News
Commercial Rates
Added: Tuesday, March 01, 2016
Local Authority Commercial Rates
Rates are a property tax levied by County Councils or other Local Authorities on the occupiers of commercial permises in the area of the relevant County Council.
Rates are used to fund the provision of services throughout the Galway county and city. Notwithstanding this commercial rates are not meant to be payment for any individual service provided to any specific premises or rate payer
Revision
For premises that have not been revalued, the process of revision can be undertaken. Revision is necessary where a property has not been previously valued for rates or a material change in circumstances has occurred.
Revision Process
A revision officer inspects the premises and issues a Proposed Valuation Certificate. If you are unhappy with the valuation you may make representations within 28days. These representations are then considered and a Final Valuation Certificate is issued. If you are still unhappy with the Final Certificate you can appeal to the Commissioner of Valuation. The Commissioner may decide to increase, decrease or leave the Valuation unchanged. There is a further right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. This involves written submissions, counter submissions and a Hearing. This Tribunal will decide within 6 months and their decision can only be appealed to the High Court on a point of law
Any owner or occupier of a rateable property can apply for revision directly to:-
The Valuation Office
Block 2, Irish Life Centre, Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1 or E-mail: info@valoff.ie
Revaluation
A "Revaluation" is the production of an up-to-date Valuation List of non-domestic property, for Commercial Rates purposes, within a local authority area, by reference to property rental values at a specified valuation date. This results from the carrying out by the Valuation Office of a new valuation of every relevant property in a particular rating authority area. The legal provisions which govern this are set out in Part 5 of the Valuation Act 2001, as amended by the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015.
Essentially, the process commences with a statutory consultation which the Commissioner of Valuation undertakes with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the relevant rating authorities. On completion of the consultation process, the Commissioner may make a statutory order, known as a "valuation order" in relation to carrying out the Revaluation. This order specifies the date by reference to which the value of every relevant property in the particular rating authority area shall be determined. The process results in the publication of a Valuation List containing the new valuations of all relevant properties thereon and that List become effective for Rates purposes subsequently.
How is revaluation carried out?
A Valuation Manager from the Valuation Office assesses the Net Annual Value of your property and sets a valuation in line with rental values at the specified valuation date.. Information provided by occupiers to the Valuation Office is used for the purposes of the Office carrying out its statutory functions. The Valuation Office is supported by an extensive computerised market analysis model in establishing market rental values at the specified valuation date.
Your commercial rates liability may increase decrease or remain unchanged following Revaluation. The outcome depends on how the Net Annual Value (rental value) of your property has changed relative to the other property values in your local authority area. Until all properties in your local authority area have been revalued it will not be possible to predict how an individual property will be affected.
The Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015 was recently passed by the Oireachtas. The primary purpose of the Act is to accelerate the national revaluation programme and it contains a number of measures in this regard. The statutory consultation process, required before a valuation order can be made, is now being conducted in relation to a further three rating authorities, Galway City Council, Kilkenny County Council and Carlow County Council. As of now no work has been done in respect of the revaluation for Galway County commercial rate premises.
For any queries in respect of the purchase or sale of commercial properties and the payment of rates, please contact John Nash Solicitors, Abbey Street, Loughrea, County