Business rates and Coronavirus

Where a business occupies a property in the retail sector with a rateable value of £51,000 or more, or if your business occupies a property in the leisure or hospitality sectors, the Government have announced that the business may be eligible for the 100% discount on your business rates bill.

If your business is in the retail, hospitality or leisure sector in England, then you may also be entitled to a cash grant. If you have a property with a rateable value of less than £15,000 then you will be entitled to a grant of £10,000, whether or not you are entitled to small business rate relief or rural rate relief. If you have a property with a rateable value of between £14,999 and £51,000 then you will be entitled to a cash grant of £25,000. 

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will provide guidance for Local Authorities on how to administer these grants shortly.

Your Local Authority will then be in touch in the coming weeks to provide details of how to claim this money.

ASE Comment

We have been asked on a number of occasions the following two questions;

• Is a motor dealership in the retail sector and therefore does it qualify for the relief?

 

We have no definitive answer to this but having spoken to a number of professionals who specialise in business rating believe that motor dealerships are “retail”.

•  Should the business stop paying business rates now in anticipation of the relief?

We have no definitive answer to offer but we would expect many dealerships will stop payments because of other commercial necessities. In this regard, provided the motive is to save the business and the employment it secures, it would be difficult to argue with such decisions, whether in practice they are right or wrong.

Please let us know your thoughts regarding this matter by clicking the link below:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ase-plc_business-rates-and-coronavirus-ase-plc-activity-6646485185850298369-NSUZ