You may have seen our recent news items about Business Rates – a property tax we have specialised in for many years to make substantial savings for clients.
With the Chancellor’s decision to turn the whole system on its head and go back to the pre-1990 system of ‘Rating’, every client will be exposed to considerable uncertainty as to what their future rates bills will be and what can be done to appeal and reduce them. Whatever George is trying to do, our objective remains: to cut your business rates costs at every opportunity and with all of our skills and experience.
We can also call top-quality, pre-1990 experience in both rating law and practice for commercial and domestic assessments. Who can doubt that the next shoe to drop will be the return of domestic rates, with the last Revaluation being in 1991. With London residential grossly under-taxed (relatively to the provinces) how long will this reforming Chancellor be able to resist increasing the council tax ‘take’ on the basis of reducing the deficit and funding more affordable housing expansion in London and the South East?
Spookily, we made our first domestic rates appeal for years, only this week! Ahead of our time, dare we say?
Meantime, we need to be building up skills and resources for ‘Reval 2017’ which will see a huge and transformative shake-up in commercial property business rates for every business in the country. And, we still have loads of appeals to clear from evaluation 2010!
Let’s hope this ride ‘Back to the Future’ is as am exciting and rewarding experience for our rate paying clients as it was for Doc and Marty in the late 1980’s when the film was made – and when the last reforming Tory Chancellor applied his revolutionary magic to change commercial property taxation.
