Help with paying your business rates

Important news that could benefit your business. The Government is introducing a temporary increase in the level of Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) available to eligible businesses. These changes will come into effect in October 2010. Meanwhile, you should ensure that you continue to pay your existing business rates bill. Additional information available in a downloadable document at the bottom of the page.

If you are struggling to pay your business rates, we can extend instalment arrangements. Please contact our Business Rates team as early as possible so that we can help you.

See business rates relief to find out if you qualify for a reduction in your business rates.

Business rates deferral scheme

The Government has announced that business rate payers can put back payment of 60 percent of the increase in their 2009-10 bills until 2010-11 and 2011-12.

What do business rate payers need to do now?

You must keep paying your business rates as normal. We will write to all businesses offering them the option to defer payments once the necessary regulations have been made by the Government. They expect them to be in place by the end of July.

Please read the attached document for details.

Spreading the cost

We offer business ratepayers with a rateable value of £15,000 or less the option to pay rates over 12 monthly instalments rather than the standard ten. See how to pay your business rates

Schedule of payments for certain backdated liability

If you are liable for backdated business rates, you may be able to pay it over up to eight years by agreement with us. This may be possible if the backdated liability has arisen as a result of an alteration to a ratings list which:

• means a premises is shown on that list for the first time
• has effect from a day that is at least 33 months prior to the date the alteration is made
• is made on or before 31 March 2010
• and is not the result of a proposal by an interested person

To be eligible, ratepayers must have occupied one or more property affected by the type of rating list adjustment above, within the Wycombe district, between the effective date of the list alteration and the date it was actually made, for 33 months or more.

Ratepayers are not eligible if they were previously liable for rates on a property preceding the new property assessment (a property that forms a part of a new merged property of a part of a property that has been split into two or more new properties).