Small business rate relief

Who can claim small business rate relief and what for

You can get small business rate relief if you:

• Occupy one property, and its rateable value is less than £15,000

• Occupy one main property and other properties in England as long as the other properties have rateable values less than £2,900 and the total rateable value of all the occupied properties is less than £20,000

Small business rate relief only applies to occupied properties.

You can only get small business rates relief on one property.

Small business rate relief can be backdated to 1 April 2012.

Ratepayers, who receive the following relief, are not entitled to small business rate relief:

• Mandatory charity relief
• Mandatory rural relief
• Mandatory former agricultural premises relief

Small business rate relief is not automatically applied to your account. You must complete our small business rate relief form if you think you will qualify.

How we calculate small business rate relief

From 1 April 2017

If you occupy a property with a rateable value below £51,000, we automatically calculate your business rates using the small business multiplier. The multiplier from 2023/24 remains at 0.499.

You can get small business rate relief from 1 April 2017 if:

• Your current rateable value is £12,000 or below. You will receive small business rate relief at 100%

• Your current rateable value is between £12,001 and £14,999 inclusive. We use the small business multiplier and you will receive relief on a sliding scale - from 100% at £12,000 to 0% to £15,000

• You occupy one main property and other properties in England as long as the other properties have rateable values less than £2,900 and the total rateable value of all the occupied properties is less than £20,000

Between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2017

If you occupy a property with a rateable value below £18,000, we automatically calculate your business rates using the small business multiplier. The small multiplier for 2016/17 was £0.484p.

You can apply for small business rate relief if:

• Your 2010 rateable value is £6,000 or below. You will receive small business rate relief at 100% 

• Your 2010 rateable value is between £6,001 and £11,999 inclusive. The small business multiplier is used and you will receive relief on a sliding scale - from 100% at £6,001 to 0% at £12,000

• You occupy more than one property and the 2010 rateable value of each of your properties is less than £2,600, with the rateable value of all of these properties combined being less than £18,000

Apply for small business rate relief

If you take on an additional property

The rules changed in February 2014, so that if you occupy an additional property, you keep the small business rate relief on the original property for 12 months.

If something changes that could affect your business rate relief

If something changes that could affect your small business rate relief you must tell us straight away. You can do so by contacting us using the contact details below.