Budget Wars - A New Hope (with apologies to George Lucas)

Bobarella · 11 March 2017 at 3:28PM

Hi All

I have had the bad news I have been dreading for months. My new business rates bill came in today, and they have increased my rateable value from £9,100 to £14,750 (£5,650 increase)

There is transitional relief of £2,156 & small business relief of £393.45 but this still moves my payments up by £175 per month. Meaning a total payment of £363 each month, for nothing. I literally get nothing for that.

So, April is going to be hideous. £400 down already, and £175 on top of that to find to just make the bills.

My only hope at the moment is that they have miscalculated the size. They have me down as 84 square meters, and I have been told by an Architect who used the property for an exhibition that they made the premises 66 sqm. But visually I have no idea what that looks like.

As they work the bill out based on retail zones, A,B, C, I need to go there and measure each one as they would, and challenge the bill. You have until the end of March to appeal.

The worry extends to the fact that this 'transitional relief' could be pulled at any time, so next year I could be looking at copping for a lot more of the bill.

At this point I dont know what to think. I paid a small fortune from my own pocket to renovate my unit 5 years ago. Ok, the first business didnt work. This one, is 7 month in. So far, its not exactly lighting the world on fire, but is showing signs of growth.

Do I take it as an opportunity to give up? Before I end up being dragged back to the bad old days by the seat of my pants.

Do I fight it? The raise effectively means I'd be doing around 2 events for free a month.

Answers on a postcard....

Right and on that note Im off to work! Back later.

Bob

crazy_cat_lady · 11 March 2017 at 3:34PM

:eek:
Oh Bob I am so sorry to read this.

Definitely appeal it - you have nothing to lose there. I'm sorry but I don't have any other advice to offer you - I just don't have the common sense for running my own business and hate making big decisions.
Let the news sink in though, before you decide - and get the appeal on the go.

hugglemonster · 11 March 2017 at 3:43PM

HI Bob, sorry to hear this I too have no idea about running my own business but I definitely wouldn't make any decisions or plans until you have done the measurements and challenged the bill.

The business is still relatively new but it seems like word of mouth is getting out there and I'm sure it will pick up over the next few months. Do you do an annual review when you get to that point in time, only then can you see the progress you have made and perhaps the leaner times and maybe think about how you can work on these.

Just thinking off the top of my head, hope the work today goes well.

H x

f0xh0les · 11 March 2017 at 6:56PM

Oh Bob!

Do you not qualify for the small business rate relief or the £50 cap from the budget?

greent · 11 March 2017 at 7:02PM

Definitely appeal - that's a big increase - and a lot of sqm difference x

Bobarella · 11 March 2017 at 7:23PM

hugglemonster wrote: »

HI Bob, sorry to hear this I too have no idea about running my own business but I definitely wouldn't make any decisions or plans until you have done the measurements and challenged the bill.

The business is still relatively new but it seems like word of mouth is getting out there and I'm sure it will pick up over the next few months. Do you do an annual review when you get to that point in time, only then can you see the progress you have made and perhaps the leaner times and maybe think about how you can work on these.

Just thinking off the top of my head, hope the work today goes well.

H x

Thank you Huggle it is scary. The pattern seems to go on and on. You have an average month, nothing spare, then something goes wrong, and yet again you are dipping down the back of the sofa for loose change. Then another few average months and rinse and repeat. That's how I got into debt before. Things were promising so of course you shell out and keep going. But in reality the bills keep coming and you can't catch a break.

But I'm trying hard not to bundle the old with the new. And seeing them as two different situations.

f0xh0les wrote: »

Oh Bob!

Do you not qualify for the small business rate relief or the £50 cap from the budget?

I am getting small business rate relief. But it's not much at all this year. And transitional relief. It still presents a huge increase. What is the £50 thing??

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

:eek:
Oh Bob I am so sorry to read this.
Definitely appeal it - you have nothing to lose there. I'm sorry but I don't have any other advice to offer you - I just don't have the common sense for running my own business and hate making big decisions.
Let the news sink in though, before you decide - and get the appeal on the go.

Thanks Cat I'm definitely going to appeal. And look for advice everywhere I can.

Treadingonplaymobil · 11 March 2017 at 8:08PM

Oh Bob, how utterly crap, I really feel for you. I have no sensible advice particularly, as I don't know your exact situation, but I would suggest gathering all the information you can, then reviewing the best case scenario (successful appeal etc) and the worst case scenario (transitional relief only lasts 1 year) and look at what your outgoings will look at at each extreme, and somewhere in the middle, and set some review dates and income thresholds for continuing vs packing it in for each scenario. Everything looks better with a definite plan in place.

Bobarella · 11 March 2017 at 8:17PM

greent wrote: »

Definitely appeal - that's a big increase - and a lot of sqm difference x

I must admit I have no real idea how big that would be in terms of an extra room in your home, or how many tables that much area could take.

Bobarella · 11 March 2017 at 8:18PM

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Oh Bob, how utterly crap, I really feel for you. I have no sensible advice particularly, as I don't know your exact situation, but I would suggest gathering all the information you can, then reviewing the best case scenario (successful appeal etc) and the worst case scenario (transitional relief only lasts 1 year) and look at what your outgoings will look at at each extreme, and somewhere in the middle, and set some review dates and income thresholds for continuing vs packing it in for each scenario. Everything looks better with a definite plan in place.

Thanks lovely. I suppose hope for the best isn't really much of a strategy

Treadingonplaymobil · 11 March 2017 at 8:35PM

Bobarella wrote: »

Thanks lovely. I suppose hope for the best isn't really much of a strategy

It's faintly possible there are better business strategies out there

Budget Wars - A New Hope (with apologies to George Lucas)

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free