// 70,000 London shops, pubs, restaurants & hotels face £2.8bn business rates bill when the tax relief ends
// All business premises will return to normal business rates liabilities from April 1 next year
// The government has not yet indicated if it would provided targeted support or to extend the one-year business rates holiday
Almost 70,000 business premises across London face a combined business rates bill of £2.8 billion from next April without discerning targeted support, experts have warned.
Real estate advisory firm Altus Group said that with the one year business rates holiday set to end on March 31 next year, 66,374 business premises – including retailers – across London’s 33 local council areas will return to normal business rates liabilities.
Altus Group said this would total £2.79 billion for the 2021/22 tax year, which begins April 1.
READ MORE:
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- London Mayor Sadiq Khan demands business rates holiday extension
- Grocery chiefs urge Chancellor to use business rates reform to “level up” economy
In March this year, just as the Covid-19 crisis started to grip the UK, Chancellor Rishi Sunak wrote off business rates bills for the current financial year in an attempt to negate the economic impact of the pandemic.
The one-year business rates holiday applied to all occupied retail, leisure and hospitality premises irrespective of their size.
However, the government has still not yet revealed if it would extend the business rates holiday or introduce measures that offer targeted support for worst-affected businesses.
“Whilst next April cannot signal a return to pre pandemic levels of property taxes it must strike a balance with public finance affordability,” Altus Group head of property tax Robert Hayton said.
“Adjusting rateable values used to calculate bills, for those properties under appeal, reflecting the profound effect of the pandemic in values ahead of new bills being issued next year is part of the solution which will need to be supplemented by additional targeted support to where it is most needed.”
Earlier this month, Altus Group projected that the UK’s Big 4 grocers – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – along with Aldi and Lidl will save around £1.87 billion in business rates tax breaks this year despite sales soaring during the pandemic.
This is set to represent more than one sixth of the total £10.1 billion business rates bill which has been written off for all businesses during the year.
Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has urged the government to extend the business rates holiday to provide a lifeline for the capital’s retailers.
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