Business rate reductions
Small Business Rate Relief
Who qualifies?
To qualify for 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 £10,000 or
- The ratepayer occupies a main property with a rateable value of
less than £10,000 but also occupies other business properties in
England each with rateable values under £2200, and the total
rateable value of all them does not exceed £14,999. Relief can only
be awarded for the property with the highest rateable
value.
- The property must be shown in the local rating list
on1st April of the year for which relief is claimed e.g.
any new property first occupied after 1 April will only qualify
from the start of the next financial year
How does the scheme work?
For properties with rateable values between £1 and £4,999 relief
of 50% is granted. For properties with rateable values
between £5,000 and £9,999 relief is granted on a sliding scale
reducing by 1% for every £100 of rateable value above £5,000.
Properties which qualify for Small Business Rates Relief 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 £10,000 and £14,999 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
Applications for relief may only be made using the Council’s
Small Business Rate Relief form. If you believe that you may be
eligible for either Small Business Rate Relief or that the Small
Business Non-Domestic Multiplier should apply, then please contact
the Business Rates Team to request a form or to seek further
advice.
If an application for relief is granted, provided the
ratepayer’s circumstances do not change, the application will not
need to be renewed until the next national revaluation of all
non-domestic premises, which happens every five years. Certain
changes in circumstances will need to be notified to the local
authority by the ratepayer (other changes will be picked up by the
local authority). The changes which must be notified are:
- The ratepayer taking up occupation of a property they did not
occupy at the time of making 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 local authority
which granted the relief.
Notification of these changes must be given to the local
authority within 4 weeks of the day after the day the change
happened. If this happens, there will be no interruption to the
ratepayer’s entitlement to relief. A notification that the
ratepayer has taken up occupation of an additional property must be
by way of a fresh application for relief; notice of an increase in
rateable value must be given to us in writing.
Transitional arrangements (Transitional Relief Scheme)
Property values normally change a good deal 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 applies only to the bill based on a property at the
time of the revaluation. If there are any changes to the property
after 1 April 2005, 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.
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. Please contact the Business Rates Team to request 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% relief. Further
details on how to register as a
CASC
can be found on their
website, or by writing to:- Inland Revenue Charities, Sports Club
Unit, St John's House, Bootle, Merseyside L69 9BB. To claim
this relief proof of registration as a
CASC
should be sent to the
Business Rates Team.
HM Customs and Revenue
Discretionary Relief to ‘Not For Profit’ Organisations
Councils may grant discretionary relief to sports and
recreational clubs and organisations not established or conducted
for profit. Each application is considered on its own merits but
Council 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
Local authorities have discretion to give relief in special
circumstances but we will only consider applications for hardship
relief in exceptional circumstances e.g. 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 the Council
will consider granting this relief, a written request must be made
with a justification of why relief should be granted 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, the local authority
has discretion in certain cases to award relief temporarily in
respect of the unoccupied part. Following the changes to empty
property rates effective from 1 April 2008 relief is limited to 3
months for commercial properties such as offices and shops and 6
months for industrial properties. Details can be obtained from the
Business Rates Team.
Further information
More information about transitional arrangements and other
reliefs may be obtained from:
Business Link