Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is an executive agency of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Its valuation work covers every domestic and commercial property in England and Wales. It also provides independent and impartial valuation and professional property advice across the public sector. Its valuations help to bring in more than £51bn in revenue in local taxation.
What has the Valuation Office Agency got to do with business rates?
The Valuation Office Agency is responsible for setting a Rateable Value (RV) for every domestic and commercial property across England and Wales. The Rateable Value of a non-domestic property will help determine the business rates payable by the property’s ratepayer. It is a key part of the business rates system – but as an operational agency it delivers its work within legislative and policy frameworks set by HMT and MHCLG. Its role is to provide independent, impartial valuations that support local taxation and benefits. Based on the valuations it provides, local authorities then decide on rates that businesses will be responsible for paying.
How does the Valuation Office Agency value my business*?
Business rates are worked out based on your property’s “rateable value”. This is its open market
Tag Archive for Business rates
Hot Business News Today
Business rates review 2021 – what your small business can expect
by John Webber • • 0 Comments
Originally written by John Webber on Small Business
We seem to have been waiting to hear the review on business rates for some time. In March 2020, the government announced a new consultation and said that the first part of the business rates review would be published in the tail end of 2020, with the second part in early 2021. Since then the chancellor has announced no less than four delays to publishing its response and we are now waiting until autumn 2021 to learn the government’s full response to the consultation on reform.
>See also: Do I need to pay business rates working from home?
This delay is disappointing, especially since the Treasury Select Committee produced a very credible report with sensible recommendations in autumn 2019, which now seems to have been largely ignored – not to mention all the consultations and reviews we’ve had in previous years. Colliers has long been an advocate of reform and we fear such procrastination will have only meant more job losses across the economy as we wait for a proper redress of the system.
Business rates review 2021 – what to expect
There is no doubt the business rates system needs a radical overhaul. The system that
Hot Business News Today
Do I need to pay business rates working from home?
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
At the height of the first wave of the pandemic last April, nearly half of the working population were working from home. Since then we’ve had a succession of lockdowns, with the government now encouraging people to stay WFH until July 19 2021 and possibly beyond. But do you have to pay business rates if you’re working from home?
For freelancers, sole traders and the self-employed, not much has changed. But others new to home working will be asking which taxes they do have to pay, including business rates.
Do I need to pay business rates working from home?
You do not usually have to pay business rates for home-based businesses if you:
Use a small part of your home for your business, for example if you use a bedroom as an office
Sell goods by post
You may need to pay business rates as well as Council Tax if:
Your property is part business and part domestic, for example, if you live above your shop
You sell goods or services to people who visit your property
You employ other people to work at your property
You’ve made changes to your home for your business, for example converted a garage into a beauty
Hot Business News Today
How can I reduce my business rates in England? A small business guide
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
US president Benjamin Franklin famously wrote that nothing in life is certain except death and taxes. However, there are some exemptions/reliefs if you want to reduce your business rates in England, which were first introduced in 1990 as property taxes paid by occupants of non-domestic properties, typically those occupying commercial and industrial premises.
What occupied properties are exempt from business rates?
You also may not have to pay business rates on:
Agricultural land and buildings, including fish farms
Buildings used for training or welfare of disabled people
Buildings registered for public religious worship or church halls
If your property is in England, you can report that you think it should be exempt using the Valuation Office Agency service.
>See also: Do I need to pay business rates working from home?
What exemptions for empty properties can I claim in England?
The government recognises that some premises do not have to pay business rates.
Empty properties
You do not have to pay business rates on empty office and retail buildings for three months. For industrial premises, the period of relief is six months. After this time, most businesses must pay full business rates.
A change of ownership during the three-month period does not trigger a fresh
Hot Business News Today
What is the Valuation Office Agency? A guide for small business
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is an executive agency of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Its valuation work covers every domestic and commercial property in England and Wales. It also provides independent and impartial valuation and professional property advice across the public sector. Its valuations help to bring in more than £51bn in revenue in local taxation.
What has the Valuation Office Agency got to do with business rates?
The Valuation Office Agency is responsible for setting a Rateable Value (RV) for every domestic and commercial property across England and Wales. The Rateable Value of a non-domestic property will help determine the business rates payable by the property’s ratepayer. It is a key part of the business rates system – but as an operational agency it delivers its work within legislative and policy frameworks set by HMT and MHCLG. Its role is to provide independent, impartial valuations that support local taxation and benefits. Based on the valuations it provides, local authorities then decide on rates that businesses will be responsible for paying.
How does the Valuation Office Agency value my business*?
Business rates are worked out based on your property’s “rateable value”. This is its open market
Hot Business News Today
What are business rates? A guide for small businesses
by Sophie Attwood • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Sophie Attwood on Small Business
What are business rates?
Business rates are one of the UK’s oldest taxes; its origins can be traced back to the Poor Law of 1601. Business rates can be roughly defined as the tax paid for the occupation of a non-domestic property. They approximately correspond to 50 per cent of the annual rent of the property. Business rates are based on a specific value, known as “rateable value” and all commercial properties are valued on the same day.
Non-domestic rates or business rates are the way that those who occupy commercial (non-domestic) property contribute towards the cost of local authority services. They are administered and collected by local authorities. Under the business rates retention arrangements introduced in April 2013, authorities keep a proportion of the business rates paid locally. However, business rates are a controversial tax as they represent one of the biggest overheads for business.
Who sets non-domestic rates?
Business rates are set by central government more specifically the Valuation Office, an agency of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The VOA calculates your business rates based on “rateable value” (RV). It compiles and maintains a full list of all rateable values. The rateable value of
Hot Business News Today
Do I need to pay business rates working from home?
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
At the height of the first wave of the pandemic last April, nearly half of the working population were working from home. Since then we’ve had a succession of lockdowns, with the government now encouraging people to stay WFH until July 19 2021 and possibly beyond. But do you have to pay business rates if you’re working from home?
For freelancers, sole traders and the self-employed, not much has changed. But others new to home working will be asking which taxes they do have to pay, including business rates.
Do I need to pay business rates working from home?
You do not usually have to pay business rates for home-based businesses if you:
Use a small part of your home for your business, for example if you use a bedroom as an office
Sell goods by post
You may need to pay business rates as well as Council Tax if:
Your property is part business and part domestic, for example, if you live above your shop
You sell goods or services to people who visit your property
You employ other people to work at your property
You’ve made changes to your home for your business, for example converted a garage into a beauty
Hot Business News Today
Small business calls for support extension to match reopening delay
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small business associations have called for support to be extended to match any delay in reopening due to current lockdown restrictions.
The final easing of lockdown restrictions is set to be postponed beyond June 21, according to reports. Most current rules will remain in place.
However, from July 1, businesses are due to contribute 10 per cent of staff wages in a staged withdrawal of furlough, which is set to finish at the end of September. And a moratorium on evictions and debt collection from commercial tenants is due to lift on June 30.
>See also: Swap Bounce Back debt for employee equity, say industry experts
The worry is that without more taxpayer support already vulnerable small businesses will close completely.
Organisations including the Federation of Small Businesses, UK Hospitality and British Chambers of Commerce said they were poised to demand help such as loan forbearance, more generous furlough terms, and an extension to an eviction ban and business rates holiday.
Most hospitaly venues are still losing money, are buried under a mountain of debt, and consider any delay to the lockdown easing timetable as a grave threat to the industry with hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.
Hot Business News Today
Small business calls for support extension to match reopening delay
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small business associations have called for support to be extended to match any delay in reopening due to current lockdown restrictions.
The final easing of lockdown restrictions is set to be postponed beyond June 21, according to reports. Most current rules will remain in place.
However, from July 1, businesses are due to contribute 10 per cent of staff wages in a staged withdrawal of furlough, which is set to finish at the end of September. And a moratorium on evictions and debt collection from commercial tenants is due to lift on June 30.
>See also: Swap Bounce Back debt for employee equity, say industry experts
The worry is that without more taxpayer support already vulnerable small businesses will close completely.
Organisations including the Federation of Small Businesses, UK Hospitality and British Chambers of Commerce said they were poised to demand help such as loan forbearance, more generous furlough terms, and an extension to an eviction ban and business rates holiday.
Most hospitaly venues are still losing money, are buried under a mountain of debt, and consider any delay to the lockdown easing timetable as a grave threat to the industry with hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.
Hot Business News Today
Government extends business rates relief by £1.5bn to help more Covid-hit firms
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
The Government is making an extra £1.5bn in business rates relief available to firms that weren’t eligible before – including offices and wholesalers.
Existing business rates relief is available to those in retail, leisure and hospitality.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) welcomed the move. “Many of those businesses such as wholesalers, suppliers and brewers have been hit hard by the pandemic but haven’t been able to access the same levels of support,” said its national chair, Mike Cherry.
However, business rates relief appeals made due to Covid-19 are now banned as well. These appeals were expected to cost up to £5bn, so the Government has saved itself £3.5bn, according to figures from the Rating Surveyors’ Association.
>See also: Business rates appeal talks halted as thousands of firms wait for outcome
The Government said that allowing rates appeals on material change of circumstances could have led to ‘significant amounts of taxpayer support going to businesses who have been able to operate normally throughout the pandemic’. It added this could disproportionately benefit firms in London.
‘It is the wrong thing to do on every level’
Experts describe the move as ‘outrageous’, writing off the hundreds of thousands of business owners who