The Government today announced that the Rating (Exemption) Order 2020 (Amendment) Order 2020 will be gazetted and take effect on September 18 to implement a further rates relief to non-domestic tenements for the third and fourth quarters of 2020-21.

The enhanced waiver is on top of the rates relief announced in the 2020-2021 Budget for all domestic and non-domestic tenements.

The Budget set the exemption ceiling for non-domestic tenements at $5,000 per tenement per quarter for the first two quarters, and $1,500 for the remaining two quarters.

The exemption ceiling will be adjusted from $1,500 to $5,000 per tenement per quarter for the third and fourth quarters, to sustain the support for enterprises amid the challenging economic conditions brought by the COVID-19 epidemic.

The enhanced concession will involve about 258,000 non-domestic tenements and $1.2 billion in further rates concession.

The order will be tabled at the Legislative Council for negative vetting on October 14.