Business rates
The measure
The Government has announced that it will bring forward legislation to cancel certain significant backdated business rate bills for newly assessed properties that were split from a larger rateable property.
Legislation will also be introduced to provide a temporary increase to the level of small business rate relief.
Who will be affected?
This development will benefit many businesses, including ports, that received unwelcome backdated rate bills going back to 2005.
The increase in small business rate relief, albeit temporary, will benefit over half a million businesses across England.
When?
The increase in small business rate relief will apply for one year from October 2010.
Business rates can be a significant cost, particularly for small businesses, and therefore these announcements are welcome.
For some businesses, however, the measure for backdated bills may have come too late. The problem arose because, whilst the Valuation Office Agency was entitled to backdate the assessments to 2005 and they had known about the need to deal with this issue prior to 2005, no action was taken until 2009.
