Monday, 8 September 2008
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.Some non domestic properties are exempt from rates. The most common types are farm land and buildings, churches, sewers and public parks.
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 industrial premises 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.
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.
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.
If you find yourself unable to pay your account, please contact the Business Rates section immediately on 01302 734454. 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 CCJ's (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. Further information on this is shown below.
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.
You must tell us when you become responsible for a business property.
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.
If we send you a bill that is not in the correct name, please contact us so we can change it.
If you move out of a property, you must tell us so we can send you a final bill.
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 deatils 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.
You can pay in 10 monthly instalments, due on the 1st of each month, April to January, by:
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 over the counter at the following cash offices.
The cash collection offices are open between 8:45am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.
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: Payments Online
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
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. This means that we will not charge any rates for three months.
After this we will charge empty property rates if the property is still empty.
Empty property rates are 50% 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.
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:
There is more information about these types of property and the law we must follow in the empty property leaflet which we send you with empty property rate bills.
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.
If your property is empty, we will reduce the charge.
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. 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.
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 £5000 up to 31/03/00, £6,000 from 01/04/00 to 31/03/05 & £7000 from 01/04/05 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. We may decide to reduce the charge by up to 100%.
We may give this relief to village shops who already receive mandatory relief.
