Contact Details

Revenue and Benefits
Town Hall
St Stephens Road
Bournemouth BH2 6EB
Tel: 01202 451571 or 451558
Email*: Revenue & Benefits

*Please note that to be fair to all, email communication is treated the same as other correspondence and consequently you may not receive an immediate response. You will however receive an acknowledgement of receipt immediately.

What are Business Rates?

Businesses and other occupants of non-domestic property pay business rates, which are sometimes referred to as Non Domestic rates. The money paid directly contributes to the costs of Local Authority services such as roads, police and the fire brigade.

The income from all business rates collected is paid into a national pool administered by Central Government and it is then redistributed between Local Authorities in proportion to the number of people in their area. This means that areas with very few businesses will not be disadvantaged.

The occupier of a non-domestic property normally pays the Business Rates – usually this is the owner-occupier or leaseholder. If a property is empty, the person or company that has the right to occupy the property. In some cases empty property such as listed buildings, and those with a low rateable value are exempt from paying empty rates.

Non-domestic properties are business properties such as shops, offices, warehouses and factories, and any other property that is not classed as a domestic property. In some cases, properties may be used for both domestic and non-domestic use, in which case both Council Tax and Business Rates will be charged.

Apart from properties which are exempt from Business Rates, each non-domestic property has a rateable value. The valuation officers of HM Revenues and Customs set the rateable values. It draws up and maintains a full list of all rateable values.

The local council works out your Business Rates bill by multiplying your rateable value by the multiplier or 'poundage', which the government sets from 1 ^st April each year for the whole of England. There is a transitional relief scheme and a Small Business Rate Relief scheme, which in some cases can affect the amount payable. Details of this scheme can be obtained from the Council.

National Non-Domestic Rating Multiplier

The local authority works out the Business Rates by multiplying the rateable value of the property by the appropriate multiplier. From 1st April 2005 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. The Government sets the multipliers fro each financial year for the whole of England. The Government normally changes both multipliers every year in line with inflation. By law, the multipliers cannot go up by more than the rate of inflation apart from some minor adjustments to counteract losses from appeals and, in relation to the standard multiplier, to pay for small business rate relief. In the year of a revaluation it is set at a level which will keep the total amount raised in rates after the revaluation the same as before, plus inflation for that year. The 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 multipliers are shown below.

2006/2007 Rating Multipliers

• Standard non-domestic rating multiplier 43.3 pence
• Small Business non-domestic rating multiplier 42.6 pence

2007/2008 Rating Multipliers

• Standard non-domestic rating multiplier 44.4 pence
• Small Business non-domestic rating multiplier 44.1 pence

2008/2009 Rating Multipliers

• Standard non-domestic rating multiplier 46.2 pence
• Small Business non-domestic rating multiplier 45.8 pence

Changes to empty property rates from 1 April 2008

From 1 April 2008 the empty property rate has been increased from 50% to 100% of the basic occupied business rate, after initial void periods have elapsed. For most properties, excluding industrial, the void period is three months. For industrial properties, the void period is six months. The change is intended to encourage owners to re-let, re-develop or sell non-domestic buildings.

Communities and Local Government (CLG), the government department responsible for drafting the changes to the legislation, carried out a consultation exercise, which closed on 1 October 2007, and on 17 December 2007 published a summary of the consultation replies and Government responses.

 The changes came into effect on 1 April 2008. A summary of the changes is avaliable.