Budget 2015: Govt launches business rate review

The government has launched a review of how it calculates business rates, saying it wants to modernise the tax which is collected from businesses across England, including financial advisers.

The review will look at the structure of the current system, including how businesses use property and how it can be modernised to better reflect changes in the value of property. It will also ask whether a move away from a property based tax towards alternative tax bases would be fairer. Business rates are currently calculated based on the value of a firm's property multiplied by a figure set by the government every April. Small businesses had the relief on their annual rate doubled until next year while rate increases were capped at 2%, in a move announced in last year's Autumn S...