The Non-Domestic Rates (Restriction of Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2021
Citation, commencement and application1.
(1)
These Regulations may be cited as the Non-Domestic Rates (Restriction of Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 and come into force on 1 April 2021.
F1(2)
These Regulations apply to the financial years beginning with 1 April 2021 and 1 April 2022.
Interpretation2.
In these Regulations—
“fiscal year” has the same meaning as in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement,
“special drawing right” means that unit of account as defined by the International Monetary Fund, and for the purpose of determining the equivalent in sterling on any day one special drawing right is to be treated as such amount in sterling as the International Monetary Fund has fixed as its equivalent for that day or, if no amount has been so fixed for that day, for the last day before that day for which an amount was so fixed, and
Restriction on granting of non-domestic rates relief3.
(1)
(2)
The Regulations are—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(3)
The limit for relief and assistance is 325,000 special drawing rights, calculated as described in regulation 4.
(4)
To the extent any relief that would otherwise be granted by the Regulations specified in paragraph (2) would exceed the limit in paragraph (3), that relief is not to be granted.
Calculation of relief and assistance4.
(1)
For the purposes of the calculation required by regulation 3(3), relief and assistance received by a person is any relief or assistance described in paragraph (2) which is received by that person in the fiscal year in which that calculation is undertaken and the two preceding fiscal years.
(2)
The relief and assistance is any relief or assistance that falls within one or more of the following descriptions—
(a)
relief granted under the Regulations listed in regulation 3(2),
(b)
relief or assistance given prior to 1 January 2021 that, at the time it was given, was de minimis aid within the meaning of—
(i)
(ii)
(c)
Amendment of the 2020 Regulations5.
In regulation 2(1) (restriction on granting of non-domestic rates relief) of the 2020 Regulations omit “, and each subsequent financial year”.
St Andrew’s House,
Edinburgh
These Regulations provide that relief that would otherwise be granted by specified rating Regulations is not granted, from 1 April 2021, to the extent that the relief when added to any other prescribed relief would exceed 325,000 Special Drawing Rights. This is the threshold set for de minimis relief by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (defined by regulation 2), entered into on 30 December 2020 between the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and the United Kingdom.
Regulation 3(2) lists the Regulations to which the restriction on grant of relief is to apply.
Regulation 4 sets out which previous grants of relief and assistance are to be used to calculate whether relief would exceed the limit set by regulation 3(3). Regard is had to relief and assistance awarded over a period of three fiscal years. That looks at relief under the Regulations listed in regulation 3(2), at relief and assistance prior to 2021 that would have been taken into account for state aid purposes, and at “subsidies” as defined by the Trade and Co-operation Agreement.
Regulation 5 makes a consequential amendment, so that from 1 April 2021 the provision in these Regulations replaces a restriction in other Regulations that applies to grant of reliefs within the non-domestic rating system.