According to recent statistics published by Government (December), the number of business rates ‘Checks’ lodged by Thames Valley businesses have dropped by a huge 97%, compared with the previous Revaluation in 2010.
Despite boasting some of the country’s leading organisations, businesses in the Thames Valley are failing to take advantage of the new Check, Challenge, Appeal (CCA) process, with appeals down from over 7,000, six months into the 2010 Rating Revaluation.
Official figures reveal that by the end of September 2017, just 220 Checks had been made by Thames Valley based ratepayers (or their agents) – reflecting the complicated and clunky nature of the new Check, Challenge, Appeal (CCA) system.
Whilst this property tax is by no means a sexy subject, it’s certainly a costly one with many overly complicated CCA hurdles to overcome – from registration on the VOA Business Rates Portal and property matching, to the complex process of progressing formal mitigation action.
Despite this, our expert rating team has helped businesses across the Thames Valley to reduce the financial impact of the 2017 Revaluation by over £2 million, including helping one of Europe’s leading mutual insurance groups to achieve a 30% reduction in their rateable value.
With the next wave of business rate demands about to land in March, it has never been more important to get expert rating advice on whether there’s scope to reduce this overhead or not.
For help and specialist advice on your past, existing and future business rates liabilities, or to discuss arranging an informal no obligation business rates review, please get in touch.
