Government announce Business Rates Review

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, today (Monday 16 March) launched the most wide-ranging review of national business rates in a generation – paving the way for changes to how businesses across England pay the tax.

The review, set to report back by Budget 2016, will examine the structure of the current system which is paid annually on 1.8 million properties in England. The review will look at how businesses use property, what the UK can learn from other countries about local business taxes, and how we could modernise the system so it better reflects changes in the value of property.

The Chief Secretary launched the review during a speech to local businesses in Cambridge. Go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-paves-the-way-for-reform-of-business-rates

The review "paves the way for changes" to the current system, which has been in place since 1988, the Treasury said.

However, the outcome is expected to be fiscally neutral, meaning that the total sum collected from businesses will not change.