Business Rates Avoidance

Around one per cent of total business rates income, or £250 million, is lost to business rates avoidance each year. We are calling on the Government to bring forward changes to legislation to tackle this avoidance, along the lines of those being proposed in Wales and Scotland, to be implemented in 2021.

On average, respondents estimated that the total amount of business rates lost to avoidance in their local authority area in 2017/18 was £798,000. Using this average, it is estimated that the overall scale of avoidance in England is £250 million, which equates to one per cent of the overall total business rates payable.