Government Announcement

On 22nd June the government announced that it would make Small Business Rate Relief more generous for one year starting from 1st October2010. Eligible ratepayers receive relief at 100% on properties with rateable value of not more than £6000 with tapered relief of between 100% and 0% for properties with rateable values between £6,001 and £12,000.

Amended bills have been sent to eligible ratepayers.

Small Business Rate Relief

This relief is only available to rate payers who apply to their local authority and 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 £2599.

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 reteable value, or aggregate rateable value increases above those levels, relief will cease from the day of the increase.

Ratepayers who satisfy these conditions will have the bill for their sole or main property calculated using the lower small business non domestic rating multiplier rater than the national non domestic rating multiplier that is used to calculate the liability of other businesses.

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.

If an application for relief is granted, 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 not need to reapply for relief in each new valuation period.

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 -

(a) the ratepayer taking up occupation of a property they did not occupy at the time of making their application for relief, 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.

Notification of these changes must be given to the local authority within 4 weeks of the day after the day on which the change happened. If this happens, there will be no interruption to the ratepayer's entitlement to the 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 in writing..

Full details on the eligibility criteria and on how to apply for this relief are available from the local authority.