What is National Non-Domestic Rates?

National Non Domestic Rates (often called 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 collected and paid into a central pool and redistributed back to the billing authorities and major precepting authorities in form of a grant. Your authority's share of redistributed rate income together with income from its Council Tax payers, revenue support grant provided by the Government and certain sums, is used to pay for the services provided by your authority and other local authorities in your area. For further general information about Non-Domestic Rates visit the Valuation Office Agency (VOA)  (External link) or My Business Rates website (External link) which is Government funded and designed to provide businesses with a single source of clear and concise information on business rates.

A booklet is available explaining Non domestic rates:
Council Tax and Non-Domestic Rates 2011/2012

What is a Rateable Value?

All non-domestic property has a rateable value unless it is exempt. The rateable value broadly represents the annual rent the property could have been let for on the open market 2 years prior to the current Rating List assuming that the tenant is responsible for repairs, insurance and other expenses as well as the payment of rates and has fulfilled those obligations. The Rating List is compiled by the Valuation Office Agency (part of the Inland Revenue), who assess the properties and ensure that the rateable values are kept up to date. All non-domestic property is revalued every five years, and a copy of the Rating List is available for inspection at the Valuation Office, the Council Offices, or at the Valuation Office Agency website.

You may contact the Valuation Office at this address:
The Valuation Office Agency
6th Floor
St Clare House
Princes Street
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP1 1LR
Telephone: 03000 506030 Web address: http://www.voa.gov.uk/ (External site)

Valuation Office Agency - Rating List

The Valuation Officer may alter the value if he believes that the circumstances of the property have changed. The ratepayer (and certain others who have an interest in the property) may also in certain circumstances propose a change in value. If in any case the ratepayer and the Valuation Officer do not agree, the matter will be referred as an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. The effect of successful proposals or appeals against new rateable values for 1st April 2010 will be backdated to 1st April 2010 only if they were made by 30th September 2010. Appeals made in the six months after that will only be backdated to 1st October 2010. Appeals made in a subsequent financial year will only be backdated to the start of that year.

Information about the circumstances in which a change in rateable value may be proposed and how such a proposal may be made is available from the Valuation Office at the address shown above. Further information about the new appeals arrangements may be obtained from Mid Suffolk District Council or on the DTLR website (External link)

If you have appealed against your rateable value, payment is still due as detailed on your Rates Bill and cannot be withheld pending the outcome of your appeal.

Transitional Arrangements

All rateable values are reassessed every five years at a general revaluation. The current rating list is based on the 2010 revaluation. Five-yearly revaluations make sure each ratepayer pays their fair contribution and no more, by ensuring that the share of the national rates bill paid by any one ratepayer reflects changes over time in the value of their property relative to others. Revaluation does not raise extra money for Government.

Whilst the 2010 revaluation will not increase the amount of rates collected nationally, within this overall picture, over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities reduced and some ratepayers will see increases.

For those that would otherwise see significant increases in their rates liability, the Government has put in place a £2 billion transitional relief scheme to limit and phase in changes in rate bills as a result of the 2010 revaluation.

To help pay for the limits on increases in bills, there also have to be limits on reductions in bills. Under the transition scheme, limits continue to apply to yearly increases and decreases until the full amount is due (rateable value times the appropriate multiplier).

The scheme applies only to the bill based on a property at the time of the revaluation. If there are any changes to the property after 1 April 2010, transitional arrangements will not normally apply to the part of a bill that relates to any increase in rateable value due to those changes. Changes to your bill as a result of other reasons (such as because of changes to the amount of small business rate relief) are not covered by the transitional arrangements.

Further information about transitional arrangements please contact the business rates section on 01473 433851 or www.mybusinessrates.gov.uk (external website )

More information on revaluation 2010 can be found at www.voa.gov.uk (external website )

The national non-domestic rating multiplier is the rate in the pound by which the rateable value is multiplied to produce the annual rate bill for a property. It is set annually by the Government and except in a revaluation year, cannot, by law, rise by more than the amount of the increase in the retail prices index.

For the 2011/12 year there are two multipliers :

• Standard multiplier is 43.3p
• Small Business Rates Multiplier is 42.6p.

Previous Years Multipliers:
2000/01 41.6p
2001/02 43.0p
2002/03 43.7p
2003/04 44.4p
2004/05 45.6p
2005/06 Standard 42.2p and Small Business 41.5p
2006/07 Standard 43.3p and Small Business 42.6p
2007/08 Standard 44.4p and Small Business 44.1p
2008/09 Standard 46.2p and Small Business 45.8p
2009/10 Standard 48.5p and Small Business 48.1p
2010/11 Standard 41.4p and Small Business 40.7p

Small Business Rates Relief :

Full information about Small Business Rates relief can be found here.

Small Business Rates relief FAQ's

Application form for Small Business Rates relief (PDF, xxKb)

Transitional Adjustments

Transitional arrangements will phase in the effect of significant changes in liability which arise from the 2010 revaluation of non-domestic property. Where appropriate, these arrangements will operate until March 2015 (when all non-domestic property will be revalued again). There are limits on the percentage by which bills may increase or decrease each year.
Special rules deal with changes in rateable values and the merger or splitting of existing properties.

Empty Property Rates - from 1st April 2010

There will be no Business Rates to pay for the first three months a property is empty. For Industrial properties only, this period is six months. After that, an Empty Property Rate of 100% of the full Occupied bill will be payable.
Some properties, such as listed buildings and small properties with rateable values of less that £2,600 pay no empty rates even after the first three months, or six months for Industrial property, have expired. From April 2011 the rateable threshold below which empty properties are exempt from rates will revert to its normal level, the was previously £2,200, but will also be uprated in line with the general movement of property values at revaluation to £2,600.

Charitable and Discretionary Relief

Charities are entitled to relief from rates on any non-domestic property which is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. Relief is given at 80% of the full rate bill or the transitional bill where the transitional arrangements apply. Billing authorities have the discretion to reduce the bill further or waive it all together. Authorities can also give relief to certain bodies not established or conducted for profit. This is a discretionary relief. The purpose of the organisation applying for the relief must be philanthropic, religious or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts. For more information, please contact the Business Rates Section, Grafton House, 15-17 Russell Road, , Ipswich IP1 2DE.

Payment

You may pay your Business Rates in one payment at the start of the financial year in April, in 2 half yearly instalments in April and October, 4 quarterly instalments in April, July, October and January, or in 10 monthly instalments from April to January.

More information on how you can pay your Business Rates can be found here.

Pay it online

Paying online is the quick, safe and convenient way to save you valuable time and ensure that you keep up to date.
All online payments give you the additional comfort of a 128 KB Secure Socket Link to ensure peace of mind. So, it has never been easier to pay for a whole range of services.