PART 1

NON-DOMESTIC RATING

Introduction

Overview of Part 1
1
1
This Part amends the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41) (“the 1988 Act”), in relation to Wales, as follows.
2
Part 3 of the 1988 Act makes provision about non-domestic rating. Sections 2 and 3 insert new sections 41ZA and 52ZA into the 1988 Act, restating provision about the compilation of local and central non-domestic rating lists for Wales. The lists contain details of hereditaments and their rateable values. Sections 2 and 3 shorten the interval between revaluation years from 5 to 3 years. Section 4 inserts a power into the 1988 Act for the Welsh Ministers to alter that interval or the date of a future revaluation year by regulations.
3
Schedules 4ZA, 4ZB and 5A to the 1988 Act set out reliefs from non-domestic rating for certain descriptions of hereditaments. Section 5 inserts provision into each of these Schedules for the Welsh Ministers to amend or withdraw existing reliefs and to confer new reliefs by regulations.
4
Paragraph 2 of Schedule 4ZB to the 1988 Act provides for full relief from non-domestic rating where a hereditament is unoccupied, the ratepayer is a charity or a registered club and where conditions as to the hereditament’s next use are met. Section 6 restates this paragraph and adds to the conditions that must be met in order for the relief to apply.
5
Section 46A of the 1988 Act provides for new buildings to be deemed to have been completed on a certain day (and therefore eligible for inclusion on a local or central non-domestic rating list). Section 7 amends that section (by expanding the definition of a new building) so that it applies to existing buildings that have undergone alterations where those buildings are comprised in hereditaments that have been removed from a list.
6
Section 47 of the 1988 Act enables a billing authority to grant or vary relief from non-domestic rating subject to conditions set out in the section. Section 8 amends that section so as to remove the time limit on making decisions granting or varying relief.
7
Schedule 5 to the 1988 Act makes provision about hereditaments that are exempt from non-domestic rating and includes a limited power for the Welsh Ministers to confer additional exemptions. Section 9 replaces that power with an unqualified power for the Welsh Ministers to amend or withdraw existing exemptions and to create new exemptions by regulations.
8
Schedule 7 to the 1988 Act makes provision in connection with the setting of multipliers used to calculate non-domestic rating. Section 10 inserts a new power for the Welsh Ministers to provide for differential multipliers in respect of descriptions of hereditaments to be specified in regulations. Section 11 amends the formulas in Schedules 4ZA, 4ZB and 5A to the 1988 Act for calculating non-domestic rating in relation to hereditaments in Wales so as to reflect the changes made by section 10 in relation to the setting of differential multipliers.
9
Schedule 9 to the 1988 Act imposes duties on ratepayers and potential ratepayers to notify valuation officers of information that relates to their liability to a non-domestic rate in respect of a hereditament, and provides for the enforcement of the duties (through civil and criminal penalties). Section 12 amends Schedule 9 so that these provisions apply in relation to hereditaments in Wales.
10
Section 13 inserts sections 63F to 63M into the 1988 Act. The new sections make provision about counteracting advantages obtained from artificial non-domestic rating avoidance arrangements. They include provision enabling the Welsh Ministers to make regulations that provide that an arrangement of a specified type is artificial (unless, in accordance with the regulations, a billing authority or the Welsh Ministers determine otherwise in a particular case); provision requiring billing authorities (or the Welsh Ministers) to treat persons as liable to pay the chargeable amounts that would have been, or would be, payable in the absence of an artificial non-domestic rating avoidance arrangement; provision for a review and appeals process; provision enabling the Welsh Ministers to make regulations imposing financial penalties where a person who is treated as liable fails to pay an amount due.
11
Section 14 inserts section 143A into the 1988 Act. Section 143A makes provision about the powers of the Welsh Ministers to make orders and regulations under the Act (restating provisions of section 143 of the 1988 Act in so far as they apply in respect of the powers of the Welsh Ministers).