Business Rates in England and Wales - Billing and Reliefs

Billing and Reliefs

For each property in the rating list for their area, the local authority calculates and issues a bill, which it is responsible for collecting, with powers to pursue payment. The rateable value is multiplied by the Uniform Business Rate, referred to in legislation as the non-domestic rating multiplier, to arrive at an annual bill. For example, a rateable value of £10,000 and a multiplier of 40p would produce an annual bill of £4000. The bill usually requires payment in instalments over the financial year.

The multiplier is set by central government, and is uniform. Power to set the multiplier in Wales has been devolved to the National Assembly for Wales. A special case exists where a defined special authority can set its own multiplier within centrally defined limits. The only currently qualifying authority is the City of London. The multiplier is increased each year by the same proportion as the increase in the Retail Prices Index, which is a measure of inflation. When revaluations take place, the multiplier is adjusted so that the overall change across the country is the same as the Retail Prices Index change. The introduction of Small Business Rate Relief in 2005 added a supplement to the UBR to fund the relief. The income from business rates does not go directly to the local authority (unlike Council Tax); rather, it is pooled centrally and redistributed to the authorities. In 2005/06, £19.9 billion was collected in business rates, representing 4.35% of the total UK tax income.

The bill may also be reduced by having one or more reliefs applied to it, such as reliefs for empty properties, or for charities. Reliefs are administered by the local authority and they do not affect the rateable value of a property. While some are mandatory, others are at the discretion of the local authority, who also have to bear, in whole or in part, the costs of some reliefs. In addition to specific reliefs, a hardship relief is available at the discretion of the local authority. A relief on non-agricultural business on agricultural land or former agricultural buildings has been removed with effect from 14 August 2006.