Small business rate relief

You will be classed as a small business if:

• you have only one property*, in England, on which you are liable (wholly or jointly) for the payment of non-domestic rates;
• the rateable value of that property is £17,999 or less and remains below £18,000 throughout the financial year; and
• the property is occupied and you are not entitled to claim any other mandatory relief.

* If you do pay rates on other properties they will be disregarded if their rateable value is £2,599 or lower, provided that the total of all properties' rateable values is £18,000 or less.

If you qualify, you will have your rates calculated using a lower multiplier. Visit the Multiplier page for further details.

Properties with a rateable value of less than £12,000 will receive additional relief depending on the rateable value of the property, as shown below:

For period 1/10/10 to 30/9/11:

• Rateable value £1 to £5,999 - 100% relief
• Rateable value £6,000 to £11,999 - relief reducing from 100% to 0.01% (2% for every £120 above £6,000)
• Rateable value £12,000 to £17,999 - reduced multiplier only

For period 1/4/10 to 30/9/10 and periods after 1/10/11:

• Rateable value £1 to £5,999 - 50% relief
• Rateable value £6,000 to £11,999 - relief reducing from 50% to 0.01% (1% for every £120 above £6,000)
• Rateable value £12,000 to £17,999 - reduced multiplier only

Ratepayers who receive any other mandatory relief, such as charitable relief or rural rate relief, may not apply for small business rate relief.

You can download an application form for Small Business Rate Relief from the resources box to the right.

If you have any queries about the relief, please contact: businessrates@herefordshire.gov.uk