FORMS ARE being issued to farms and estates across Scotland asking for details of their sporting rights, as part of the changes to the rating system brought in by the land reform act – and farmers have been advised against ignoring them.

While there is no official word on where the authorities will draw the line with regard to imposing non-domestic rates on properties with sporting rights, the information gathering exercise is not just aimed at sporting estates – the scrutiny goes right down to farms, crofts and smallholdings and replying is compulsory.

In response to concerns raised by its members, many of who were unaware that they would be affected by the reintroduction of non-domestic rates on sporting rights, Scottish Land and Estates this week issued guidance to those asked to fill in the assessment forms.

SLaE policy officer Katy Dickson said: “If you own or occupy the sporting rights on any parcel of undeveloped land, especially in a rural area, then it is almost certain that you will receive a form shortly if you have not already done so.

“It is a statutory obligation to complete the form and explain what type of land is held and where shooting rights may be exercised, even for the purpose of controlling species considered to be vermin.

“We have published a question and answer guidance on our website and we are happy to answer further questions where we can. It may take some time to collate the information required especially if sporting rights are exercised by third-parties such as sporting tenants. The more accurate the detail that can be provided to the assessors just now, the more likely they are to be able to reach reliable and fair valuations.”

SLaE stressed that, whilst it continued to disagree with the reintroduction of the rates, it was in the interests of all businesses to complete the form to the best of their ability.

“Despite making our views clear during the land reform process that this was a policy that would be difficult to implement and could negatively affect a wide-range of rural businesses, the political rhetoric suggested that this would simply be a measure to make ‘wealthy lairds pay their taxes’ and no one else would be affected," noted Ms Dickson.

“This misinformation has led to a situation where many farmers and other land-based businesses had little idea that they may also be liable for the reintroduction of non-domestic rates on sporting rights."

Derek Bathgate from farm advisors Davidson and Robertson Rural stressed that these rates would be applicable to anyone who has the potential to exercise or let sporting rights, even if they do not currently do so.

"What is now apparent, with more letters arriving on farm daily, is that this is likely to encompass every farm in Scotland," said Mr Bathgate. "Indeed, The Scottish Assessors Association, the organisation charged with calculating non-domestic rates and council tax, has stated that all land should be included and that only land on which shooting rights cannot be carried out should be excluded.

“If you have received a form, please do not imagine that you can ignore it just because you do not exercise sporting rights! Your completed form will be used to assess your liability for non-domestic rates. The valuation to calculate the rating liability assesses the hypothetical net annual rent that the sporting rights over your ground could attract if advertised for let on the open market.”