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Gloucestershire Business News

Business rate refunds of £300m held

You may not think the big four supermarkets would be due any business rate refunds, but some £300 million could be heading their way.

The unpaid refunds relate to how companies which also have ATM machines on their premises are taxed, and the argument has ended up in court.

Colliers International, something of an expert on business rates, claims the £300 million sum is the amount waiting to be given out to the supermarkets, if the on-going court case rules in their favour.

Due to be helps in the Court of Appeal this month (May), the case relates to whether the businesses should be taxed separately for cash machines which are in their premises.

According to the Valuation Office Agency retailers should be taxed separately for machines both inside and outside their buildings - on top of their existing business rates.

It is understood a single cash machine could make a supermarket liable for an extra £4,000.

According to reports it does not look like the ruling this month will be the end of it. Whichever way the decision goes the outcome will be challenged in the in the Supreme Court.

John Webber, head of business rates at Colliers International, said: "The big four supermarket chains (Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons) pay enormous rates bill - this year over £1.77 billion between them alone.

"And given the pressures on the sector with rising food prices and wage bills and for many a footplate of stores too big for their current needs, it is not surprising we are seeing some consolidation in the sector as the proposed Sainsbury/Asda merger shows."

"Our clients are asking us to help them save money on their business rate taxes, but it looks like it will be 18 months, at least before the ATM issue is solved. In that time who knows what further difficulties the sector will experience."

At the other end of the scale Punchline-Gloucester.com has recently publicised the confusion around deliver of the 2017/2018 business rate relief for small businesses which has seen hundreds of thousands of pounds in Gloucestershire alone un-allocated or given back to Government. 

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