On July 21st the Financial Secretary to the Treasury announced that the next revaluation for business rates in England would take effect from April 1st 2023. The Government has announced that it has now taken the first steps in that revaluation, and will shortly be introducing legislation which would ensure the next revaluation takes effect in 2023
Business rates bills are based upon the rateable value of the property which represents the annual rental value. Rateable values are set independently from ministers by the Valuation Office Agency and are updated at revaluations based on rates at a set valuation date. The Government had planned for the next revaluation to take effect from 1st April 2021, based on a valuation date of 1Ast April 2019. However, introducing these values would have created uncertainty for businesses at a time when they are focused on dealing with the pandemic. Therefore, in order to reduce the uncertainty for forms affected by the impacts of COVID, this revaluation was postponed.
The next revaluation will now take place in 2023 based on rents at April 2021 so that rateable values reflect the impact of COVID. To allow for the, the Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) (No,2) Bill will change the date of the next revaluation to 1st April 2023.
The Government is also changing the latest date by which the Valuation Office Agency must publish the new draft rating list – moving it to no later than September 30th preceding the revaluation to no later than December 21st preceding. This will allow for the publication of the draft rateable values to be aligned with the confirmation of the multipliers and transitional arrangements which have previously announced at the Autumn Budget. This will ensure that ratepayers have several months’ notice of their new bills.
The 2023 revaluation is just one measure the Government is taking to improve the business rates system. Alongside the postponement the Government has announced almost £10billion in business rate relief as part of it’s support for the economy during the coronavirus pandemic. This has come on tops of a range of business measures introduced since 2016, which are worth more than £14billion to businesses over the next 5 years. The Government is currently also undertaking a fundamental review of business rates and launched a Call for Evidence which invites stakeholders to contribute their views on ideas for reform on all elements of the business rates system.
