Introduction to Business Rates
Business Rates is a national tax collected locally by the Council which is payable by the occupier or owner of business property. The tax is paid to central government, pooled, and redistributed back to the Council in the form of a grant. The authority’s share of redistributed rate income, together with income from its council tax payers, revenue support grant provided by the Government and certain other sums, is used to pay for the services provided by the Council and certain other bodies, such as the Police Authority.
Most businesses (with some exceptions such as property used for agriculture or by the disabled etc.) will be billed for Business Rates. Mid Beds Collection rate for 2006/007 was 97.9% and we continually strive to increase the rate of collection.
Business Rates payable on each business property are based on the rateable value of that property. The Valuation Office Agency [VOA] carry out a non-domestic revaluation every five years, the most recent of which came into effect from 1st April 2005. The rateable value [for 1/4/2005 onwards] is partly based on the rental value of the property as at 1st April 2003. It is the responsibility of the VOA to set the rateable value for each business property.
For further information please see the Valuation Office website at www.voa.gov.uk
The rates are calculated by multiplying your rateable value by the multiplier or poundage which is set by central Government from 1st April each year. There are two multipliers and the one used is dependant on eligibility for Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR)
Properties eligible for SBRR have a rateable value of less than £15,000 [Outside Greater London]. Properties with a rateable value of less than £5,000 will get 50% relief. This will decrease on a sliding scale of 1% for every £100 of rateable value below £10,000.
Properties with a rateable value from £10,000 to below £15,000 will have a rate relief of 0%, but in line with properties with a rateable value of less than £10,000 will have their charges calculated on a multiplier of 0.458.
Properties over £15,000 will have their charges calculated with a multplier of 0.462
The relief is only available to ratepayers with either -
- one property, or
- one main property and other additional properties provided that each of these additional properties have rateable values of less than £2,200 and the total value of all the properties remains under the £15,000 threshold.
The charge on the additional properties will be calculated on the higher multiplier.
If you think you may be eligible for Small Business Rate Relief please complete the application form that can be downloaded from the link on the bottom of this page
However, transitional arrangements limit the percentage by which bills may increase or decrease each year so what you pay may be an amount calculated based upon this transitional calculation. These transitional arrangements mean that where a rateable value is increased or reduced the amount you pay in many cases will not increase or reduce to the full extent of the change in rateable value immediately and will be phased in over several years.
For more information about Business Rates please see www.mybusinessrates.gov.uk the official Government website
* Download Application for Small Business Rate Relief (application/pdf; 206kb)
