Budget announces cuts to business rates from 2017

The chancellor announced in the budget yesterday that, from April 2017, small businesses that occupy properties with a rateable value of £12,000 or less will pay no business rates.

From 1 April 2017 the government has said it will:

• Permanently double Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) from 50 per cent to 100 per cent  and increase the thresholds to benefit a greater number of businesses. Businesses with a property with a rateable value of £12,000 and below will receive 100 per cent relief. Businesses with a property with a rateable value between £12,000 and £15,000 will receive tapered relief. 600,000 small businesses, occupiers of a third of all properties, will pay no business rates at all - a saving worth up to £5,900 in 2017-18. An additional 50,000 will benefit from tapered relief.
• Increase the threshold for the standard business-rates multiplier to a rateable value of £51,000, taking 250,000 smaller properties out of the higher rate. This will reduce business rates for many small businesses - including some high-street shops.

In addition, from next year Greater London local authorities will get powers to collect business rates rather than getting a proportion from central government. This was initially planned to be implemented in 2020.

Source Law Society (http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/stories/budget-announces-cuts-to-business-rates-from-2017/)