Furnished holiday let

Pisces777

Hi, please can someone help with regards to my question below. It is an unusual one of which I have been unable to find a direct answer through online search. 
..... 
We purchased a property in 2015 and it has been used as a furnished holiday let since that time. Unbeknown to us until now (crazy but true) we had been paying council tax on the property, and it has only come to light due to coronovirus that our lroperty manager advised us we should have been paying or applied for business rates along with business rates relief in 2015, our property falls below the £12000 threshold, so we believe we would have been entitled to 100% business rates relief throughout this time.

My questions are:
1: Since we have been paying council tax in error, are we entitled to a refund of all monies that have been paid in error through this time dating back to 2015.
2: Furnished holiday lets are applying for grants due to lost earnings over the coronovirus pandemic. We have lost most, if not all of our bookings this year. Where do we stand on this,  we are registered with HMRC as a furnished holiday let and have been submitting tax returns since 2015, but are we correct in saying we should be on business rates to apply...it is all so worrying and confusing. 

I do hope the above makes sense, if anyone could shed some light it would be extremely appreciated and we would be so grateful for any advice going forward. 
Many thanks. 
John

lincroft1710

If the Valuation Office Agency agrees your property should be rated rather than subject to council tax then it will depend on the effective date of deletion from the CT Valuation List as to how much money you will be refunded. If your cottage is available for letting for a minimum of 140 days per annum then it would qualify for business rates

CIS

2: Furnished holiday lets are applying for grants due to lost earnings over the coronovirus pandemic. We have lost most, if not all of our bookings this year. Where do we stand on this,  we are registered with HMRC as a furnished holiday let and have been submitting tax returns since 2015, but are we correct in saying we should be on business rates to apply...it is all so worrying and confusing.

If there was no business rates list entry on 11 March (which there wasn't) then it's very unlikely that you will qualify for the grant as hat was the cut-off point.

elmer

We are taking applications from premises that were trading, but didnt have a NDR account on 17/03 (Im in Scotland) and referring them to the Assessor  (VOA in England) If the Assessor is able to assess and you are given a date that is before 17/03/20 then you may be able to get the grant, Perhaps speak to the Assessor/VOA for your area and see what they say, the applications dont close till 31/03/21 here

elmer