The Supreme Court has granted the Valuation Office Agency permission to appeal in the £500m battle over whether ATMs at supermarket sites should be separately assessed for business rates.
Last year, supermarket chains including Tesco and Sainsbury’s won their legal battle at the Court of Appeal over how cash machines in their stores are rated. The Court of Appeal ruled that ATMs located both inside and outside of stores should not be assessed for additional business rates.
Previously, the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) had made a distinction between ATMs inside a building and outside, finding that while the should not be assessed for business rates, the latter should.
But now the case will go to the country’s highest court – which John Webber, head of business rates at Colliers International, has branded “a kick in the teeth for retail”.
He says the “nightmare” move will flood the already struggling business rates appeals system and could lead to stores ripping out their ATM machines.
Colliers believes that, now the Supreme Court has elected to hear the dispute, it could now take a further two to three years before the resolution of the case, adding to the costs of the supermarkets in an already difficult market.
It estimates that, based on each ATM site attracting an average rates liability of around £4,000, if the Court of Appeal decision is upheld by the Supreme Court, the supermarkets would be due refunds in the region of £496m.
Webber said: “Not only is this an enormous waste of taxpayers’ money to allow the case to roll on, but it could snatch away from hard pressed retailers the much-needed refunds they have been waiting for in this period of economic uncertainty. At the very least it will delay them receiving anything for another two to three years, and that’s only if they are successful.”
“This decision effectively paralyses the 2017 Rating List for food store operators and their concessions, as well as anyone else trying to get an appeal through. We estimate that there are approximately 50,000 cases in the system concerned with the ATM business rates issue, that have not been dealt with and now we will only see further delays”
“In pursuing this case the VOA is taking the most cavalier action to retail jobs and public finance ever taken by public services. It’s just breath-taking, and all at a time when retailers are closing shops daily and jobs are being lost.”
“What we really need is for the VOA to get back in the box and instead of chasing the supermarkets, get on with dealing with the outstanding appeals, that have snarled up the system since the duration of the case and leave the humble ATMs and kiddie rides well alone.”
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