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The Welsh Government has this week passed the Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill which will establish a series of changes to improve the tax systems.

For non-domestic rates, the Bill will:

  • increase how often the values of all non-domestic properties in Wales are updated, to once every three years
  • provide more flexibility to make changes to reliefs and exemptions
  • enable changes to the calculation of payments for different categories of ratepayers
  • close known tax avoidance arrangements and increase the ability to tackle future avoidance in a more responsive way
  • enable improvements to the information provided by ratepayers.

The passing on the Bill, and three yearly revaluation cycle, signifies a positive conclusion to the many years of campaigning by the WRC.

Responding to the passing of the Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill in the Senedd this week, Sara Jones, Head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said:

The WRC has long led the charge to see the rates system better flex with economic and trading conditions.  The passing of the Bill and introduction of three yearly revaluations to the business rates system will help provide a more effective shock absorber against future economic bumps in the road. It will also allow the rates system to keep pace with structural changes in economy and make it easier for ratepayers to anticipate future bills, introducing greater parity with England and Scotland.

The move to more frequent revaluations is one step in the right direction towards much needed business rate reform in Wales.  The rates burden remains onerous and unwieldy, imposing huge costs on firms regardless of whether they are in profit or in loss. We appreciate that a substantially lower multiplier rate is unlikely to happen overnight and so we continue to press for the development of a timetabled plan to lower the onerous rates burden and restore its competitiveness with elsewhere in GB. The evidence is clear: business rates are costing shops and jobs, the Welsh Government must continue to press forward with plans to ensure we have a tax system that supports the retail industry’s investment and growth into the future.”