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Small Business Rate relief
Charitable and Discretionary Relief
Rate Relief for Businesses in Rural Areas

Small Business Rate Relief

This relief came into effect on 1 April 2005.

Eligible businesses with rateable values of below £5,000 will get 50% rate relief on their liability.  This relief will decrease on a sliding scale by an estimated 1% for every £100 of rateable value over £5,000, up to £10,000. The relief is available to ratepayers with either:

• one property, or
• one main property and other additional properties providing the additional properties do not have individual rateable values of more than £2200, and the combined rateable value of all the properties is under £15000 (or 21500) in London).  The threshold for the combined rateable values is dependent on the location of the main property.  The main property is the only one that will have the relief applied to it.  The additional properties will have their liability calculated using the standard multiplier

In addition to this relief on liability, eligible businesses with rateable values of between £10,000 and £14,999 (or between £10,000 and £21,499 in London) will have their liability calculated using the small business multiplier.

The Small Business Rate Relief scheme is funded by a supplement on the rate bill of those businesses not eligible for the relief.  This supplement is built into the standard multiplier.

After 1 April 2007 businesses will only be required to submit one application, including those with rateable values between £10,000 and £14,999 (or between £10,000 and £21,499 in London) . If your business ceases to be eligible on a day during the financial year, the relief will cease on that day.  You must submit your application for the relief to your local authority within six months of the end of the financial year to which it relates - for the 2006/07 financial year, the last date for applications will be 30 September 2007.

Assuming a business meets the eligibility criteria, the relief can only be granted if the property the business occupies is on the rating list from 1 April.  The date of occupation of the property is irrelevant, the key date is the effective date given to the property in the rating list.  If the property has an effective date after 1 April, then the relief can only be applied for from 1 April of the following year.

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Charitable and Discretionary Relief
Charities are entitled to relief from rates on any non-domestic property that is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes.  Relief is given at 80 per cent of the bill.  Local councils have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill.
Authorities also have the discretion to give relief on all or part of any rate bill for property occupied by certain non-profit making bodies.  They can also consider giving rate relief in cases of hardship or where part of a property is beyond use for a certain period.

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Rate Relief for Businesses in Rural Areas
Certain types of business in rural villages, with a population below 3000 may qualify for rate relief of 50%. 

A copy of the Rural Rate List 2006 is available in the download area. 

Businesses that qualify for this relief are the sole general store and the sole post office in the village, provided it has a rateable value of up to £7000; any food shop with a rateable value of up to £7000; and the sole pub and the sole petrol station in the village provided it has a rateable value of up to £10500. 
Local councils have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill on such property.
The local council may decide to give up to 100% relief to any other business in such a rural village, with a rateable value of up to £14,000, if it is satisfied that the business is of benefit to the community and having regard to the interests of its council tax payers.
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