This relief is only available to ratepayers 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 £2,599.
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 rateable 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 rather than the national non-domestic rating multiplier that is used to calculate the liability of the 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.
Further One-Year Increase in Small Business Rate Relief
This is important news for your business. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced at the Budget extra help for small businesses. The current temporary increase in Small Business Rate Relief, which started on 1 October 2010 and was due to end on 30 September 2011, will now continue for a further year (1 October 2011 to 30 September 2012). The measure doubles the usual rate of relief so that ratepayers with rateable values below £6,000 pay no rates at all for the period, while ratepayers with rateable values between £6,000 and not more than £12,000 receive tapered relief from 100% – 0%. There are no other changes to the scheme and the Government has confirmed that it will meet the costs of the increased levels of relief. You need take no action. Once the legislation is in place, you will be sent a revised bill. In the meantime, you must continue to pay your current instalments, if you have any. Current collection and enforcement procedures will continue to apply to ratepayers who miss scheduled instalments.
