Stop, Look And We Will Listen! Business Rates Bills Due

Within the next month or so your new business rates bill will be arriving in the post.

STOP….don’t just pass it for payment.

LOOK…..and check, has your rateable value increased? Continue reading

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Companies turn to specialists to generate big business rates savings

Brain tumour……one operation could save your life. Who do you choose to do it?

Continue reading

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Uniform Business Rate Time Bomb

If adopted by the Government, September’s 5.6% increase in the Retail Price Index will be reflected in April’s rise to the Uniform Business Rate Multiplier which is set to be the highest in 20 years. Continue reading

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Occupiers must wait for help!

Occupiers must pay next April’s record rise in business rates in full.  George Osborne recently announced in his Autumn Statement that businesses would be able to defer up to 60%  of Aprils record increase over the following two years.  However, as a result of time restraints the Department for Communities and Local Government has advised local authorities to charge for the full rise. Continue reading

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Is the new Valuation Office email system working properly?

I strongly suspect not! When the new Valuation Office structure was introduced in November 2011 the email addresses to which correspondence is directed also changed to a centralised inbox in each area (just like before, however the areas are now considerably larger). Continue reading

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Happy Christmas

Father Christmas came early for one RatesRecovery client this week when we negotiated a £300,000 saving for them.  To everyone else may we wish you a very ‘Happy Christmas’ and best wishes for a profitable 2012.  We look forward to saving even more in business rates for you next year !

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Queen of Shops – Can this really save the High Street?

The much awaited Mary Portas report into saving high street retailing was unveiled today.  You can find a report on it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16153541 Continue reading

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‘Fortune favours the brave’

The above statement has never been more pertinent for retailers than now.

Business rates are understood to be the third largest cost of running a business. That’s why we approached our retail clients in 2007 asking them if they would like us to attempt to try and agree their rates before they came into effect; we called this process ‘prior agreement’. The benefits were obvious; there was to be no overpayment of rates, not really a hard sell! Continue reading

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George Osborne must deliver for retailers tomorrow.

Retailers will be listening closely to the Chancellors Autumn Statement tomorrow and crossing their fingers for a change in the way business rates will be calculated. At present retailers are looking down the barrel of the biggest annual increase in business rates for two decades. The potential 5.6% jump in business rates could push many retailers into insolvency in 2012, as post Christmas sales dwindle and the first quarterly rent payments become due in March.

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Who’s dreaming of a white Christmas?

As retailers continue to struggle to tempt consumers to part with their cash, the high street is hoping for a much needed boost as we head into Christmas.  Many will be praying that heavy snowfall doesn’t stop shoppers making their way to the tills.  Find out your chance of a white Christmas here with the Metchecks’s Snow-O-Meter http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/whitechristmas.asp

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