Business Rates Discounts and Exemptions

Discounts and exemptions are available for Business Rates under certain circumstances.

What Business Rates relief schemes are available?

Visit the Reliefs page of the Business Link website for full details on all discounts schemes available.

To apply and for more information on the relief schemes listed below, you should contact us.

Empty Property Relief

The Government has introduced changes to empty property relief in order to provide an incentive to bring empty property back into use.

It is believed this will help increase the supply of premises to let, improve the competitiveness and bring forward brown field sites for redevelopment.

Business Rates are not payable on properties for the first 3 months that they are unoccupied.

After the initial 3 month exemption, or 6 month exemption in the case of Industrial or Warehouse accommodation, the empty property will be liable for 100% of the basic occupied Business Rate.

If you own or lease an empty property, which has already been empty for more that the initial exemption, you will no longer be entitled to receive any relief from 1 April 2008. You will be charged 100% rates immediately.

There are a number of existing exemptions, which will continue after 1 April 2008. There will be a new exemption for commercial properties held by a charity or community amateur sports club.

If your property is not capable of beneficial occupation because it is in poor condition and cannot be economically repaired, your Valuation Officer may judge that it should be taken out of the rating list altogether.

Please be aware that if a property is damaged for the purposes of avoiding rates, under new anti-avoidance legislation, the Valuation Officer will be required to assess the rateable value as if there had been no change in the condition of the property.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to someone about the changes please contact us.

Small Business Rates Relief

Changes from 1 April 2010

Small Businesses already receiving relief will be able to continue to receive relief without reapplying for it at the 2010 revaluation or subsequent revaluations provided that you remain eligible for it.

The thresholds for relief will be increased from 1 April 2010 and will be available to ratepayers with either:

• One property in England with a rateable value of less than £18,000 or
• One main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties each have a rateable value less that £2,600 and the total rateable value of all properties is less than £18,000

New applications for Small Business Rate Relief can complete and return the form below to the address shown on the form:

Small Business Rate Relief Application Form (113kB PDF)

Ratepayers who satisfy these conditions will have the bill for their sole or main property calculated using the lower small business non-domestic rating multiplier rather than the national non-domestic rating multiplier that is used to calculate the liability of other businesses.

The amount of relief is dependant on the rateable value of the property. 50% relief is awarded to ratepayers with a rateable value of less than £6,000, with relief decreasing on a sliding scale of 1% per £120, reducing to 0% at £12,000.
 
You must notify Oxford City Council about the following changes:

• You take up occupation of a property that you did not occupy at the time of making your application for relief, and
• An increase in the rateable value of a property occupied by the ratepayer outside of the area.

Notification of these changes must be given in writing to Oxford City Council within 4 weeks.

Further increase of Small Business Rate Relief

The Chancellor announced at the Budget that the current temporary increase in Small Business Rate Relief, which started on 1 October 2010, will continue until 31st March 2013.

The measure doubles the usual rate of relief so that ratepayers with rateable values below £6,000 pay no rates at all for the period, while ratepayers with rateable values between £6,000 and not more than £12,000 receive tapered relief from 100% - 0%. The additional costs arising from the increased relief will be met by the Government.

A further application is not required for this relief as details will be shown on your bill.

Partly Occupied Property Relief

A ratepayer is liable for the full non-domestic rate whether a property is wholly occupied or only partly occupied. Where a property is partly occupied for a short time, Oxford City Council has discretion in certain cases to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part. Please submit a written application with plans to us if you feel that this relief applies.

Charitable and Discretionary Relief

Charities are entitled to relief from Business Rates on any non-domestic property which is wholly, or mainly, used for charitable purposes:

Mandatory Relief is given at 80% of Business Rates.

Charities can also apply for Discretionary Relief where the Council can remit all or part of the remaining 20% of the Business rates bill.   

The Council has decided that in normal circumstances it will not grant any Discretionary Relief to Charities over and above the 80% Mandatory Relief.

The Council is also permitted to grant Discretionary relief of up to 100% to certain non-profit making bodies who are not entitled to Mandatory Relief.

If you would like to apply for either Discretionary or Mandatory Relief, please complete the forms shown below and send them back to the address shown on the form with all of the requested documentation:

Discretionary Relief Application Form (151kB PDF)
Mandatory Relief Application Form (129kB PDF)

Business Rates Deferral Scheme

The Government has decided to put in place a business rates deferral scheme which will give Businesses the option of spreading the Retail Price Index increase in your 2012-13 bill over three years, to help businesses manage their cash flow during the downturn.

Full details of the scheme and how to apply is set out below. If you wish to take advantage of the scheme, you should return the application form below to the address shown on the form:

Business Rates Deferral Scheme Application Form (178kB DOC)

What's the deadline for applying?

You can apply at any time until 31 March 2013, as long as you have some of your bill left to pay. But we would encourage you to apply early.

How much of my bill can I put off paying?

You are able to put off 3.2% of the whole year's 2012/2013 business rates bill.

What if I have paid some or all of my bill?

You are able to put off paying 3.2% of the whole 2012/2013 bill, as long as you have that amount left to pay.

How will my payments be reduced?

The amount you are putting off paying will be spread over your remaining payments for the whole year. For example, if you can put off £100 and you have four payments left to make, each of those payments will be reduced by £25.

Will I pay interest on the amount I put off paying?

No.

How soon will I see the benefit of making lower payments?

Provided that you return the application by 9 June you will see the reduction in your July instalment.  If you apply later than that date you will see the reduction reflected in your next instalment or the one after that.  The amount you can put off paying will not change in both situations.

When will I have to pay back the amount I put off?

You will pay back half the amount in 2013/14 and half in 2014/15, as well as paying your full bill for those years. Your rates bills in the next two years will include details of the amounts you have put off paying and need to pay, and your payments will be adjusted in line with this.

What if I have more than one property?

If you have more than one property in the same council area, you only need to fill in one application form. You will need to give the council the address of all the properties you want to claim for. If you have properties in more than one council area, you will need to apply to each council separately.

What if I stop occupying the property?

You will need to pay the amounts you have a duty to pay by law, including the amount you have put off paying. Your local council will send you a revised bill, letting you know how much you should pay.

What if I am already in arrears?

You do not automatically have the right to put off making any payments if you have already lost the right to pay your bill by instalments. You may still apply to put off making a payment, but it will be up to your local council to decide whether or not to approve this. You may also want to talk to your local council to discuss what other help is available.

What if I don't keep up with my payments?

If you are struggling to keep up with your payments, you should talk to Oxford City Council to discuss what other help is available.

Is there any other help for businesses?

Further details of the full range of support and information available to businesses are available on the Business Link website.

Is there any other help with rates bills for small businesses?

If you run a small business, further help may be available to pay your bills, with Small Business Rate Relief. The level of Small Business Rate Relief has also been doubled for the whole of 2012-13.

Small Business Rate Relief Application Form (113kB PDF)

If you are occupying only one property with a rateable value of below £6,000 you will pay no rates at all for 2012/13.  Those occupying only one property with a rateable value of below £12,000 will benefit from a discount on your bill.  The Government has also made it easier for eligible ratepayers with rateable values below £18,000 (£25,500 in London) to have their bills calculated using the small business multiplier. 

Further details are available on the Business Link website.

Hardship

Councils have the discretion to reduce or remit all or part of the Business Rates charge on the grounds of hardship.

Exemptions

There are certain types of property which are exempt from Business Rates.

Page last reviewed 29 March 2012