An effective property tax mitigation strategy will extend beyond the conventional appeals process, by exploring potential recovery opportunities in previous rate years and on past accounts over different Revaluation periods.

Business rates auditing is a complex subject that analyses property data, rating list information and billing periods on non-domestic and domestic rate accounts. Our audit reviews account histories for potential anomalies and technical savings angles, which can lead to the recovery of meaningful sums from:

• Historic overpayments
• Billing errors
• Backdated relief applications
• Transitional certification
• Outcomes by former/subsequent ratepayers
• Legislative changes

BGL’s BRA service is a ‘stand-alone’ activity – our audit requires minimal client input and doesn’t clash with existing appeal/CCA instructions. As a desk-top investigation it is relatively quick to process across portfolios for most billing authorities.

BGL’s Auditing Team are from billing authority backgrounds and members of the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation (IRRV). They represent ratepayers, asset managers and Administrators/Liquidators in successfully unearthing meaningful recovery sums and obtaining rates reliefs in situations that were overlooked or previously declined by a billing authority.

The auditing process is self-financing as it adopts an entirely performance-related approach.