Business rates relief

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• Small business rate relief

  If the rateable value of the property you occupy is less than £51,000 (and you are not entitled to another mandatory relief), your bill will be calculated using the lower small business non-domestic rating multiplier, rather than the national non-domestic rating multiplier.

  Also, generally, if your sole or main property is shown on the rating list with a rateable value of up to £15,000, you will receive a percentage reduction in your rates bill for this property of up to a maximum of 100 per cent. For a property with a rateable value of up to £12,000, you will receive a 100 per cent reduction in your rates bill.

  Generally, this relief is only available to ratepayers who occupy either:

  (a) one property; or
  (b) one main property and other additional properties, providing those additional properties each have a rateable value below £2,900.

  The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all the properties mentioned in (b), must be less than £20,000 on each day for which relief is being sought. If the rateable value, or aggregate rateable value, increases above those levels, relief will usually end from the day of the increase. However, the Government has introduced additional support to small businesses. If you take on an additional property that would normally mean the loss of small business rate relief, the Government has confirmed that you will be allowed to keep that relief for a period of 12 months.

  You do not need to make a written application for small business rate relief, but we do need to check that you meet the conditions to receive the relief. If you think that you should be getting this relief, but it isn't shown on your bill, please get in touch.

  If you are receiving small business rate relief, you must tell us if:

  (a) you take up occupation of an additional property; or
  (b) there is an increase in the rateable value of a property you occupy outside the area of Dacorum Borough Council.

• Business rates revaluation relief

  During the 2017 Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced funding of £300 million across four years to provide help to businesses most affected by the revaluation. 
  
  To qualify, the main conditions are as follows:

  • You have been affected by the revaluation – this means that you must have been occupying the property and liable to pay business rates on both 31 March 2017 and 1 April 2017.
  • You continue to occupy the property and remain liable to pay business rates for it.
  • If you are liable to pay business rates on other properties anywhere in the UK, the total rateable value of all properties must be less than £200,000.
  • You must comply with the State Aid De Minimis Regulations EC 1407/2013.

  For more information on our scheme, please view our  Revaluation relief 2017-18 to 2020-21 policy (PDF 216KB).

• Charity and registered community amateur sports club relief

  Charities and registered community amateur sports clubs are entitled to 80 per cent relief where the property is occupied by the charity or club and is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes or as a registered community amateur sports club.

  We have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill. Full details can be found in our  Discretionary Rate Relief Policy (101KB).

  For more information, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Rate relief for businesses in rural areas

  Certain types of properties in a rural settlement with a population below 3,000 - for example, the only general store, post office or food shop and with a rateable value of less than £8,500, or the only public house or petrol station and with a rateable value of less than £12,500 - may be entitled to relief. The property has to be occupied, and an eligible ratepayer is entitled to relief at 50 per cent of the full charge. We also have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill.

  For further details, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Partly occupied property relief

  A ratepayer is liable for the full non-domestic rate whether a property is wholly occupied or only partly occupied. Where a property is partly occupied for a short time, we have discretion to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part.

  For further details, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Unoccupied property rating

  Business rates will not be payable in the first three months that a property is empty (or the first six months for industrial premises).

  After this period, empty rate is charged at 100 per cent of the bill. However, in most cases, the empty property rate is zero for properties owned by charities and community amateur sports clubs.

  There are also a number of exemptions from the empty rate, for example:

  • listed buildings
  • small properties with rateable values of less than £2,900 from 1 April 2017

  For further details, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Local discretionary relief

  Local authorities have a general power to grant discretionary local discounts or hardship relief in specific circumstances. For full details, please see our  Discretionary Rate Relief Policy (PDF 100KB).

  For more information, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Spring budget 2017 relief

  Supporting small business

  Ratepayers losing Small Business or Rural Rate Relief as a result of the 2017 revaluation will have their increases limited to the greater of either (i) a cash value of £600 per year, or (ii) the matching cap on increases for small properties in the transitional relief scheme. This relief will run for five years to 31 March 2022 and ratepayers will receive the relief until this date or they reach what their bill would have been within the relief scheme, whichever is first.

  This relief will be delivered through local authority discretionary discount powers (under section 47(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988). Further information can be obtained from us.

  Discretionary scheme

  The Government is providing £300 million of funding to local authorities over four years to 31 March 2021 to provide discounts to ratepayers in their area on a discretionary basis. Each authority has been allocated a share with which to design and implement a scheme to deliver targeted support to ratepayers. The £300m will cover the four years from 2017/18: £175m in 2017/18; £85m in 2018/19; £35m in 2019/20 and £5m in 2020/21.

  Local authority allocations can be found on the Government website.

  This relief will be delivered through local authority discretionary discount powers (under section 47(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988). Further information can be obtained from us.

  Support for Pubs

  The Government is providing funding for local authorities to provide a £1,000 discount to pubs with a rateable value of below £100,000. This was to run for 2017/18 only, but the Government extended the scheme for an additional year. Pubs with a rateable value of below £100,000 will also receive a £1,000 discount for 2018/19.

  This relief will be delivered through local authority discretionary discount powers (under section 47(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988). Further information can be obtained from us.

• State aid

  The award of discretionary rate reliefs is considered likely to amount to state aid. However, it will be state aid compliant where it is provided in accordance with the De Minimis Regulations EC 1407/2013. The De Minimis Regulations allow an undertaking to receive up to €200,000 ‘de minimis’ aid over a rolling three-year period. If you are receiving, or have received, any ‘de minimis’ aid granted during the current or two previous financial years (from any source), you should inform us immediately and provide details of the aid received.