over time, they can go up and down, and it is right that business rates change to recognise that. That is the principle of fairness that underpins the business rates system. However, we also want to support businesses and we recognise that, for some, business rates will go up when the revaluations take place. That is why we have put significant funding in place for transitional relief. I recognise that there has been particular concern that some small businesses will be adversely affected as the result of this revaluation, and that is why I have asked the chancellor and the communities secretary to ensure that there is appropriate relief in those hardest cases.’
The communities secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement to Parliament on the local government finance settlement: ‘I am working closely with my Rt Hon friend the chancellor to determine how best to provide further support to businesses facing the steepest increases.’ He added: ‘We expect to be in a position to make an announcement at the time of the Budget, in just two weeks.’
The Scottish government has already announced additional support for sectors including hotels, renewable energy and commercial property in certain areas.
The EY Item Club has predicted in its Budget preview that the Treasury may respond to growing criticism of the business rates regime by bringing forward the switch from RPI to CPI inflation as the basis for future increases.
Jeremy Cape, partner at Squire Patton Boggs, expects measures in the Budget to relieve the impact of increases in business rates: ‘a reminder that while we in the City tend to obsess about the rate of corporation tax and base erosion and profit shifting, for many taxpayers business rates is the tax about which they worry the most’.
In the run-up to next week’s Budget, it is business rates that seem to be generating the most noise.
In the run-up to next week’s Budget, it is business rates that seem to be generating the most noise.
The prime minister Theresa May has confirmed that English businesses hardest hit by next month’s business rates revaluation will receive ‘appropriate relief’ to help them adjust to higher bills. The government will prioritise its transitional relief package, spreading increases over a number of years for the ‘hardest cases’. Regular revaluations have nevertheless played an essential part in the management of the business rates system, May stressed.
At prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on 22 February, she said: ‘If we just stand back, we can see that business rates are based on the rental values of properties. Those values change over time, they can go up and down, and it is right that business rates change to recognise that. That is the principle of fairness that underpins the business rates system. However, we also want to support businesses and we recognise that, for some, business rates will go up when the revaluations take place. That is why we have put significant funding in place for transitional relief. I recognise that there has been particular concern that some small businesses will be adversely affected as the result of this revaluation, and that is why I have asked the chancellor and the communities secretary to ensure that there is appropriate relief in those hardest cases.’
The communities secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement to Parliament on the local government finance settlement: ‘I am working closely with my Rt Hon friend the chancellor to determine how best to provide further support to businesses facing the steepest increases.’ He added: ‘We expect to be in a position to make an announcement at the time of the Budget, in just two weeks.’
The Scottish government has already announced additional support for sectors including hotels, renewable energy and commercial property in certain areas.
The EY Item Club has predicted in its Budget preview that the Treasury may respond to growing criticism of the business rates regime by bringing forward the switch from RPI to CPI inflation as the basis for future increases.
Jeremy Cape, partner at Squire Patton Boggs, expects measures in the Budget to relieve the impact of increases in business rates: ‘a reminder that while we in the City tend to obsess about the rate of corporation tax and base erosion and profit shifting, for many taxpayers business rates is the tax about which they worry the most’.
