Frequently Asked Questions - Business Rates

• What properties count as non domestic?
• Are any properties exempt from rates?
• Who pays business rates?
• What happens when my rateable value changes?
• Why do I have to pay Business Rates when I don't seem to get anything for it ?
• What if I can't afford to pay my Business Rates ?
• What happens if I fail to keep my arrangement up to date?
• How do I register?
• How is Business Rates calculated?
• How can Business Rates be paid
• What happens if the property is empty?
• How can the charge be reduced

What properties count as non domestic?

Any property that is not intended for use as somebody's residence will be liable for non domestic rates, (Business Rates). Shops, offices, factories and warehouses are obvious examples. Holiday homes that are available for commercial letting for 140 days a year or more will be charged non domestic rates. 

Business Rates can also be charged in respect of land itself in the absence of a physical building, for example coal mines and car parks will attract a charge. If land is used to exhibit advertisements whether they are on a wall, part of a building or some other structure, which is erected on the land, then Business Rates will also apply. Other types of land usage can also attract a charge including for example a fairground. The listing officer of the Valuation Office determines if the land or buildings will be non-domestic. A Rateable value will then be determined which is used in calculating the amount of Business Rates payable.

Are any properties exempt from rates?

Some non domestic properties are exempt from rates. The most common types are farm land and buildings, churches, sewers and public parks.

Who pays business rates?

Properties which are not used as somebody’s home are charged rates, for example, shops, offices, factories, stores and warehouses.

We will charge Business Rates on properties that offer bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six people and on holiday homes which can be let for more than 140 days a year.

The person or company who use a business property pay the rates. This can be the owner, leaseholder, tenant or any other person or organisation that are allowed to use the property.

If the property is empty, the person or organisation that could use it must pay the rates. 

Rates are not always charged on empty properties, for example, on listed buildings or on ancient monuments.

Some business properties are for public use and are exempt. This means that Business Rates are not paid on these properties, for example, churches, sewers and public parks.

What happens when my rateable value changes?

When your appeal has been dealt with, the Valuation Office will notify us of the amendment to be made. We cannot recalculate your liability until we receive that notification. However, under normal circumstances we will make any changes to your bill within 14 days of receiving notification from the Valuation Office.

Why do I have to pay Business Rates when I don't seem to get anything for it ?

The Government decided that it is reasonable that every business or non-domestic ratepayer should make a contribution to the area in which their property stands. Although business ratepayers are not entitled to direct services such as refuse collection, they do benefit from services provided by the Council, such as street lighting, maintained roads, the police, ambulance and fire services, to name but a few.

What if I can't afford to pay my Business Rates ?

If you find yourself unable to pay your account, please contact the Business Rates section immediately on 01302 734454 making sure you have details of your account number ready. The Council reserves the right to take recovery action to secure any amount which is overdue. A reminder will be issued, followed by a summons and a Liability Order will be obtained at the Doncaster Magistrates Court. In making an arrangement, the Council will ask for details of your income and expenditure so that any arrangement may be justified and further action withheld.

Action in the Magistrates' Court does not result in CCJs (County Court Judgements) however the Council will obtain a Liability Order so that if you default on an arrangement or the amount remains unpaid further action can be taken to recover any arrears owed. If this course of action is taken against you additional costs will be incurred. Further information on this is shown below.

What happens if I fail to keep my arrangement up to date?

If you either don't contact the Business Rates section to make an arrangement, or fail to keep your arrangement up to date, then recovery action will continue. Once a liability order has been obtained, then the Council may proceed against you in a number of ways:

Distress
A liability order may be passed to the Council's Bailiffs, who will attempt to remove your goods. These will then be sold and the proceeds paid towards your arrears. This will incur Bailiff's Costs which must also be paid. If this is unsuccessful, then the Council may make an application for your Committal to prison. You would be summoned to the Doncaster Magistrates' Court, where the Magistrates would hold an inquiry into your means to see whether you have shown culpable neglect in not paying your business rates. If they find that you have shown culpable neglect, then you may be sent to prison for up to three months.

The other alternative is:

Bankruptcy
In some circumstances the Council may make an application to make you bankrupt. Both of the above can be avoided by contacting Local Taxation customer services on 01302 734454 in order to agree payment terms.

How do I register?

You must tell us when you become responsible for a business property, or if you move out of a property in the Doncaster area. 

You can contact the business rates section using the contact details above or, alternatively you can click on the link below to complete the on-line change of circumstance form.

eform:Business Rates Change of Circumstance Form

We will send you a bill with your personal account number on it. You must use this account number when you make a payment or contact us for any reason.

How is Business Rates calculated?

We work out the rate by multiplying the rateable value by the national 
non-domestic multiplier. We may change this charge, for example, by small business rates relief or by transitional arrangements. Further details below.

The rateable value 

The rateable value is an amount fixed by the Valuation Office Agency. They look at each business property and set the rateable value based on current market rent charges. This means they look at how much you would be likely to pay at the time to rent a property.

Because the cost to rent a property often goes up, the Valuation Office Agency look at the rateable values every five years to make any changes that are needed.

The Valuation Office Agency prepare a list showing every business property in the Doncaster area. It also shows the full address, description and rateable value. This is called the local rating list. 

You can look at the list at our office, at the Valuation Office or on the Internet. 

If you make any changes to a business property, for example, build an extension or change a shop to a workshop, the rateable value may change. The Valuation Office will decide what the rateable value should be. They will tell us their decision and we will send you a new bill.

You must pay the bill you already have until this happens. We cannot change the charge until the Valuation Officer changes the rateable value in the list and tells us what it will be.

If you do not agree with the new rateable value, you must tell the Valuation Officer. If you both cannot agree on a correct rateable value, the Valuation Tribunal will look at the matter.

The Valuation Tribunal are there to help both sides agree with each other and make the final decision on what the rateable value will be.

If you would like any more information or think your rateable value should be changed, you should contact the Valuation Office Agency.

The national non-domestic multiplier

This is an amount set by the Government. You will pay this amount for every £1 of the rateable value. This is also called the rate poundage.

The poundage changes every year but the Government cannot put it up by anymore than the cost of inflation. This means that it must stay in line with the cost of living.

Transitional arrangements

The Valuation Office Agency look at all rateable values every five years to make sure they are correct and they make changes to them.

There can be major changes to the Business Rates charge. It may go up or down. To help with the change, the Government brought in transitional arrangements.

You may find that either transitional relief or transitional surcharge show on your bill.

Transitional relief is given if the charge has gone up a lot more. It allows the charge to go up in stages instead of all at once.

Transitional surcharge shows on bills if the charge has gone down by a large amount. The charge will go down in stages and not all in one go.

The Government set a calculation every five years for us to follow. They change some of the figures each year to keep in line with the cost of living.

There are special rules for properties that have been changed in size, for example, split into more properties or made into one property. You can contact us for more information.

We will automatically show the transitional amounts on your bill and will automatically change it if the rateable value changes.

How can Business Rates be paid

You can pay in 10 monthly instalments, due on the 1st of each month, April to January, by:

• standing order; or
• cash or cheque.
• Debit card payments 
• Direct Debit over 12 months, with a choice of payment date of the 1st, 7th, 15th or 25th.
• In one yearly payment on 1st April. 
• In two half-yearly payments, half on 1st April and the other half on 1st October.    

All cheques should be crossed and made payable to Doncaster M.B.C.

You can pay by post to the:

Financial Services Department
PO Box 443
Doncaster
DN1 1GC.

Or, the Cash Office at Colonnades House, Duke Street, Doncaster is open Monday to Friday from 8:45am to 4pm.

You can also pay at: 

• The Town Hall, Adwick le Street.
• The Council Offices, Cooke Street, Bentley.
• The Council Offices, 62 Church Street, Conisbrough.
• The Council Offices, Main Street, Mexborough.
• The Council Offices, The Bridge Centre, Bridge Street, Thorne. 
• The Council Offices, Emmerson Avenue, Stainforth.
• The Council Offices, McConnell Crescent, Rossington.     

You can also pay at any bank, but the bank may charge you for doing so. Please give the sort code 08 90 82 and bank account 61040106, along with your Business Rates account number on your bill.

You can pay by Trans Cash at a post office, quoting giro number 6069428 and your Business Rates account number on your bill. The post office will charge you a fee.

We can accept Switch, Maestro, Visa Electron, Visa Delta and Solo cards. These can be used in person over the counter at Colonnades House. You can also use them via the telephone, should you wish to make a payment over the telephone, please use the automated payment line. Telephone number 0845 130 5910.

Alternatively if you want to make a Business Rates payment online you can do by accessing the following link: www.doncaster.gov.uk/paymentsonline

If you have not arranged to pay by any other method we will send you a standing order instruction to take to your bank, then the bank will send the monthly payments for you.

If you want to change the way you pay, please contact us so we can change our records and send you new payment details.

However you choose to pay, you must pay on or before the payment date or we may send you a reminder. 

The benefits of direct debit

• Direct debit can save you time.
• You have a choice of payment dates of either 1st, 7th, 15th & 25th
• You can pay over either 10 or 12 months
• There are no cheques to write and post every month. 
• You don’t need to queue because we will tell your bank to make the payments for you.
• You do not need to remember to pay, all the hard work is done for you.
• You do not have to re-new your arrangement with your bank every year. Once you set up a direct debit, payments will continue to be taken.
• If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change, we will automatically change your account. We will tell you about this at least 14 days before the change    

What happens if the property is empty?

A property is empty if you move all the stock and equipment that is needed to run the business out.

When a property becomes empty we will give a ‘void period’ of three months, or six months for industrial premises. This means that we will not charge any rates for three/six months.

After this we will charge empty property rates if the property is still empty.

Empty property rates are 100% of the normal rate. You will pay this charge until the property is used again.

A property must be used for more than six weeks for us to be able to give the void period again. Please note, if regular periods of short term occupation at a property exist we may need further verification of occupation before we can re-award the void exemption. This may involve a visit to the premises by one of my officers. It is important that if you intend to occpy a property for a short period of time that you contact us immediately. If you are the landlord of a property and assign a short term lease it is advisable to forward a copy of the tenancy agreement to my office to verify your entitlement to any subsequent exemptions. 

We will charge empty rates to the person or organisation that could use the property.    

We won’t charge the following  properties empty property rates:

• If the property has been empty for less than three months.
• If the law will not allow the property to be used.
• When Crown, local or public authority action will not allow any person or organisation to use the property.
• When a building preservation notice says that the property is not allowed to be used.
• If the property is in the list of monuments. The list is taken from Section 1 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act, 1979. 
• A property with a rateable value of less than £1,000 until 31 March 1995,  less than £1,500 from 1 April 1995 until 31 March 2000, less than £1,900 from 1 April 2000 to 1st April 2005 & less than £2200 from 1st April 2005.  A temporary exemption was introduced for the period 1st April 2009 to 31st March 2010 for empty premises with a rateable value of less than £15,000. This exemption was extended for a period of twelve months to cover properties with a rateable value of less than £18,000 during 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011. This temporary exemption will cease on the 31st March 2011 and properties with a rateable value exceeding £2,600 will now be charged empty property rates unless any other of the listed exemptions apply. 
• A property that would only be used by somebody who was sorting out the business affairs of someone who has died.
• The property was used by a person who has gone bankrupt. 
• An arrangement has been made under the Deed of Arrangement Act, 1914 that allows a ratepayer to sort out any money they owe, without going bankrupt.
• The property was used by a company that is being wound up.
• The property would only be used by a person or organisation who was sorting out a company’s business affairs that has been liquidated.    

Properties that are only partly empty

If part of your property is empty, the Valuation Officer may split it. This means that you can pay empty property rates on the empty part.

You should contact the Valuation Office to discuss this as they have rules to follow.

If part of your property is only going to be empty for a short time, the Valuation Office may not be able to split it. We may be able to reduce the charge so please contact us to discuss this as there are different rules to follow.

How can the charge be reduced

If your property is empty, we will allow any relevant exemptions to your account to ensure you are charged the correct amounts. Please note however, the initial three or six month void period is allowed from the date on which the premises are empty regardless of ownership. This means that if you purchase the leasehold / freehold on a property that has already been vacant for in excess of three or six months, you may not benefit from the void exemption and empty property charges may be due from the date on which you become responsible for the property. 

• We use your rateable value to work out what you pay. If you disagree with your rateable value, you can appeal. This means that you can tell the Valuation Office that you think that your rateable value is wrong, and why. You can ask for the rateable value to be lowered or looked at.    

You may get a reduction but the Valuation Office Agency, which is part of the Inland Revenue, will decide this.

There are many rating advisers and surveyors who may offer to put an appeal in for you and charge you a fee for their services. Most are professionally qualified but you can  appeal yourself, free of charge. The Valuation Officer will be able to help you and they have a ‘Business Rates advice leaflet’ that tells you more about rating advisers.

• We can grant relief. This means we can choose to reduce the charge. These are the different types of relief.   

Hardship relief

We can decide to reduce the charge if you are experiencing hardship. We look at each situation separately as part of the relief is taken from our own funds. We will consider if the business benefits taxpayers in the area.

If you want to apply for this relief, contact us and we will send you more information. Our address and phone number are shown at the top of this page.

Mandatory charity relief

This relief is available to charities that are registered with the charity commission, as long as the property is used for matters concerning the charity. If your organisation is a registered charity, we will give you  80% relief. 

Discretionary rate relief

In cases where we have given 80%  mandatory charity relief, we can decide to give more relief to part or all of the 20% of the rates bill that is left.

We can also give relief on all or part of any rate bill if an organisation which does not work for profit uses the property.

Please contact us for more information about this relief. Our address and phone number are shown at the top of this page.

Village shop rate relief

We have a list of rural areas in Doncaster. The areas are called rural settlements and are prepared in line with The Non-domestic Rating (Rural Settlements) (England) order 1997. The list is on display at the major council offices.

A rural settlement is a village that is in, or partly in, the Doncaster area and has a population of less than 3000. 

There are two types of village shop rate relief, mandatory and discretionary. 

We automatically give mandatory relief of 50% to village shops that are all or partly used as a general store or post office, or both. It must be the only store or post office in the village. The rateable value must be less than £5,000 up to 31/03/00, £6,000 from 01/04/00 to 31/03/05 & £7,000 from 01/04/05 to 31/03/10 and £8,500 from 01/04/10 onwards. If there is both a post office and a general store in the area, both will get relief.

We can grant discretionary relief to any property that is in a rural settlement, if the people in the area need the business. The rateable value must be less than £10,000 up to 31 March 2000, £12,000 from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2005 & £14000 from 1 April 2005. From 1st April 2010 the threhold has again increased to £16,500. We may decide to reduce the charge by up to 100%.

We may give this relief to village shops who already receive mandatory relief.