Business rates case may lead to £10m council windfall

摘要

Legal action that could see an estimated £10m business rates windfall paid to councils has been cleared for a hearing. An attempt to have the case struck out by the commercial property owners involved was defeated after Rossendale BC and Wigan MBC appealed to the Supreme Court. The case centres on rates avoidance schemes in which a short lease is granted to a special purpose vehicle (SPV) company, which is then dissolved or put into liquidation to escape liability for business rates.