Guidance

Repaying your business rates relief

Published 22 December 2020

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/repaying-your-business-rates-relief/repaying-your-business-rates-relief

You should make repayments to the relevant administration where possible.

Relief received in England

In England, you can make a repayment by confirming your intention in writing to: accountsreceivable@hmtreasury.gov.uk

This should include:

  • the value of the proposed payment
  • the date of the proposed payment. Please allow at least 3 days’ notice

You will receive confirmation from HM Treasury that your notification has been received and details of the bank account to make the payment to.

Relief received in Scotland

In Scotland, you can make a repayment by confirming your intention in writing to: SGBankingTeam@gov.scot

This should include:

  • the value of the proposed payment
  • the date of the proposed payment. Please allow at least 3 days’ notice

You will receive confirmation from the Scottish Government banking team that the notification has been received and details of the bank account to make the payment to.

Relief received in Wales

In Wales, you can make a repayment by confirming your intention in writing to: sharedservicehelpdesk@gov.wales

This should include:

  • the value of the proposed payment
  • the date of the proposed payment. Please allow at least 3 days’ notice

You will receive confirmation from the Welsh Government Corporate Shared Service Centre that the notification has been received and details of the bank account to make the payment to.

Relief received in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, you can make a repayment by confirming your intention in writing to: operationalfinancerating.lpsni@finance-ni.gov.uk

This should include:

  • The value of the proposed payment
  • The date of the proposed payment. Please allow at least 3 days’ notice

You will receive confirmation from the Land and Property Services that the notification has been received and details of the bank account to make the payment to.

Alternative option if you need to make a single payment

While you should make repayments to the relevant administration where possible, you can make a single payment to the UK Government provided you confirm in writing the value of the proposed payment that relates to business rates reliefs provided by each of the four administrations (so the relevant amounts can be transferred). To do this, follow the same process outlined for England but additionally providing the breakdown by administration.

Whether payments are tax deductible

The government intends to legislate to provide clarity that the repayments of business rates relief should be treated as if they were business rates payments and so should be deductible for tax purposes. The government also intends to specify the timing of the deduction as the same period the original payment of business rates would have related to. This has been communicated to the Treasury Select Committee.

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