Whilst the core objective of the business rates team is to minimise rates liability, our service also extends to account auditing to ensure that:
- Rate demands have been correctly calculated
- Refunds have been returned in a timely manner
- Interest due has been correctly applied
- Overpayments have been returned
- Verification that business rates are legally chargeable by the Billing Authority
All too often, we have been instructed by a new client only to discover their account has a credit against it or an old account has been left closed with a refund still to be paid. In one exceptional circumstance this ran to over £250,000.
We have also been successful in challenging rate demands that have not been made in a timely manner with reference to the Encon case which has made a substantial difference to the amount of back dated rates liabilities. Please see http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/1999/530.html for more details.