A SELF-EMPLOYED plasterer says he has been forced out of business by tax demands.

Maurice Skelton, 50, was served with four different valuations on business rates for his Erith workshop in two-and-a-half years.

And despite claims he paid his business rates in full, he has now ended up with demands for nearly £500 in back rates.

Mr Skelton, a plasterer from Bexleyheath, rented a workshop in Birch Walk in 1997 and was sent a rates bill based on an Inland Revenue valuation of £3,150.

He paid the bill but was then notified someone else in the block had successfully appealed against the valuation, which went down to £2,880, and he received a rebate on his payment.

Between 1997 and June last year, when he gave up the workshop for another one in Northumberland Heath, the valuations changed four times, ending up at £4,050.

After believing he had paid his rates bills in full, Mr Skelton then began to receive back rate demands from Bexley Council, first asking for the rebate back, and then increasing from around £200 to nearly £500.

He is now being threatened with county court proceedings for not paying. He said: “They have got their figures wrong.”

Now after 15 years of running his own business making ornate plasterwork, he has had enough.

He is giving up the workshop and going back to working for someone else. The Inland Revenue's valuation department explained normally valuations are done every five years.

A spokesman said Mr Skelton's had changed because of the appeal by a fellow tenant. It had been adjusted upwards because of car parking changes and then increased again two months before Mr Skelton moved out as part of the five-year review.

She added: “There is no limit on the number of times we can review the valuation of a property.”