Business Rates
What are Business Rates?
Business Rates are a contribution to the cost of local services
(such as Education, Social Services, Highways Maintenance, Street
Lighting) provided by local authorities.
The Business Rates collected by each Welsh local authority are
paid to the National Assembly for Wales who give the income back to
local authorities based on the population of each authority.
As far as Neath Port Talbot is concerned, for 2012/13, we will
be collecting around £40.1m, and we will be receiving around £37.5m
from the National Assembly.
Business Rates are paid by most non-domestic properties. The
main exceptions are farm buildings and land, churches, and public
parks.
Where a property has both a domestic and non-domestic part (for
example, a shop with living accommodation), it is known as a
'composite' property. In these cases, Business Rates are paid for
the non-domestic part and Council Tax for the domestic part.
Business Rates are property based and are calculated by
multiplying the property's rateable value by the rating multiplier
(a rate in the pound). Rateable values are determined by the
Valuation Officer (see Rateable values for more information), while the
rating multiplier is set by the National Assembly for Wales. The
rating multiplier is the same across the whole of Wales, although
it is different from the rating multiplier in England which is set
by the DTLR (Department for Transport, Local Government and the
Regions).
The National Assembly for Wales sets the rating multiplier every
year and it cannot by law rise by more than the increase in the
Retail Prices Index (except in the year of a rating revaluation
which takes place every five years).
The rating multiplier for 2012/13 is
45.2p. For 2011/12, it was 42.8p.
Business rates bills may be reduced in certain circumstances,
see Reductions to
rates bills.
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Last Updated: 01.05.2012 at 16:47