Rates Payments

There are two principal factors which contribute to the rates bill received by every non-domestic ratepayer; the rateable value of the property and the business rates poundage (or non- domestic rate) fixed by the Scottish Government. In addition, actual liability will vary dependent on other factors such as transitional arrangements, charitable and vacant property reliefs etc.

You can use the Scottish Government’s Business Rates Calculator to estimate your actual rates liability from the Values Results pages accessed from the Rateable Values Search, Map or List of Councils on the Portal Home Page.

Assessors are responsible for determining only the rateable value and your local Council is responsible for rates collection and administration of the various reliefs which may be available.

The poundage rate which the then Scottish Executive fixed from 01/04/05 was 46.1p – down from the 2004 rate of 48.8p. This reflected that the 2005 Revaluation has produced an average increase in rateable values in Scotland of 13.3%. The executive also took account of a 2% inflation adjustment and an estimated 4.6% loss arising from Revaluation appeals.

For 2006/07 the Executive fixed a rate of 44.9p. and for 2007/2008 it was 44.1p. For 2008/2009 the Scottish Government has fixed a rate of 45.8p and the poundage supplement for larger properties (RV over £29,000) will remain at 0.40p.

The Small Business Bonus Scheme will replace the Small Business Rates Relief Scheme with effect from 1 April 2008. Under the new scheme relief will be set at 50% for properties with a total rateable value up to £8,000, 25% for properties with a total RV between £8,001 and £10,000 and 12.5% for values between £10,001 and £15,000. There are proposals to increase these reliefs in both 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 although as 2010 is a Revaluation year the scheme is caveated until the Revaluation out-turn is known.

The relief will however be subject to the operation of other reliefs (empty property relief; rural rate relief; derating allowance (stud farms); charitable rate relief; disabled persons rate relief; and (from 2008/09) discretionary relief for not-for-profit recreation clubs.) Farm diversification relief is no longer available from 2008/09, but previous recipients should be eligible for relief under the Small Business Bonus Scheme.

The Transitional Rate Relief Scheme which phased in higher (and lower) increases in rates payments following the 2005 revaluation does not apply from 1 April 2008 and all businesses will pay their “true” rates bill, subject to the above.

For more information about the Scottish Government’s position regarding rates payments etc click on the link below.