Small Business Rate Relief
On the 1st of April 2005, the Government introduced a new scheme
called the Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR). It is designed to
help small businesses reduce their Business Rate bill.
Following the 2010 Revaluation the qualifying criteria has been
changed.
Eligible businesses with rateable values of below £6,000 will
get 50% rate relief. This relief will decrease on a sliding scale
of 1% for every £100 of rateable value over £6,000, up to £11,999.
The relief is available to ratepayers with either one property with
a rateable value under £18,000 or if you have more than one
property, but the combined rateable value is less than
£18,000.
You may be entitled to a reduction in your Business Rates bill
if your business occupies one rated property in England, with a
Rateable Value of less than £18,000 plus other properties rated in
England, if:
- All other properties have a Rateable Value of less than
£2,600, and
- The total of the main property plus all the other properties is
less than £18,000
In calculating relief, your main property will be classed as
the property with the higher Rateable Value.
For more information please contact the Revenues Service on
01227 862316 or 01227 862326 or
email the Revenues
Team
Examples where you may be entitled to a
reduction
a) If you occupy a main property with a Rateable Value of £ 8,000
and also occupy a second property with a Rateable Value of £1,000,
you will be eligible to claim relief on the main property
only.
b) If you occupy a main property with a Rateable Value of
£8,000 and also occupy two more properties, both with a
Rateable Value of £1,000 each, you will be eligible to claim
relief on the main property only.
Examples where you will not be entitled to a
reduction
a) If you occupy a main property with a Rateable Value of
£8,000 and also occupy a second property with a Rateable Value of
£3,000, you will not be eligible to claim relief because
your second property has a Rateable Value greater than the
£2,600 limit.
b) If you occupy a main property with a Rateable Value of
£15,000 and also occupy two more properties, both with a
Rateable Value of £2,000, you will not be eligible to
claim relief because the sum of the Rateable Values of your
properties is greater than £18,000.
All cases where SBRR applies will have the rates liability
calculated using the lower multiplier which was introduced with the
scheme on 1st April 2005. There are now two multipliers.
For 2011/12 the small business multiplier, applicable to those
businesses eligible for Small Business Rate Relief, is set at
42.6p. The standard multiplier, which includes the supplement to
pay for Small Business Rate Relief, is set at 43.3p.
For properties that do not qualify for small business
rate relief, the higher multiplier is used when calculating the
bill.
The difference between the Non Domestic Multiplier and the
Small Non Domestic Multiplier (for 2011/12 this is 0.007) is
outside of the Transition scheme. This means that if you do not
qualify for relief, the amount equal to the Rateable Value
multiplied by 0.007 is also added to the transitional amount (if
any) to pay for Small Business Rate Relief.
In the March 2010 Budget, the Government announced proposals
to change the details of the scheme on a temporary basis effective
from 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2011.
In the March 2011 Budget, the following Announcement was
made:
BUDGET – ANNOUNCEMENT
FURTHER ONE-YEAR
INCREASE IN SMALL BUSINESS RATE RELIEF
This is important news for your business. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer announced at the Budget extra help for
small businesses.
The current temporary increase in Small
Business Rate Relief, which started on 1 October 2010 and was due
to end on 30 September 2011, will now continue for a further year
(1 October 2011 to 30 September 2012).
The measure doubles the usual rate of relief
so that ratepayers with rateable values below £6,000 pay no rates
at all for the period, while ratepayers with rateable values
between £6,000 and not more than £12,000 receive tapered relief
from 100% – 0%.
There are no other changes to the scheme and
the Government has confirmed that it will meet the costs of the
increased levels of relief.
You need take no action. Once the legislation
is in place, you will be sent a revised bill. In the meantime, you
must continue to pay your current instalments, if you have any.
Current collection and enforcement procedures will continue to
apply to ratepayers who miss scheduled instalments.
This webpage was updated on
8/17/2011