Your business rates bill

The financial year runs from 1 April in one year to 31 March in the next.

You will receive one bill for each rated property. If there is more than one person responsible for paying the bill, a separate bill will be sent to each person responsible. Each bill will be for the full amount payable for that particular property and each person is responsible for paying the whole amount, not just a share of it.

The bill will also show the address of the premises for which the rates are due, what we've taken into account in deciding how much you have to pay and how much your instalments will be.

For more information about business rates please see the business rates 2023/24 explanatory notes.

Difficulty in paying your bill

If you are having difficulty paying your bill, please don't wait until you get a reminder, contact us straightaway and we'll see what we can do for you. You can contact our business rates team using the contact details below. If you have already received a reminder, a summons or any other recovery notice, please contact our local taxation team using the contact details below.

Your instalments

The annual business rates bill is usually payable in ten monthly instalments, starting in April and finishing in January.

Each instalment payment should reach us by the 1st of the month.

If you want to pay your business rates bill over 12 monthly instalments, please contact our local taxation team using the contact details on this page.

Paying yearly

To pay yearly, just pay the total amount due within 14 days of the due date of the first instalment.

Paying half yearly

You need to make two payments:

• Pay all of the instalments due up to, and including, 31 August within 14 days of the due date of the first instalment
• Pay the remainder on 1 September

If you take over a property or your circumstances change

If you take over a property during the year, or if your circumstances change and we issue a revised bill, your payments may be different. For bills issued later in the year, the number of instalments is reduced.

Each instalment payment should reach us by the first working day of the month in which it is due. If you want to pay your instalments later in the month, you should pay each instalment a month earlier. For instance, if you want to pay on the 20th of the month, you should pay the April instalment on 20 March.