Small Business Rate Relief
Small Business Rate
Relief
Ratepayers who are not entitled to
another mandatory relief or are liable for unoccupied property
rates and occupy a property with a rateable value which does not
exceed £17,999 outside London or £25,499 in London will have their
bill calculated using the lower small business non-domestic rating
multiplier, rather than the national non-domestic rating
multiplier. In addition, if the sole or main property is shown on
the rating list with a rateable value which does not exceed
£12,000, the ratepayer will receive a percentage reduction in their
rates bill for this property of up to a maximum of 50% for a
property with a rateable value of not more than £6,000.
This percentage reduction (relief) is
only available to ratepayers who occupy either—
(a) one property, or
(b) one main property and other
additional properties providing those additional properties each
have a rateable value which does not exceed £2,599.
The rateable value of the property
mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all the
properties mentioned in (b), must not exceed £17,999 outside London
or £25,499 in London on each day for which relief is being sought.
If the rateable value, or aggregate rateable value, increases above
those levels, relief will cease from the day of the increase. An
application for Small Business Rate Relief is not required. Where a
ratepayer meets the eligibility criteria and has not received the
relief they should contact their local authority. Provided the
ratepayer continues to satisfy the conditions for relief which
apply at the relevant time as regards the property and the
ratepayer, they will automatically continue to receive relief in
each new valuation period. Certain changes in circumstances will
need to be notified to the local authority by a ratepayer who is in
receipt of relief (other changes will be picked up by the local
authority). The changes which should be notified are—
(a) the ratepayer taking up occupation
of an additional property, and
(b) an increase in the rateable value
of a property occupied by the ratepayer in an area other than the
area of the local authority which granted the relief.
For 2012/2013 The Government has temporarily doubled the rate
of Small Business Rate Relief. If you are occupying only one
property with a rateable value of below £6,000 you will pay no
rates at all for 2012/13. Those occupying only one property
with a rateable value of below £12,000 will benefit from a discount
on your bill. The Government has also made it easier for
eligible ratepayers with rateable values below £18,000 (£25,500 in
London) to have their bills calculated using the small business
multiplier.
This webpage was updated on
5/4/2012