Council Tax and Business Rates

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The following responses cover requests in relation to:

Council Tax
Business Rates
Benefits
BIDS
Discretionary awards
Specified Accommodation

Business Rates

From January 2020 all requests relating to this will not receive an individual response. These are now published.

Business premises

A full list of all commercial properties in Cornwall which includes:

The property reference number
Property address
Primary liable party name
Property description
Current rateable value
Liability start date
Occupied/Vacant
Any current exemption
Any business rate relief award
Annual rates (payable)

The ICO considers that disclosing the addresses of empty properties relating to individuals is personal data. This is even without the corresponding identification of the individuals. Information relating to sole traders and partnerships has been withheld. This is under section 40 (2) (Personal information) of the Act.

The council does not publish reference numbers for any unique business rates accounts.

Our records do not state whether the correspondence address we hold is a business or home address. We have thus not provided correspondence addresses. This is under Section 40 (2) (Personal information) of the Act, because these may relate to an individual.

Our database records the individual liable for Non-Domestic Rates and thus we are unable to confirm owner details.

What information is available about overpaid accounts?

The Council no longer publishes information about Business Rates accounts that have credit.. Information in respect of credit is exempt under section 31(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Its disclosure could result in fraudulent refund claims. This follows a decision of the Information Commission dated 6 February 2017. This is in respect of a request made of Wandsworth Council of NNDR credit balances.