South Derbyshire District Council - Small business rate relief

Businesses with a rateable value less than £18,000 in the 2010 list may be able to get rate relief which will reduce their business rates.

To cover the cost of the relief, all businesses which do not qualify for it will be charged a 'small business rate supplement', which will be added to their rates bill.

Please see the document at the bottom of this page regarding changes to the Relief announced in this year's Budget.

Will I qualify for relief?

Yes, if you meet one of the descriptions below:

You occupy only one property in England from which you carry out your business (that is, one 'rateable hereditament') and its rateable value in the 2010 rating list is less than £18,000;

You occupy more than one rateable property ('hereditament') but the total rateable value for them all is less than £18,000 and each 'additional' property has a rateable value less than £2,600. This might apply if you have one main property plus some car parking spaces, or a separate store or workshop. You can claim relief on the main property but you will have to pay full rates for the additional properties, including the small business rate supplement.

How much relief can I get?

It depends on the rateable value of your property:

Less than £6,000: 50 per cent of your business rates
£6,001 to £12,000: Between one per cent and 49 per cent of your business rates.(The relief will be reduced by one per cent for every £100 of rateable value above £6,000.)
£12,001 to £17,999 (The 'Buffer Zone'): You will not get relief but you can claim exemption from the 'small business rate supplement' mentioned earlier. To qualify, you need to meet the same conditions described above under Will I qualify for relief?

Do I need to apply for the relief?

Yes - it is not granted automatically so you need to fill in the application form. If you have any queries, please contact us on 01283 595971.

The application covers you until 31 March 2015 provided there are no changes to your circumstances. Under the regulations you are required to advise the business rates office, within four weeks, if any of the following changes in your circumstances occur after you have submitted your application.

If you start to occupy a new business premises, after submitting your application.
If there is a change in rateable value of any properties which you occupy which are outside of the South Derbyshire District Council area.

The form needs to be signed by the ratepayer, or a person authorised to sign on their behalf - that is, a partnership, a trustee of a trust, a director of a limited company, or any person properly authorised to sign on the ratepayer's behalf.

You must apply no later than the 30 September following the new valuation period. Therefore to grant relief from 1 April 2007 we must receive the application by 30 September 2010.

Once you have filled in the form, please send it to us using the following address.

Do I Need to Reapply for the New Valuation Period?

No - Previously legislation stated that all applicants had to reapply for the relief to commence from the beginning of the new valuation period - 1 April 2010.

However in order to reduce costs and bureaucracy the Government has made the decision not to enforce the reapplication of the Small Business Rate Relief.

Therefore for those businesses who are already in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief, the relief will continue automatically from the 1 April 2010 providing all conditions are still met.

Please note however that if you are no longer eligible for the Relief then you must notify us in writing.