Consultation outcome

Business Rates Avoidance and Evasion: Consultation

From:
HM Treasury and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Published
6 July 2023
Last updated
6 March 2024 — See all updates
This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government
This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Business Rates Avoidance and Evasion Consultation: Summary of Responses

PDF, 256 KB, 24 pages

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Detail of outcome

The Summary of Responses to the Business Rates Avoidance and Evasion Consultation sets out the views expressed to the government during the consultation and outlines reforms to combat abuse of the system.

The government is extending the Empty Property Relief “reset period”, from six weeks to three months (13 weeks) from 1 April 2024 in England. This will reduce the financial incentive to avoid business rates on empty properties through “box shifting”. The government is also announcing a consultation on a “General Anti-Avoidance Rule” for business rates in England, and committing to improved communications for ratepayers to help combat “rogue” business rates agents.

Original consultation

Summary

The government is consulting on the scope and scale of avoidance, evasion and poor rating agent behaviour in the business rates system, and potential methods to tackle it.

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

At Spring Budget 2023 the government announced a consultation to explore the causes of, and potential measures to combat, avoidance, evasion, and poor rating agent behaviour within the business rates system, to protect essential funding for local services.

The purpose of this consultation is to:

  • consult on specific measures to reform Empty Property Relief, to address known avoidance schemes
  • gather evidence on wider avoidance and evasion practises within the business rates system, and seek views on whether billing authorities have sufficient powers and information to combat them
  • gather evidence on “rogue” rating agent behaviour and seek views on how the government could address any problems

Documents

Business Rates Avoidance and Evasion: Consultation

PDF, 234 KB, 25 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email digital.communications@hmtreasury.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Updates to this page

Published 6 July 2023
Last updated 6 March 2024 + show all updates

  1. Consultation response added

  2. First published.

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