GRAHAM HISCOTT Home Office wins rebate Site paid £6m ‘over the odds’ in taxes

THE Home Office could net a tax rebate of almost £6million – while thousands of firms are reeling from business rate hikes.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s department has been locked in a long-running battle with another arm of the Government over the rateable value of its central London headquarters.

The Marsham Street office is said to have the highest business rates in London – around £12.5m a year. The Home Office argued it had been paying over the odds since 2010. And now a court has agreed.

The Upper Tribunal ruling means the Home Office is due back just under £5.8m in rates, according to industry experts Altus Group. But while it will get a rebate, many companies have seen their business rates jump under a controversial shake-up. High street shops are among those hit hard.

The Mirror has called for a reform of the rates system as part of our High Street Fightback campaign.

The legal battle was between the Home Office and the Valuation Office, part of HMRC. To complicate matters, the Marsham Street site also houses the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which oversees business rates policy. Court papers show the purpose-built 800,000 sq ft office block includes a sports hall, aerobics room and “meditation rooms”.

Robert Hayton, head of UK business rates at Altus, said there could be many more rebates.

“Between 2017 and 2021, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast a total of £4.5billion – or 3.2% – of total business rate revenue receipts will be remitted back through successful appeals,” he said.

HSBC has reached a near £600million settlement with US regulators over wrongdoing in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. The investigation related to the sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities. It marks another big-money rap over the knuckles...

BATTLEGROUND Marsham Street