Small business rate relief
How do we work out small business rate relief?
You might be entitled to small business rate relief for your property. This will reduce your business rates bill.
The small business rate multiplier is used to work out all bills for properties with rateable value of:
- less than £18,000 (1 April 2012 to 31 March 2017)
- less than £51,000 (1 April 2017 onwards)
To qualify for small business rate relief:
- the property must be occupied
- the property cannot receive another mandatory relief. (For instance as a charity, Community Amateur Sports Club or rural rate relief)
An extra discount is available where the rateable value is less than £15,001 (£12,000 before 1 April 2017).
If you have more than one property, you will still get rate relief on your main property for 12 months.
You can still get small business rate relief on your main property after this if both the following conditions apply:
- none of your other properties have a rateable value above £2,899
- the total rateable value of all properties is less than £20,000
Summary of small business rate relief available
The following two tables summarise the relief that is available:
Rateable Value | From 1 April 2017 |
|---|---|
Less than or equal to £12,000 |
|
Greater than £12,000 and less than £15,001 |
|
Greater than or equal to £15,000 and less than £51,000 |
|
Rateable Value | 2016/17 |
|---|---|
Less than or equal to £6,000 |
|
Greater than £6,000 and less than £12,000 |
|
Greater than or equal to £12,000 and less than £18,000 |
|
Apply for small business rate relief
Apply for small business rate relief
You will need the following information:
- the date you want to claim from
- details (address and rateable value) of any other properties that you occupy in England. Or clearly state that you only occupy the one property, for which you are applying for relief
- state the capacity, in which you are making the application. For example partner, director or trustee
What happens next?
If we need any further information, we will contact you. If you are awarded a relief, we will send you a new bill.
Tell us about any changes to your business
If you take on another premises within or outside of Guildford borough, you need to tell us about the change.
We can then decide whether you still qualify for small business rate relief.
You need to have a MyGuildford account to tell us about the change. If you do not have a MyGuildford account you can set one up.
Register or sign into your MyGuildford account
If you have not yet registered to access your business rates account online, there are more steps. You can then link your online business rates account to your MyGuildford.
To complete this step you will need the following information:
- the business rates reference number - found on the latest bill. Do not include the "X" when you enter the reference.
- the name of the business
- the property postcode
Once you have linked your business rates account, you can go to the 'account summary' screen. You will see a list of 'quick links' on the right-hand side. You need to select the 'upload information or tell us about something else' link.