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Find out your new rates bill now! And what to do next.




Have you checked what your new business rates bill might look like? You can check here.


Don't like what you see?


There is still time to profit from the months remaining before April 1, 2023, by conducting a detailed professional survey of your business, to mount a formal business rates challenge.

Taking action now will avoid the inevitable queue of claims following the arrival of a new Rating List.

Much of the government's relief is limited in both time and scope. A detailed Challenge to the Valuation Office Agency will go to the very heart of your financial obligations.


 


This being said, we welcome the emergency aid to businesses contained in the latest energy and rate support measures, particularly in hospitality, leisure, and retail firms.

However, businesses in these sectors will still pay roughly twice as much for energy as before this autumn's surge. Furthermore, relief is time-limited to April of next year. And the £110,000 rates cap, while of immense help to SMEs, ignores the problems of larger chain operations.

The unspoken assumption that the additional details supplied to the VOA will contribute to higher bills is not unlike prisoners choosing their methods of punishment. (And with good reason, since the VOA never REDUCES rates bills without a formal Challenge!)

Challenges themselves will have to be made within the life of the current Rating List, making prompt responses from the bill-payer vital.



 

The "light touch" promised by the Government when redefining the role of the VOA, is deceptive. More than ever, the post-Covid economy will rely on efficient, trouble-free systems of taxation, of which business rates will remain a key part. The Government openly admits this in its latest statements.

In the "bricks versus clicks" debate, the Chancellor has chosen a curious way to support physical retailing.

With his plans to capture the Amazons and DHLs, while at the same time shying away from an online sales tax, Jeremy Hunt is planning a blanket increase in business rates for all large distribution warehouses. And since the rental values on which the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) bases its calculations are so opaque, anything goes.



 

To date, we have won major savings for large distribution centers, with rebates backdated to 2017 in many cases.


 


There is still just enough time to produce a positive result, and enjoy both major savings in back-dated rebates and favourable revaluation. There is soon to be a flood of claims resulting from the first newly-assessed bills arriving in early 2023.

Currently, successful appeals against high non-domestic rates enjoy savings backdated to 1 April 2017, potentially saving thousands in rebates.

However, since many firms will leave their appeals until the very last minute where there is bound to be a backlog. This means that many claims will be "timed out".



 

To avoid this misfortune, and in the expectation that rates will generally rise in 2023 regardless of market rental conditions, We’d recommend businesses conduct a thorough audit, based on sound surveying and statistical data, as soon as possible.

For the Valuation Office to base its 2023 calculations on accurate, up-to-the-minute assumptions, get in touch for a free, no-obligation consultation. Our transparent commission is based solely on successful financial outcomes for the client, there is absolutely nothing to lose!



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