HMV’S £3m lost tax aid Missed rates savings cost retailer dear

MUSIC chain HMV was denied more than £3million of tax savings that could have helped prevent its collapse.

The near 100-year-old retailer should have been a big winner from a Government shake-up of business rates in 2017, slashing the bill on 87 of its stores in England.

But a system that caps decreases for firms in some areas, to limit increases for companies in others, meant it lost out instead.

Industry experts Altus Group says this “transitional relief ” has cost HMV £3.35m in missed savings.

HMV cited its £15m-ayear business rates bill among a “tsunami of challenges” after plunging into administration just after Christmas.

Another factor was the impact of online streaming rivals. However, the Mirror can reveal one of these, industry giant Spotify, will pay just £271,150 this year in business rates on its main London offices.

Spotify refused to comment but said it also had “customer service support offices” in Cambridge. HMV’S

Oil = $58.73 turnover was £277m in 2017, while it lost another £8.8m. In the same year, profits at Spotify Ltd, its UK arm, jumped 58% to almost £4.4m on revenues – mostly advertising – of £107m.

Since late 2016, subscriptions from Spotify’s UK customers have gone to its Swedish parent company.

Spotify’s combined revenue from subscriptions and advertising in 2016 was £237m.

Robert Hayton, from Altus Group, called it “absurd” that firms such as HMV weren’t benefitting from the full reduction in business rates.

HMV’S administrators KPMG has received “credible interest” from a number of possible buyers.