Business Rates
The section contains information on Business Rates (National Non
Domestic Rates)
please follow the links below or on the left for further information
If
you have any further questions regarding your Business Rates liability please contact the Business Rates
Section at Kennet District Council, Browfort, Bath Road, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 2AT. Telephone
01380 724911, Email business.rates@kennet.gov.uk
Non-Domestic
Rates
The non-domestic rates, or business rates, collected
by local authorities are the way that those who occupy non-domestic property contribute towards the
cost of local services. Except in the City of London where special arrangements apply, the rates are pooled by central government
and redistributed to local authorities as part of the annual formula grant settlement. The money, together with revenue from council tax payers, revenue support grant provided by the Government
and certain other sums, is used to pay for the services provided by your local authority and other local
authorities in your area.
Rateable Value
Apart from properties that are exempt from
Business Rates,
each non-domestic property has a rateable value which is set by the valuation officers of the Valuation
Office Agency (VOA), an agency of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. It draws up and maintains a full list of all rateable values, available on their website at www.voa.gov.uk (External link). The rateable value of your property is shown on the front of this bill. This broadly represents the yearly rent the property could have been let for on the open market on a
particular date. For the revaluation that came into effect on 1 April 2005, this date was set as at 1 April 2003.
The
valuation officer may alter the value if circumstances change. The ratepayer (and certain others who
have an interest in the property) can also appeal against the value shown in the list if they believe
it is wrong. Further information about the grounds on which appeals may be made and the process for doing so can
be found on the VOA website or from your local valuation office.
National Non-Domestic Rating Multiplier
The local authority
works
out the Business Rates bill by multiplying the rateable value of the property by the appropriate multiplier.
There are two multipliers; the standard non-domestic rating multiplier and the small business non-domestic
rating multiplier. The former is higher to pay for small business rate relief. The Government sets the multipliers for each financial year for the whole of England, except in the
City of London where special arrangements apply, according to formulae set by legislation. The multipliers change each year in line with inflation and to take account of the cost of small business
rate relief. In the year of a revaluation, the multipliers are set at a level which will keep the total
amount raised in rates after the revaluation the same as before, plus inflation for that year. The current
multipliers are shown on the front of this bill.
Transitional Arrangements
Property values normally change
a good deal
between each revaluation. Transitional arrangements help to phase in the effects of these changes by limiting increases in bills. 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 2005, transitional arrangements will not normally
apply to the part of a bill that relates to any increase in rateable value due to those changes. Any transitional adjustments are shown on the front of this bill.
Further
information about transitional arrangements and other reliefs may be obtained from Kennet District Council
or the website www.businesslink.gov.uk (External link)