A Background to The Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023

The Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023.

The Act implemented various changes to the system of non-domestic rates (known as business rates) in England and Wales. Among the changes, it:

• reduced the revaluation cycle for business rates in England from five years to three years
• introduced a new duty for ratepayers to provide the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) with information about themselves and their business, and their ‘hereditament’ (the property or part of the property liable for business rates)
• introduced a new duty for ratepayers to provide a taxpayer reference number to HMRC
• established stronger, in some cases criminal, penalties for ratepayers who do not comply with those new duties
• removed the effects of changes in legislation, regulation and guidance bodies from being accepted as grounds for changes in rateable value (“material change of circumstance”) between revaluations
• introduced business rate relief for certain building improvements and for low-carbon heat networks

Background and extent

The Act mostly amends the Local Government Finance Act 1988, which is the legislative foundation of the current system of business rates. Most amendments from commitments made at the end of the Government’s Business Rates Review, which reported in 2021, or from the conclusions of the follow-up technical consultation. Those exercises had considered the business rating system in England.

Most of the provisions of the Act apply to England only. But some parts also extend to Wales on the request of the Welsh Government. Section 11 of the Act extends to Northern Ireland. The Act does not extend to Scotland.