Guest Blog by Chris Cockwill:
Recently I was asked about business rates for someone who was looking to commit to a new office as they had outgrown working from home and needed space to accommodate their expanding workforce.
There are many additional benefits having a separate office, not least a definitive boundary between home and work. However, with the benefit comes additional costs one of which is the Small Business Rate Bill. Business Rates payable are based on the Rateable Value (RV) (roughly the rental value) times the appropriate multiplier which is about 45p for small businesses but there are reliefs many businesses can receive but I am going to talk about the Small Business Rate Relief. London is different, so I am not going to comment for that area, however for the rest of us this might be of interest to you.
This scheme is designed to help small businesses reduce their Business Rate bill.
Qualifying properties with a rateable value of not more than £6,000 will be entitled to 50% relief
Qualifying properties with a rateable value more than £6,000 but less than £12,000 will have relief calculated on a sliding scale, reducing to nil at £12,000 (a 1% reduction in relief for every £120 increase in RV)
Qualifying properties with a rateable value between £12,000 and £18,000 will not have a percentage relief but will have their bill calculated using the small business rate relief multiplier
This relief is only available to ratepayers who apply to their local authority and who occupy either (normally relief is not automatically given to you).
(a) one property, or
(b) one main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties each have a rateable value which does not exceed £2,599.
The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all properties mentioned in (b), must not exceed £17,999 on each day for which relief is being sought. If the rateable value, or aggregate rateable value, increases above those levels, relief will cease from the day of the increase.
The Government introduced a temporary increase in the level of Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) available to eligible businesses from October 2010 for 12 months however this has been extended to 31st March 2013 as follows:
Qualifying properties with a rateable value of not more than £6,000 will be entitled to 100% relief
Qualifying properties with a rateable value more than £6,000 but less than £12,000 will have relief calculated on a sliding scale, a tapered relief of between 100% and 0%, reducing to nil at £12,000
Qualifying properties with a rateable value between £12,000 and £18,000 will not have a percentage relief but will have their bill calculated using the small business rate relief multiplier
So if you are considering the jump to a full time office the government are offering some support to small businesses which you should take advantage of. Contact us if you need any help!
Chris
Chris Cockwill BSc (Hons) MRICS
RICS Registered Valuer
Managing Director
07812 150 750
01704 827 075
Cockwill & Co Ltd
Chartered Surveyors
Chartered Planning & Development Surveyors
Recently I was asked about business rates for someone who was looking to commit to a new office as they had outgrown working from home and needed space to accommodate their expanding workforce.
There are many additional benefits having a separate office, not least a definitive boundary between home and work. However, with the benefit comes additional costs one of which is the Small Business Rate Bill. Business Rates payable are based on the Rateable Value (RV) (roughly the rental value) times the appropriate multiplier which is about 45p for small businesses but there are reliefs many businesses can receive but I am going to talk about the Small Business Rate Relief. London is different, so I am not going to comment for that area, however for the rest of us this might be of interest to you.
This scheme is designed to help small businesses reduce their Business Rate bill.
Qualifying properties with a rateable value of not more than £6,000 will be entitled to 50% relief
Qualifying properties with a rateable value more than £6,000 but less than £12,000 will have relief calculated on a sliding scale, reducing to nil at £12,000 (a 1% reduction in relief for every £120 increase in RV)
Qualifying properties with a rateable value between £12,000 and £18,000 will not have a percentage relief but will have their bill calculated using the small business rate relief multiplier
This relief is only available to ratepayers who apply to their local authority and who occupy either (normally relief is not automatically given to you).
(a) one property, or
(b) one main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties each have a rateable value which does not exceed £2,599.
The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all properties mentioned in (b), must not exceed £17,999 on each day for which relief is being sought. If the rateable value, or aggregate rateable value, increases above those levels, relief will cease from the day of the increase.
The Government introduced a temporary increase in the level of Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) available to eligible businesses from October 2010 for 12 months however this has been extended to 31st March 2013 as follows:
Qualifying properties with a rateable value of not more than £6,000 will be entitled to 100% relief
Qualifying properties with a rateable value more than £6,000 but less than £12,000 will have relief calculated on a sliding scale, a tapered relief of between 100% and 0%, reducing to nil at £12,000
Qualifying properties with a rateable value between £12,000 and £18,000 will not have a percentage relief but will have their bill calculated using the small business rate relief multiplier
So if you are considering the jump to a full time office the government are offering some support to small businesses which you should take advantage of. Contact us if you need any help!
Chris
Chris Cockwill BSc (Hons) MRICS
RICS Registered Valuer
Managing Director
07812 150 750
01704 827 075
Cockwill & Co Ltd
Chartered Surveyors
Chartered Planning & Development Surveyors
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