George Osborne’s Autumn Statement last month promised to alleviate the business rates burden on small businesses, mainly by preserving and extending Small Business Rate Relief (see https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief/small-business-rate-relief). The measures include the extension, for a further 12 months until 31 March 2015, of a 100% relief (double the usual 50%) for RVs up to £6,000 and taper relief to £12,000; and the introduction of a 12 month transition period during which relief will still be claimable even when a business acquires an additional property which would otherwise take it outside the relief.
There is extra help promised for retail businesses, including a 50 per cent business rates relief for 18 months - between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2016 - for businesses that move into retail premises that have been empty for a year or more. See the DCLG Business Rates Information Letter (9/2013) for further details of these and other measures, as well as a link to a consultation paper on reforms to the business rates appeal process.
Paul Dixon
Solicitor
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