10,000 free cash machines could ‘close down within weeks’ over business rate battle
If supermarkets and small shops have to continue to pay separate rates on certain machines then they may be forced to close them down
TENS of thousands of free supermarket cash machines are at risk of shutting down "within weeks" if a courtroom battle over business rates rules against them.
A five-year legal fight over fees between supermarkets and the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) - which oversees business rates - is due to come to an end.
If the Court of Appeal rules in favour of the VOA, then 10,000 ATMs at supermarkets and small shops could become unprofitable and close down, according to the .
But if the supermarkets win then the VOA will have to pay back £496million in back-dated fees on 15,500 cash machines, based on research by Colliers International.
The disagreement is over the different rates that are charged for ATMs in supermarket stores and the ones that are facing out on to the street.
Stores have to pay more for the ones that face the street because it's considered to have its own premise and therefore it's own business so requires separate rates.
Internal cash machines and ones that face private land like a supermarket car park don't pay separate taxes.
Supermarkets are challenging these rules and if the VOA loses the battle then it means that no cash machine should ever have been paying separate rates and will be getting a payout.
But if it wins then it will continue to tax £4,000 on 10,000 machines every year - which is £40million in total.
There are fears the £30.8billion owed in business rates this year could force firms to shut down the machines because it would mean they are making a loss.
John Webber from Colliers Insternational said: "We hope the courts see sense. If the VOA gets its way at the Court of Appeal, there is no doubt many big stores would be ripping ATMs out of their stores to avoid the extra business rate tax bill.
"Ultimately, it will be the consumer that suffers."
Whoever loses the Court of Appeal case is likely to take it to the Supreme Court.
The VOA told the Mail: "Both parties appealed to the Court of Appeal to obtain legal clarity on what should be taken into account when determining whether a property should be the subject of a separate assessment."
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