From 1 April 2023 the five councils in Somerset (Mendip District Council, Sedgemoor District Council, Somerset West and Taunton Council, South Somerset District Council and Somerset County Council) are merging into a single new unitary council called Somerset Council.

Somerset County Council (as the ‘Continuing Authority’) agreed on 23 November 2022 to a single new Non Domestic Discretionary Rate Relief Scheme for the new Council area.  You can read more about the scheme at  www.somerset.gov.uk/discretionary-rate-relief.

If you have received a letter to say your existing award is ending on 31^st March 2023 and wish to apply for Discretionary Rate Relief from 1 April 2023 under the new policy please visit:

www.southsomerset.gov.uk/forms/apply-for-something/discretionary-business-rate-relief-claim/ and complete the online application form by 23 January 2023.

Small Business Rate Relief

Small business rate relief is designed to reduce the amount of business rates payable by small businesses.

You can receive Small Business Rate Relief if:

• You only occupy one business property in the UK
• If you occupy more than one property, but:
  • Each additional property has a rateable value less than £2,900; and
  • The total rateable values of all your properties add up to less than £20,000 (The small business rate relief will be applied to the main property only).
  • The rateable value of your property is less than £15,000. (If your property is occupied and has a rateable value below £51,000, you're still considered to be a ‘small business'. Although you won't be entitled to Small Business Rate Relief, your business rates bills will automatically be calculated using the small business multiplier).

If you qualify for other reliefs then you may not be entitled to claim Small Business Rate Relief and your bill will be calculated using the standard multiplier.

For example, if you receive mandatory relief as a charity, then you will not qualify for small business rate relief. This does not include transitional relief or any discretionary reliefs.

The amount of relief you receive changes depending on the rateable value of your property:

• Less than £12,000: 100% relief.
• Between £12,000 and £15,000: the percentage of relief available will decrease on a sliding scale.

You can apply for small business relief online.

Support Small Businesses relief

The Supporting Small Businesses Relief is designed to help ratepayers who, as a result of the change in their rateable value at the revaluation, are losing some or all of their Small Business or Rural Rate Relief and, therefore, are facing large increases in their bills.

The Supporting Small Businesses Relief will ensure that the increase per year of the bills of these ratepayers is limited to:

• A cash value of £600 per year (£50 per month), or
• The matching cap on increases for small properties in the transitional relief scheme. (The cap being 5% for 2017/18, 7.5% for 2018/19, 10% for 2019/20, 15% for 2020/21 and 15% for 2021/22)

We will issue application forms to all those who qualify for this relief.

From 1st April 2023 eligible, occupied, retail, hospitality and leisure properties will receive a 75% relief, up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business, this will be applied automatically for those currently receiving the 2022/23 relief on their 2023 annual bills.  For full eligibility can be viewed at: www.somerset.gov.uk/businessrates 

Businesses wishing to turn down the relief should contact us at 0300 123 2224 or by emailing nndr1@somerset.gov.uk

Charities are entitled to relief on any non-domestic property that is wholly or mainly used for the objectives of the charity.

Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC's) and other non-profit organisations are also entitled to relief.

To be eligible for mandatory charity relief, you must be an organisation established solely for charitable purposes. For the purposes of awarding this relief, we define a charity as:

• Any organisation that is registered with the Charity Commission or Department of Education.
• Charitable organisations that are exempt from registration (e.g. Scout & Guide Groups, Religious Trusts, etc.)
• Any organisation that is registered with HMRC as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC).

Registered charities will need to provide their charity commission registration number. CASCs will need to provide us with a copy of their HMRC registration certificate.

Non-profit making organisations may be eligible for discretionary relief. This includes Community Interest Companies (CICs), Sports Clubs, Recreation Facilities and Hostels.

To qualify, the main objectives of the organisation must be charitable, religious, or concerned with education, sports or recreation, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts.

Mandatory charity relief is given at 80% of the amount due.

Some charities may be entitled to further discretionary relief in addition to the mandatory 80%. In accordance with our Discretionary Rate Relief policy.

Non Profit organisations may also be entitled to Discretionary Rate Relief.

You will need to contact us to apply for this relief.

See our South Somerset NDR Full Business Rates DRR Policy for more information. 

Certain businesses in rural settlements, with a population below 3000, may qualify for Rural Rate Relief.

Your business may be eligible for Mandatory Rural Rate Relief if it is:

• The only village general store and has a rateable value of no more than £8,500.

• The only post office and has a rateable value of no more than £8,500.
• A food shop and has a rateable value of no more than £8,500.
• The only village pub and has a rateable value of no more than £12,500.
• The only petrol station and has a rateable value of no more than £12,500.

If you don’t meet these criteria, you may still be eligible for support as we also award Discretionary Rural Rate Relief to certain rural businesses.

Your business may be eligible if it can be shown to be a benefit to the community and is:

• The only village pub and has a rateable value of no more than £16,500.
• The only dentists surgery or hairdresser and has a rateable value of no more than £16,500.

If you are awarded Mandatory Rural Rate Relief, you will be fully exempt from paying business rates (100% reduction).

If you are awarded Discretionary Rural Rate Relief, you could receive up to 50% relief on your business rates.

You will need to contact us to apply for this relief.

If your business is suffering severe hardship and you cannot pay your business rates bill, you may be considered for Hardship Relief.

Your business must be occupying the property in question in order to be eligible.

The ratepayer must not be entitled to any of the following types of relief:

• Mandatory charity relief
• Mandatory rural rate relief
• Discretionary relief for non-profit organisations

If you think you may be eligible for any of these reliefs, you should try applying for them first.

To be considered for hardship relief you would need to demonstrate all 3 of the following conditions:

• Hardship is being endured (this is established by examining 2 years of the businesses financial records)
• Your business is viable and the granting of relief will help ensure the future of the business. (We will need you to submit a business plan or financial projection for the organisation in order to show this).
• Your business provides a considerable community benefit. (We will take into account the range of facilities available and the businesses impact on the local area).

If successful, you will be entitled to up to 100% relief.

This would normally only be done in extreme cases of hardship and for businesses which are particularly important to the local community.

The decision to grant relief takes account of the fact that local council taxpayers will cover part of the cost of the relief.

You will need to contact us to apply for this relief.

The Empty Property Rate Relief scheme provides business rate relief for businesses with empty premises.

A property is not deemed as empty if stock or goods remain on the premises, despite whether you have ceased trading. Your business will still be liable for the full charge.

However, certain machinery and equipment used when the property was last occupied, or intended for use when the property next becomes occupied, may be disregarded when determining whether a property is empty.

The amount of relief you will receive depends on the nature of the empty property:

• Non-industrial properties can get 100% rate relief for a maximum of 3 months
• Industrial properties can get 100% rate relief for a maximum of 6 months

At the end of these periods, your business will be liable for the full charge.

Some property types are permanently exempt from Business Rates when empty:

• Properties where occupation is prohibited by law
• Listed buildings
• Small properties with a rateable value of less than £2,900
• Properties of companies in administration or liquidation
• Properties owned, and last occupied, by a charity where the next user of the property is likely to be charity.

If part of your property is not being used and is completely unoccupied for a short time, you may receive relief to reduce the amount you have to pay in Business Rates.

To be eligible, the empty area of the property must be completely cleared of equipment and stock.

If you choose to apply, you will need to submit a detailed plan of your property, highlighting the unoccupied area.

We will send an inspection officer to visit to verify your application.

If we decide you are eligible for relief, we will ask the Valuation Officer to split the rateable value between the occupied and unoccupied parts.

We will then award Empty Property Relief for the unoccupied area, i.e. you will be exempt from paying business rates for the vacant area, for a maximum of 3 months or 6 months for industrial properties.

You will still be charged business rates for the occupied area.

You will need to contact us to apply for this relief.

For information about transitional relief visit our revaluation and transitional relief page.

We will adjust your bill automatically if you’re eligible.

You may be entitled to other reliefs, as well as transitional relief.

From 1^st April 2022 the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme will apply at a rate of 50% discount for qualifying business rates customers until 31^st March 2023.   The relief will be capped at £110,000 per business.  This relief will be automatically included on your annual bill if you qualify, however if you think that you should have received this discount and have not please Contact us, you should also inform us without delay if you have received the discount and do not think you are entitled.

Which businesses will benefit from the relief?

Qualifying Shops, Restaurants, Café, drinking establishments, cinemas or live music venues:

a. Hereditaments that are being used for the sale of goods to visiting members of the public: 

• Shops (e.g. florists, bakers, butchers, grocers, greengrocers, jewelers, stationers, off licences, chemists, newsagents, hardware stores, supermarkets etc.)
• Charity shops
• Opticians
• Post Offices
• Furnishing shops/display rooms (such as carpet shops, double glazing, garage doors)
• Car/caravan show rooms
• Second Hand car lots
• Markets
• Petrol stations
• Garden centres
• Art galleries (where art is for sale or hire) 

b. Hereditaments that are being used for the provision of the following services to visiting members of the public: 

• Hair and beauty services (such as hairdressers, nail bars, beauty salons, tanning shops etc.)
• Shoe repairs/key cutting
• Travel agents
• Ticket offices e.g. for theatre
• Dry cleaners
• Launderettes
• PC/TV/ domestic appliance repair
• Funeral directors
• Photo processing
• Tool hire
• Car hire 

c. Herediments that are being used for the sale of food and/ or drink to visiting members of the public:

• Restaurants
• Takeaways
• Sandwich shops
• Coffee shops
• Pubs
• Bars  

d. Hereditaments which are being used as cinemas

e. Hereditaments that are being used as live music venues

Qualifying assembly and leisure: 

f. Hereditaments that are being used for the provision of sport, leisure and facilities to visiting members of the public (including for the viewing of such activities): 

• Sports grounds and clubs
• Museums and art galleries
• Nightclubs
• Sport and leisure facilities
• Stately homes and historic houses
• Theatres
• Tourist attractions
• Gyms
• Wellness centres, spas, massage parlours
• Casinos, gambling clubs and bingo halls 

g. Hereditaments where the non-domestic part is being used for the provision of living accommodation as a business: 

• Hotels, guest and boarding houses
• Holiday homes
• Caravan parks and sites 

The following businesses DO NOT QUALIFY

• Financial services (e.g. banks, building societies, cash points, bureau de change, short-term loan providers)
• Medical services (e.g. vets, dentists, doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors)
• Professional services (e.g. solicitors, accountants, insurance agents/financial advisers, employment agencies, estate agents, letting agents)
• Post office sorting offices
• Hereditaments that are not reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public 

Further information can be found at 2022/23 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief Scheme: local authority guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

You must tell us about any changes which may affect your entitlement to rate relief, such as:

• vacating the property
• taking up occupation of an additional property
• an increase in the rateable value of a property

If you do not report a change, you may pay an incorrect amount for Business Rates which could lead to an investigation for fraud.

Visit our change in circumstances page to tell us about a change.

From 1st April 2023, Supporting Small Business Relief (SSBR) will help those ratepayers who, as a result of a change in their rateable value due to revaluation, are losing some or all of their Small Business, Rural Rate Relief or 2017 Supporting Small Business Relief. 

 

The 2023 annual bills for those effected will be limited to a maximum increase of £600 per year.  This ensures that ratepayers do not face large bill increases in 2023/24 after transitional relief and small business rate relief have been applied (if applicable). This relief will be automatically applied to qualifying accounts ready for the 2023 annual bills.