Business rates announcement in the Budget
23 March 2011
In response to today's Budget announcement by the Chancellor George Osbourne on business rates, Oliver Turner, associate at Ryden in Leeds, said:
"There was good news for small businesses in England after George Osbourne announced that he was extending the Small Business Rate Relief scheme for a further year to the end September 2012. This effectively means that businesses occupying premises having a rateable value of less than £6,000 will pay no business rates during this period. Properties with rateable values between £6,000 and £12,000 will receive relief on a sliding scale from 100% to 0%. Multiple properties are also covered so long as the cumulative total does not exceed £18,000, although relief would only be receivable on one property alone.
Regretfully there was no good news for larger businesses. As expected, the deeply unpopular rating liability for empty commercial properties remained in place, reaffirming the Government's intention to penalise owners and occupiers of empty space as a means of generating additional revenue."
