Who Uses The Stairs Anyway?

Business rates are a significant overhead for many businesses, so it is not surprising that many companies appeal their rates liability. In some parts of the country, rates are more than the annual rent. The Mazars case has now set for the Supreme Court, and at the time of going to press, we're waiting for the decision.

Briefly, a firm of accountants has office space on two floors of the same eight storey office block near Tower Bridge. The floors in question are the second and sixth. The accountants say these floors, although not contiguous, should be treated as a single space for the purposes of business rates. HMRC disagree: they say the two floors should each be assessed on their own. The larger space is less valuable so the rates would be correspondingly lower.