Council advises of Commercial Rates waiver

 

Donegal County Council has advised of a further waiver of Commercial Rates which will apply to specified business categories in the first quarter of 2021.
The Government has announced the waiver in order to reflect the current restrictions and to continue the supports available for ratepayers, and in recognition of the impact of the on-going trajectory of COVID 19.
This three-month waiver has modified criteria from the 2020 scheme and accordingly is a separate, standalone waiver scheme.
A 100% waiver will be applied to all businesses, for a three-month period to the end of March 2021, with several categories excepted.
This waiver will take the form of a credit in lieu of rates due from January to March of this year.
The broad categories of businesses the credit in lieu of rates apply to are as follows include Hospitality
Leisure, Miscellaneous Entertainment, Non-Essential Retail (Shops & Warehouses) , Airports, Essential Retail (excluding large Supermarkets, greater than 500m2) , Health, Service Stations, Personal Care and childcare.
Excluded Categories
It is important to note that there are some categories of businesses which were included in the 2020 Waiver Scheme but are now excluded in the new scheme.
As with the previous Waiver Scheme the rationale for the exclusion of these ratepayers is that their operations were not as severely impacted by the pandemic, coupled with the need to direct resources appropriately.
Further details and the categories of business eligible and non-eligible for the waiver are on our website.
https://www.donegalcoco.ie/services/incomecollectionunit/commercialrates/
How to apply
An application to Donegal County Council is not required. Donegal County Council will automatically apply a 100% credit in lieu of commercial rates, for a three-month period, to classes and categories of occupied rateable property where the occupying business is not in an excluded category.