Small businesses are facing a double hit in April of higher rates and a requirement to file tax returns on a quarterly rather than yearly basis.
BADA president Victoria Borwick MP told ATG she has asked the Chancellor directly if there “could be another way of looking at the rates – so that rateable value also takes into account factors such as turnover, size of premises, independent or a chain of premises”.
At the same time Marco Forgione, chief executive of BADA, approached London Mayor Sadiq Kahn, ahead of Kahn’s meeting with the Chancellor, with a request for the government to review the timetable for introducing quarterly reporting, that it should not be mandatory and to consider significant business rate exemptions for shops on the high street.
“I told Sadiq that London is a global centre of excellence for the art and antiques trade but that the government’s plans for tax and rates will have a significantly detrimental effect on these businesses, ” Forgione said.
