How Business Rates are calculated
Rateable Value
Apart from properties that are exempt from business rates, each non-domestic property has a rateable value, which is normally set by the valuation officers of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), an agency of the Inland Revenue. It draws up and maintains a full list of all rateable values, which are available on their website. The rateable value of each property is shown on the front of each bill. This broadly represents the yearly rent the property could be let for on the open market on a particular date. For the revaluation that came into effect on 1st April 2010, this date was set as 1st April 2008.
The Valuation Officer has to maintain the list and may alter the value if the circumstances of the property have changed. The ratepayer (and certain others who have an interest in the property) can also appeal against the value shown in the list if they believe it is wrong.
Further information on the grounds for making an appeal, and on how to make one, can be found on the VOA website, or from the Lincoln Valuation Offce.
The effect of successful appeals against values shown in the rating list that came into force on 1st April 2010 will normally be backdated to the beginning of the financial year in which they are made, although there are some exceptions to this.
Further information about these arrangements may be obtained from the found on the Valuation Office Website.
National Non-Domestic Rates Multiplier
The City of Lincoln Council calculates the Business Rates bill by multiplying the rateable value of the property by the multiplier or ‘poundage’, which the Government sets from 1st April each year for the whole of England. The Government normally changes the multiplier every year to move in line with inflation.
By the law the multiplier cannot go up by more than the rate of inflation, except in the year of a revaluation when it is set at a level; this will keep the total amount raised in rates after the revaluation the same as before, plus inflation for that year.
The current multiplier for 2013/14 is £0.471 and for small businesses is £0.462, this figure can also be found on the front of your bill.
In the simplest scenario, a business with a rateable value of £20,000 would have a bill for £9,420 for 2013/14, which would be payable over ten months. This was calculated by multiplying the rateable value (in this case, £20,000) by the current years multiplier (£0.471).
