Decapitalisation Rate Announced

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The decapitalisation rates for Scotland have now been announced – to the dismay of Scottish ratepayers. Affecting assessments of specialist buildings and items of plant and machinery. The rates announced were:


Scotland
England
Wales

Standard Rate
4.6%
4.4%
3.8%

Public Sector Rate
2.9%
2.6%
2.1%

 

This may result in Scottish businesses and the public sector (such as the NHS) paying 10 – 30% more in business rates than elsewhere in the UK. Following the doubled large business supplement at April 2016, this suggests that large business in Scotland may face inflation busting liability increases next April.

Transitional Relief

The Government are now consulting on whether a system of transitional relief should be introduced for the 2017 Revaluation, responses due before 11th October.

As our clients have different views on transitional relief, we take a neutral public position. Should you wish to make a response then please contact us for free technical support to assist. The paper is available at:

https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/lgas/2017-non-domestic-rating-revaluation

Six Months to Go

Time has moved on since our first bulletin – the Revaluation is now just 6 months away.

Assessors will be completing their 2017 assessments this month and passing these to the Scottish Government. As yet there are no plans for early notification of draft assessments. Ratepayers in England and Wales will be able to see their draft rateable values from October – we would urge the Scottish Government to do likewise to enable business in Scotland to prepare.

Are You Revaluation Ready?

To assist clients to understand the impact of the revaluation and ensure that any necessary appeals are submitted in time we will report as soon as rateable values are published and ensure early notification of updates. To protect your business, contact us and our free notification service will tell you when assessments are published, together with a liability impact assessment and advice on appealing your revised assessment.

If you wish to know the potential impact of the Revaluation on your business, or further information on the issues raised here, then please contact us for further advice.

Key Dates:

1st April 2015 – Valuation Date for 2017 Rating Revaluation
Summer 2015 – Summer 2016 – Assessors ingathering rental information and formulating schemes of valuation
Autumn 2016 – Issue of draft rateable values to Scottish Government
Autumn 2016 – publication of draft rateable values on SAA website??
February 2017 – confirmation of rateable values, business rate poundage and relevant relief schemes (including transitional relief)
1st April 2017 – 2017 – Rating Revaluation Comes into force
30th September 2017 – Deadline for lodging of appeals for 2017 Rating Revaluation (deadline may be subject to review)

Opportunity

We welcome the opportunity to mitigate your rates liability. For further information, or simply to discuss the above in greater detail please contact:

Billy McKaig
Director

t: 0131 225 2583
m: 07778 149 224
e:
w: www.wymrating.com

WYM Rating
The Merchants’ Hall
22 Hanover Street
Edinburgh EH2 2EP