Small Business Rate Relief Scheme

Outline of the Scheme

Eligible hereditaments with a rateable value of less than £5,000 will get 50% rate relief.  This will decrease on a sliding scale of 1% for every £100 below £10,000 rateable value.

Eligible hereditaments with a rateable value from £10,000 to below £15,000 outside Greater London and from £10,000 to below £21,500 within Greater London will have a rate relief of 0%.

Eligible hereditaments will have their bill calculate using the small business non-domestic rating multiplier.

Eligibility criteria

The hereditaments must be within the thresholds above.

The hereditaments must meet the criteria on 1 April of the relevant chargeable year and on every chargeable day for which that are claiming eligibility.

The relief is only available to ratepayers with either:

• One property, or
• One main property and other additional properties have rateable values of less than £2,200 and the total value of all the properties remains under the appropriate thresholds (i.e. £15,000 outside London and £21,500 outside London).
• The ratepayer must apply to the billing authority for each chargeable financial year as summarised below.

Calculation of the bill – changes throughout the year

The relief will be applied to one property only.

The threshold (£15,000 or £21,500) will be based on the location of the eligible property  - not the location of the additional properties.

The bill will be calculated for each chargeable day for which it remains eligible.  As soon as a ratepayer fails to meet the criteria above, they are no longer due the relief.

Charge on the other hereditaments

The charge on the additional hereditaments (under £2,200) will be based on the higher non-domestic rating multiplier.
Buffer Zone

Hereditaments in the buffer zone must apply for the relief.  The same eligibility criteria apply.

Registration

Ratepayers must apply to the local authority for the relief for each year they are claiming relief.

Applications for a financial year may be accepted up to six months before the start of the chargeable year and up to six months after the financial year concerned.

If the rateable value is altered, applications may be accepted up to six months after the date of notification of the alteration.

Interactions with other Relief’s

If a ratepayer is eligible for charity relief or rural rate relief then they receive that relief rather than small business rate relief.

Transitional relief is applied before the small business rate relief is applied.

For more information you can click on our useful websites section.

If you would like to print off an application form to apply for Small Business Rate Relief, please click on the icon below.

•   Small Business Rate Relief Application Form (word 96kb)