The Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill has been recently passed by the Welsh Senedd and locks in a series of changes to tax systems in Wales, with some affecting business rates.
The Bill was introduced on 20 November 2023 when the Welsh Government committed to its Programme for Government to reform existing Council Tax arrangements in order to “ensure a fairer and more progressive system”.
Making a statement to the Senedd, Rebecca Evans, Minister for Finance and Local Government, said: “This Bill will make a significant contribution to the delivery of a major package of reforms to the local taxation systems in Wales, addressing many of the limitations of the current arrangements identified from extensive research and experience of operating the current systems for over twenty years.”
She went on to highlight the importance of frequent revaluations and told Senedd members that the Bill provides a “fundamental improvement” to the non-domestic rates system through three-yearly revaluations. The Bill also introduces changes to ratepayers’ information provision to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).
AT A GLANCE
Aimed at future proofing and making local tax systems fairer across Wales, the Bill will:
- Increase the frequency of when the values of all non-domestic properties in Wales are updated to once every three years. This aligns with the revaluation cycle in England.
- Close tax avoidance loop holes and increase the ability to effectively deal with future avoidance schemes.
- Allow for changes to calculation of payments for different categories of ratepayers
- Provide additional flexibility when changing exemptions and reliefs.
- Enable improvements to the information provided by ratepayers by placing a duty on ratepayers to provide certain types of information to the Valuation Office Agency.
You can find out more here: Tax revolution in Wales: Local Government Finance Bill unleashes changes for fairer and responsive system