The HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has reminded businesses that they have only one month left to revalue the UK residential properties they own and tell the agency if any are worth more than £500,000.
Under the government’s Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) rules companies must revalue UK residential properties every five years, and 2023 to 2024 is one of those years.
The revaluation can be done by the owner or by a professional valuer and must be based on the value of the property on 1 April 2022, or the date of acquisition if this was after 1 April 2022. This valuation sets the rate of annual payment until the next revaluation year.
Companies must submit their ATED return to HMRC and make any payments for the 2023 to 2024 period between 1 and 30 April 2023 or they could face a penalty.
“It is essential that companies act quickly to complete the revaluations of their residential property portfolios, however large or small, and pay what they owe,” Morris Graham, HMRC’s head of stamp taxes policy, said.
He urged the companies that are new to the ATED to familiarise themselves with the guidance on GOV.UK.
Once a property has been revalued, the annual charge is applicable for the next five years. The charge is dependent on the property’s value and starts at £4,150 for properties valued between £500,000 and £1 million.
This increases to £28,650 a year for properties valued between £2 million and £5 million, and £269,450 for properties worth more than £20 million. A full list of rates can be found on GOV.UK.
Companies that own residential properties in the UK, which were previously worth less than £500,000, should ensure they undertake a revaluation and notify HMRC by completing an ATED return if any of their properties now exceed the threshold.
The Welsh government has on Thursday announced £10million in Financial Transaction Capital to fund regeneration projects across the country
The, has made £10m in Financial Transaction Capital available to fund regeneration projects across the country.
The Transforming Towns Loans programme supports local authorities with town and city centre regeneration projects and has allocated more than £62m since its launch in 2014.
The aim of the scheme is to reduce the number of vacant and underutilised sites and buildings to diversify our town centre offers and increase footfall.
The funding also encourages more sustainable uses for empty premises, such as leisure, key services and conversion to town centre residential, and help to prevent some of the activity from being relocated to edge of town development.
“Our Transforming Towns Loans programme improves the places where people live and work, creating a sense of place and vibrant high streets,” Jayne Bryant, the cabinet secretary for housing and local government, said.
“Empty and disused buildings are a wasted resource in our communities, and our town centre funding will create job opportunities and bring life back to high streets and disused and forgotten buildings at the heart of their town centres.
“I encourage local authorities to utilise this funding and look forward to seeing their plans to create job opportunities and bring life back to the forgotten buildings in the heart of their communities.”
Applications for the 2024/25 round of loan funding closes on 10 January 2025.
An anonymous group consisting of current and former employees of the Post Office and Royal Mail have called on to the Forfeiture Committee to remove of honours awarded to 14 individuals who are connected to the Post Office Horizon scandal.
The 14 names mentioned by the group includes former ministers, civil servants, and Post Office and Royal Mail bosses such as Vince Cable KCB, Ed Davey KCB, Jo Swinson CBE, Donald Brydon CBE, Moya Green DBE, Alan Cook CBE and Alwen Lyons OBE.
The group has written to the committee listing the names of individuals who it said “owned, oversaw, governed and ran the Post Office” during the scandal, Computer Weekly reported.
The letter, as seen by Computer Weekly, stated, “We are deeply concerned by the testimony given under or to the inquiry, particularly during phases five and seven which has revealed beyond any doubt the incompetence, negligence, restlessness, ethical corruption and willful blindness (‘not me guv’ attitude) of certain individuals at the heart of Whitehall, all of whom have been bestowed with honours.
“There can be no better an example of rewards for failure than those who owned, oversaw, governed and ran the Post Office – a taxpayer-funded organisation – and have received honours for their public or related service.
“The Forfeiture Committee, therefore, does not need to wait to consider stripping honours from those other senior individuals responsible for the scandal who have blatantly contravened a range of governance and conduct codes, legal and fiduciary duties at the Nolan principles.
"Their abject behaviour or failure to act in accordance with these standards has brought the honours systems into disrepute.”
This comes a day after the release of a damning report by Commons MPs on the progress of compensation of Post Office Horizon scandal victims.
In the report by the Business and Trade Committee (BTC), MPs have called for the government to be fined if it fails to provide redress quickly enough to victims of the Horizon software scandal.
MPs have called on to introduce new legally enforceable time limits for each stage of claim processing.
The process of seeking compensation is "akin to a second trial for victims", the committee chair Liam Byrne said.
It is "imperative" applicants receive upfront legal advice paid for by scheme operators rather than applicants, the committee's report said, as evidence given by claimants' solicitors said when they get legal advice, their financial redress offers double.
More than 700 sub-postmasters across the UK were wrongfully prosecuted by the Post Office for theft and false accounting using the Horizon software made by Fujitsu which incorrectly generated shortfalls in branches.
Many more incurred large debts, lost homes, experienced relationship breakdown, became unwell in an effort to repay the imagined shortfalls and some took their own lives.
A 26-year-old man has admitted being part of a gang that stole cash from two convenience shops in armed robberies.
According to local reports, Liam Cook, of Brierley Hill, was part of a gang of three who threatened to cut staff with blades during a raid at Tesco Express in Hagley Road, Halesowen in West Midlands region on May 9 last year.
On Thursday (2), Adam Western, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court, how Cook and two others were captured on closed circuit security cameras approaching the premises shortly after closing time.
"Their faces were covered. Each were armed.
"One of them had a knife, one a crowbar and the third had a meat cleaver. The store closed at 10pm and the offenders arrived in a silver BMW while two staff members were stock taking.
"The offenders forced open the front doors to get in and pushed the staff into the office a the back while demanding that they open the safe. One of them was armed with a kitchen knife with a seven-inch blade and he threatened to cut the staff with it.
"They tried to smash open the safe and also demanded that they open a vault at which point the staff told them they were unable to open it. The offenders then started to bang it in a bid to get the two male staff to open it fast.
"One of the offenders grabbed a quantity of cigarettes," Western told the court.
Cook, who was film wearing a green glove, was also seen searching the drawers in the office. All three were dressed in dark-coloured clothing.
Western said the subsequent investigation into the Tesco raid and following a robbery at a Spar shop detectives were able to use the film footage to identify Cook due to his height.
"There was a tracker in with some of the cash which was traced to the Brierley Hill area. When the police found it in a money bag meant for £20 notes, it was smashed into six pieces. The defendant gave himself up," he added.
The court also head that the same gang were responsible for both robberies and that a police investigation to identify the other two men was continuing.
In his victim impact statement real aloud in the court, the shop manager described how his colleague was left badly affected by the incident. "I am annoyed at the audacity of the offenders in smashing up the store," he added.
At a previous hearing Cook pleaded guilty to two offences of robbery and two offences of possession of an offensive weapon on the basis that was the person armed with the meat cleaver and wearing the green glove.
The case has been adjourned until Jan 14 for further inquiries. Cook was remanded in custody.
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has outlined plans to enhance transparency in business rates valuations, with a phased rollout of new disclosures and systems through 2029.
By 2026, ratepayers will gain access to more tailored property valuation details. By 2029, this will expand to include specific valuation evidence, addressing calls for greater transparency. The changes stem from a 2023 consultation that sought input from ratepayers, agents, and other stakeholders.
“We understand the importance of greater transparency in business rates valuations. The consultation showed there are different views about what property valuation information should be disclosed,” Carolyn Bartlett, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at the VOA, said.
“We’ve balanced the desire for greater transparency from some with the concerns of others about the confidentiality of their data and a preference for simplified information.”
The improvements are part of broader reforms to business rates in England and Wales aimed at supporting more frequent property revaluations, set to occur every three years from 2026.
A key reform includes a new duty on ratepayers to provide property information to the VOA. Phased testing of this system will begin after April 1, 2026, with full implementation expected by April 1, 2029.
Under the new duty, ratepayers must notify the VOA within 60 days of changes to:
The occupier.
Lease or rent agreements.
The property itself.
Some ratepayers will also need to provide annual trade information for valuation purposes. Additionally, all ratepayers will be required to confirm yearly that they have reported any changes.
“These changes will help us revalue properties every three years. More frequent revaluations mean fluctuations in the property market are reflected in business rates bills more quickly. This will make the system fairer,” Bartlett added.
Plans to simplify the Check, Challenge, Appeal process are scheduled for 2029, coinciding with the start of new rating lists.
The VOA has committed to a collaborative approach in implementing these reforms, and assured ratepayers that ample notice will be provided ahead of each change, along with guidance to support compliance.
“We aim to build a system that works for all ratepayers. This is whether they have one assessment or thousands, and whether they use an agent or deal with us directly,” Bartlett said.
“We will make sure the system has been thoroughly tested by ratepayers before we formally introduce the new requirements.”
Criminals are increasingly targeting businesses over personal properties yet only about one in ten cases resulted in charges, with nearly half of the investigations being closed without police identifying a suspect, show recent data.
According to Office for National Statistics data cited by The Times, robbery of a business property rose by 52 per cent in the year to June 2024 - rising from 7,884 to 12,000, amounting to 33 recorded every day.
The figures suggest that criminals are increasingly targeting businesses over personal properties, the numbers for which remained relatively stable over the same period. There were 69,931 personal property robberies recorded compared to 69,222 in the previous 12 months, a 1 per cent increase.
The figures come on the back of a record high in shoplifting, with a total of 469,788 events recorded in the year to June, a 29 per cent increase on the previous year.
The Office for National Statistics said there had been a “notable increase” in the number of robberies involving a knife, which rose by 11 per cent during the same period.
Dame Diana Johnson, the policing minister, said that the government will also clamp down on property robbery by introducing a standalone offence of assaulting a shop worker.
The government’s Policing and Crime bill, which is expected to be introduced to parliament in the spring, will attempt to ensure that the police treat shoplifting offences more seriously by scrapping a rule introduced in 2014 that enabled forces to treat thefts of goods valued at under £200 less seriously by making it a summary-only offence.
Johnson said, “Under the last Conservative government, robbery of business property and shoplifting rose to record high levels. It’s vital that businesses are protected, retail crime tackled and staff protected this festive period.
“This Labour government will deliver 13,000 extra neighbourhood police as part of our plan for change. We’ll tackle retail crime and assault of shop workers and scrap the Tory shoplifters’ charter.
"This is a government committed to our mission for safer streets, for safer communities, and for a safer Britain, and we have a plan to get there.”