Business rates

We will send you a business rates bill in February or March each year unless you occupy your property during the tax year.

This bill is for the following tax year. You can also estimate your business rates bill.

If you’re billed before the following tax year, you’ll automatically be entitled to pay in 10 monthly instalments. We can extend this to 12 if you need us to.

If you’re billed within the financial year, you’ll be able to pay in as many monthly instalments as possible up to February. We can extend these to March.

Your bill shows how much you should pay and when.

You can get help with business rates from:

• the council if you have questions about your bill
• the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) if you think your ‘rateable value’ is wrong

Your business rates are due on the 1st day of the month.

If you pay by direct debit, you can choose to pay on the 14th of the month instead.

You can pay your business rates online, by Direct Debit, by phone, by BACS, at the bank or by post. Direct debit is the best way to pay, simple, quick and safe.

If you pay by direct debit, you can choose to pay on the 1st or 14th day of the month. If you pay at a bank or by post, the instalment is due on the 1st day of every month.

Pay your  business rates

If you get into payment difficulties and you can’t afford to pay your instalments, and if you’ve received a reminder notice, final notice or a court summons, you can make an arrangement to pay:

Make an arrangement to pay

We don’t promise to be able to help everyone but the sooner you contact us, the better our chances of being able to help.

Find out more about what happens if I don’t pay.

For general recovery enquiries, please contact us:

Contact us

If you want to appeal the rateable value, you can do this by contacting the Valuation Office Agency.

The outcome of an appeal in some circumstances may be to increase your business rates.

Professional advice about rateable value

You can also get professional advice about rateable value from a qualified rating surveyor. You may be charged for any advice you get from them right from the start.

The following professional bodies can provide qualified rating surveyors or give advice as to who you should contact (IRRV):

• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
• Rating Surveyors Association
• Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation (IRRV)

You can call the RICS enquiry line for advice: 024 7686 8555

The first 30 minutes are free.

Find out about call charges.

Request a refund

If there’s severe and long term local disruption to your premises, you may be eligible to pay lower business rates temporarily.

This sort of disruption includes building, flooding or roadworks that directly affect your business.

Report changes using the VOA service.

The Valuation Office Agency sets the rateable value on which your rates are based.

The government sets the multiplier and makes national rules about business rates.

The Council collects business rates on behalf of central government.