ACS has responded to the Government’s consultation on its draft regulations for the new ‘Check, Challenge, Appeal’ process for business rates appeals, raising concerns about successful appeals from retailers that could see them paying inflated and inaccurate rates bills.
In the consultation, ACS welcomed the intention of delivering a streamlined process for the rates appeals system, but has called for the ‘reasonable professional judgement’ test to be removed from the regulations. Under the current proposals, an inaccurate rating is only dealt with when it is seen as ‘outside the bounds of reasonable professional judgement’. In practical terms, this means that retailers that have successfully challenged their rates bills could still end up overpaying their rates, with the Valuation Tribunal only being able to edit their rating list entry when the original valuation is outside a yet to be determined margin of error.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Business rates are already one of the biggest fixed costs for many convenience store retailers, especially those operating on petrol forecourts. We do not believe that the current appeals proposals are fair when considering the outcome of appeals, and are concerned that retailers who are successful in their appeals could still end up substantially overpaying on their business rates.”
Under the proposed reforms, businesses would go through a 3-stage process:
- Check: ensuring the relevant facts are up to date and accurate, with any agreed errors quickly corrected
- Challenge: allowing the business to challenge the rateable value on which their business rates bill is based, giving them the opportunity to set out their grounds for challenging and to put forward supporting evidence
- Appeal: offering the opportunity to appeal to an independent valuation tribunal
ACS, along with other trade associations, wrote to the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid in September raising concerns about the new appeals system. The letter was covered by the Telegraph here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/24/business-groups-unite-against-changes-to-rates-appeal-system/
