City council set to write off £½m business rates debt
MORE than £500,000 in business rates owed to Gloucester City Council is to be written off by the authority.
Businesses are supposed to pay a tariff to the council which then gets pumped into local services such as policing and the fire service.
But outstanding debts from three Gloucester businesses, which have fallen into liquidation or been dissolved, have totalled £525,955.22.
A council document said there is “no realistic prospect of recovering these debts”, but added that there is no financial burden to the authority.
The business with the most amount of debt, Frontbank Developments Ltd (£208,303.62), dissolved without leaving any assets in December 2012.
Enforcement officers went to addresses in Salford, Wolverhampton and London as part of an investigation to recover the money, as well as the premises at 5-7 Whitfield Street in the city which was empty, according to the council document.
A charity, Africa Relief Trust, was also investigated for £187,754.80 of unpaid debt, but a probe by the Charity Commission found that it was no longer a registered charity.
A report to be presented to the council’s cabinet said: “All avenues to collect these monies due have been unsuccessful. Enforcement officers have attempted to engage with all of the three parties named in this report.
“The limited companies have now been dissolved at Companies House and the ‘charity’ has been struck off by the Charities Commission. The debts are old and there is no realistic prospect of recovering these debts.
“The age of the debt is due to the fact that the city council has been exploring all avenues for the recovery of the debts, unfortunately this has been unsuccessful as we have now exhausted all lines of enquiry.”
Businesses in Gloucester have been billed £56.3 million this year as part of the business rates scheme, a rise on the 2017/18 amount at £55.5 million.
Gloucestershire is currently one of ten pilot areas which is allowed to keep 100 per cent of the business rates it raises.