Business Rates (also known as non-domestic rates)
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. Under the business
rates retention arrangements introduced from 1 April 2013,
authorities keep a proportion of the business rates paid locally.
This provides a direct financial incentive for authorities to work
with local businesses to create a favourable local environment for
growth since authorities will benefit from growth in business rates
revenues. 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 the Council and
other local authorities in your area. Further information about the
business rates system, including transitional and other reliefs,
may be obtained at https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief
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. They draw up and
maintain a full list of all rateable values, available on their
website at
voa.gov.uk
National Non-Domestic Rating Multiplier
The Council 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. Except in the City
of London where special arrangements apply, the Government sets the
multipliers for each financial year for the whole of England
according to formulae set by legislation. Between revaluations 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
revaluation the multipliers are rebased to account for overall
changes to total rateable value and to ensure that the revaluation
does not raise extra money for Government.
The multipliers for the 2012 – 2013 Financial Year are as
follows:
Standard Non-Domestic Rating Muliplier = 45.8p
Small Business Non-Domestic Rating Multiplier = 45.0p
The multipliers for the 2013 – 2014 Financial Year are as
follows:
Standard Non-Domestic Rating Muliplier = 47.10p
Small Business Non-Domestic Rating Multiplier = 46.20p
Northumberland County Council Financial Statement
2013-2014
For further
information, please click here.
National Non Domestic Rates Explanatory Notes
2013-2014
For further
information, please click here
Useful Websites
Government services and information
