Business rate reductions
Small Business Rate Relief
Who qualifies?
To get this relief one of the following conditions must
apply:
- The ratepayer occupies only one business property in England,
and it’s rateable value is less than £12,000; or
- The ratepayer occupies a main property with a rateable value of
less than £12,000 but also occupies other business properties in
England each with rateable values under £2,600, and the total
rateable value of all them is less than £18,000. The ratepayer
can only get relief for the property with the highest rateable
value.
How does the scheme work?
You gan get 100% relief for properties with a rateable
value of less than £6,000. For properties with rateable
values between £6,000 and £11,999 relief will
be reduced on a sliding scale.
Buffer Zone Reduction
For properties which qualify for small business rates relief,
you pay rates calculated using the small business non-domestic
multiplier. The scheme is funded through a supplement on the
rate bills of those businesses not eligible for the relief.
However, properties with rateable values between £12,000 and
£17,999 where the occupier otherwise meets the conditions above may
have their liability calculated using the small business
non-domestic multiplier but must apply for this reduction.
Applications
You do not need to submit an application form to apply for small
business rate relief – If you think you may be eligible for either
small business rate relief or the small business non-domestic
multiplier please call the business rates team on 01706 926170.
If we grant rate relief then, provided your
circumstances don't change, you don't need to renew the
application. However, you'll have to tell us about
certain changes in circumstances (we'll pick up other changes). The
changes you must tell us about are:
- The ratepayer taking up occupation of a property they didn't
occupy at the time they made their application for relief; and
- An increase in the rateable value of a property occupied by the
ratepayer in an area other than the area of the council which
granted the relief.
For these changes you must tell us within 4 weeks of the
day, after the date of change. If you do this, there will
be no interruption to your entitlement to relief. You
must make a fresh application if you've taken up occupation of
an additional property. If the rateable value increases you
must let us know in writing.
The new thresholds for small business rate relief available from
1 April 2012 are shown below:
| Less than £6,000 RV |
100% reduction in your business rates |
| £6,000 to £11,999 RV |
Rateable values between £6,000 and £11,999 receive tapered
relief from 100% – 1%
|
|
£12,000 to £17,999 RV
(The 'Buffer Zone')
|
You may have your liability calculated using the small business
non-domestic multiplier. |
Deferral Scheme
The Government has decided to put in place a business rates
deferral scheme which will give you the option of spreading the
Retail Price Index increase in your 2012-13 bill over three years.
This has been introduced to help businesses manage their cash flow
during the downturn. You will be able to defer payment of 3.2% of
your 2012-13 bill – which is equivalent to 60% of the Retail Price
Index increase - until 2013-14 and 2014-15. You will then pay back
the total amount deferred over the next two years. Contact the
Business Rates Team for a form or to seek further advice.
Transitional arrangements (Transitional Relief Scheme)
Property values normally change between each revaluation.
Transitional arrangements help to phase in the effects of these
changes by limiting increases in bills. To help pay for the limits
on increases in bills, there also have to be limits on reductions
in bills. Under the transition scheme, limits continue to apply to
yearly increases and decreases until the standard full amount is
due (rateable value times the appropriate multiplier).
The scheme only applies to the bill based on a property at the
time of the revaluation. If there are any changes to the property
after April 2010, transitional arrangements will not normally
apply to increases in rateable value and are scaled down for
reductions. Any transitional adjustments are shown on rate
bills.
Amended transitional arrangements will apply from 1 April
2010. These arrangements will limit the increase in rate bills
from 2009/10 faced by some businesses as a result of the 2010
revaluation. This will be paid for by phasing in the reduction for
businesses whose rate bills will reduce following the revaluation.
The scheme will apply for the next five years, as shown below:
|
2010/11 |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
| Upward cap (small properties RV less than
£18,000) |
5% |
7.5% |
10% |
15% |
15% |
| Upward cap (large properties RV £18,000 and
above) |
12.5% |
17.5% |
20% |
25% |
25% |
| Downward cap (small properties RV less than
£18,000) |
20% |
30% |
35% |
55% |
55% |
| Downward cap (large properties RV £18,000
and above) |
4.6% |
6.7% |
7% |
13% |
13% |
The percentage figures above will be subject to
adjustments each year for inflation.
We'll automatically calculate your entitlement to any relief
under the transitional arrangements - there is no need to
apply.
Charities
Charities which use premises for charitable purposes are
entitled to 80% mandatory relief from rates. This includes charity
shops, provided that the goods sold are wholly or mainly
donated. Contact the Business Rates Team for a form or to
seek further advice.
Community Amateur Sports Clubs (
CASCs
)
Sports clubs registered as community amateur sports clubs with
HM Revenue and Customs qualify for 80% mandatory relief. In
addition we operate a local scheme to award a 20% top-up
discretionary relief meaning no rates are payable. You can
find details on how to register as a
CASC
on their website,
or by writing to HM Revenue and Customs Charities, St Johns
House, Merton Road, Bootle, Merseyside L69 9BB. You should
send proof of registration as a
CASC
to the Business
Rates Team if you want to claim this relief.
HM Customs and Revenue
Discretionary Relief to ‘Not For Profit’ organisations
We may grant discretionary relief to sports and
recreational clubs and organisations not established or conducted
for profit. We consider each application on its own merits
but our policy prescribes general levels of relief to ensure
consistency. Please contact the Business Rates Team to request
a form or to seek further advice.
Hardship Relief
We have discretion to give relief in special circumstances but
we only consider applications for hardship relief in exceptional
circumstances, for example, from ratepayers whose business, if
it was to cease trading, would have a detrimental effect on the
local community. This is because part of this relief would be paid
for by local Council Tax payers. Before we consider
granting this relief, you must make a request in
writing with a justification of why we should grant
relief, together with copies of the business’s audited
accounts for the past 2 years.
Part occupied properties
A ratepayer is liable for the full business rate whether a
property is wholly occupied or partly occupied. Where a property is
partly occupied for a short time, we have the discretion
in certain cases to award relief temporarily in respect of the
unoccupied part. Usually relief is limited to 3 months for
commercial properties such as offices and shops and 6 months for
industrial properties. Contact the Business Rates Team for
more information.
Further information
You can get more information about transitional
arrangements and other reliefs from:
Business Link