Small business owners could hear good news when the Autumn Budget is announced in late November, after the Treasury published an interim report indicating ministers are considering changes to business rates.
One specific issue under consideration is the “cliff edge” increase in rates that faces retailers who open a second premises. While no specifics regarding how this might be changed haver been detailed, the Treasury says it is reflecting after having been told by stakeholders that the removal of the single property condition “disincentivises small businesses from expanding into additional properties”.
Ministers say they want business rates to incentivise investment, support the high street and be future proof.
Responses have so far been cautiously optimistic. The Association of Convenience Stores’ chief executive, James, Lowman said the report was “encouraging”, commenting: “Addressing the cliff edges on small business rate relief would mark a positive step forward”.
Lowman added, though, that “with retail and hospitality relief likely coming to an end next year, there is more to do to ensure that retailers are not unnecessarily hampered by excessive rates bills.”
Co-op Group’s chief executive, Shirine Khoury-Haq, called the report “a welcome step forward” and said changes were “vital because they will benefit 98 percent of shops across England which make up the backbone of high streets and shopping parades”. Khoury-Haq called for reforms to “be backed in the Autumn Budget”.
Mark Tan, tax partner at law firm Spencer West LLP, said it is “encouraging to see the Treasury this seriously”, and that a review of rates is “long overdue”.
