Reliefs and exemptions

There are a number of types of relief available and these are explained in brief below.

Further information and application forms for all types of relief are available from the Business Rates Team, who you can contact at rates@eastdunbarton.gov.uk

Significant changes are being made to the operation of the Small Business Bonus Scheme under the terms of the The Non-Domestic Rates (Levying and Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023.

This will see the introduction of new tapered thresholds and a change in the award entitlement whether you are the ratepayer of one or more than one subject.

Subjects that are unoccupied or used for payday lending will remain ineligible to receive this relief.

In addition to this, subjects used wholly or mainly for the following purposes will, from 1 April 2023, no longer be eligible for rates relief through this scheme:

• Advertising stations or boards
• The provision of facilities for betting
• The provision of one or more parking spaces.

A Small Business Transitional Relief will be introduced for those losing or seeing a reduction in Small Business Bonus Scheme Relief or Rural Rates Relief (including due to SBBS exclusions) on 1 April 2023. The maximum increase in the rates liability relative to 31 March 2023 will be capped at £600 in 2023-24, rising to £1,200 in 2024-25 and £1,800 in 2025-26.

If your business property is unoccupied and unfurnished, you can apply for empty property relief.

Our definition of unfurnished is cleared of all moveable items otherwise the property is being used for storage. Exceptions may relate to industrial subjects where certain plant and machinery remains. Evidence must be provided to support your application.

The following categories of empty rates relief are applicable:

• Occupancy conditions and periods
• Relief percentage
• Vacant property not in use (first 3 months) 50%
• Vacant property not in use (after 3 months) 10%
• Vacant property last used in an industrial nature (first 6 months) 100%
• Vacant property last used in an industrial nature (after 6 months) 10%.

40% relief is available for properties in the hospitality sector (including music venues with a maximum capacity of 1,500 persons), with rateable values of up to and including £51,000, and which are not in receipt of Islands and Remote Areas Hospitality Relief, capped at £110,000 per ratepayer.

Application form will be available soon. Please check back later.

Properties occupied by registered charities or organisations whose main objectives are charitable, or are otherwise philanthropic, religious or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts may qualify for up to 100% relief. The property must be wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes.

Properties occupied by sports clubs, organisations registered with the Inland Revenue as Community Amateur Sports Clubs and organisations not established or conducted for profit which are mainly used for recreational purposes may qualify for up to 100% relief. Sports clubs with a license to sell alcohol are also eligible to apply.

Properties for the provision of residential accommodation, training or welfare of disabled persons, persons suffering from illness or the after-care of persons who have been suffering from illness may qualify for up to 100% relief. This does not apply to the provision of medical, surgical or dental treatment. At least 50% of the floor area of the property must be used for one of the qualifying purposes.

In rural settlements, 100% mandatory relief is available for certain qualifying public houses, small hotels, petrol filling stations (with a rateable value of £12,750 or less) and also for certain qualifying small food stores, general stores and Post Offices (with a rateable value of £8,500 or less). The Council also has discretion to award up to 100% relief to other properties, with a rateable value of £17,000 or less, used for purposes which are of benefit to the local community.

From the 1 April 2018 the Fresh Start scheme has been expanded where the relief offered is 100% for 12 months provided the property meets the following eligibility criteria

• Property has been in receipt of empty property relief for a continuous period of at least 6 months
• The property has a rateable value of less than £65,000.

For claims up to 31 March 2018

The relief is 50% for 12 months provided the property meets the following eligibility criteria

• Property has been in receipt of empty property relief for a continuous period of at least 12 months
• The property has a rateable value of less than £65,000
• When last occupied, the property was last used as a shop, restaurant, pub or hotel as defined in the regulations regardless of what the intended future use is.

No other relief can be awarded when Fresh Start Relief is applicable.

There are 3 different Transitional Relief schemes available for 2023 to 2026.

Provisions have been made by the Scottish Government to limit the increase in Non-Domestic Rates charges, resulting from the 2023 revaluation exercise, effective from 1 April 2023.

The provisions cover:

• A general award based on an increase in rateable value
• A cap on the charge increase for small businesses losing entitlement to certain relief awards
• Reductions for premises located on parks and being charged rates for the first time.

If you are entitled to the General Revaluation Transitional Relief, this will be automatically applied to your Non-Domestic rates account. You do not need to apply for this relief.

For the 2023 Revaluation cycle, the relief scheme will look at the gross amount of Business Rates payable at 31 March 2023,
compared to the gross amount payable at 1 April 2023 as a result of Revaluation from this date.

The gross charge is the rateable value on that day multiplied by a poundage factor. The poundage factor is the non-domestic property rate for that year, either the Basic Property Rate, Intermediate Property Rate of Higher Property Rate, as the case may be.

Increases will be limited as show in the following table:

In order to be eligible for this relief, the property requires to have been shown in an entry on the valuation roll on both 31 March 2023 and 1st April 2023. Properties with a nil rateable value on 1 April 2023, or which had a nil rateable value on 31 March 2023 are not eligible.

Small Business Transitional Relief caps the maximum increase in your rates bill compared to what you had to pay on 31st March 2023 at:

• £600 in 2023 to 2024
• £1,200 in 2024 to 2025.

This is available for properties that:

• were entitled to Small Business Bonus Scheme Relief on 31 March 2023
• were entitled to mandatory or discretionary Rural Relief on 31 March 2023
• are no longer entitled on 1 April 2023.

To be eligible for this relief, the property requires to have been shown in an entry on the valuation roll on both 31 March 2023 and 1 April 2023. Properties with a nil rateable value on 1 April 2023, or which had a nil rateable value on 31 March 2023 are not eligible.

You must apply for this relief.

Parks Transitional Relief reduces bills for properties in parks liable for rates for the first time on 1 April 2023. You will get:

• 67% relief in 2023 to 2024
• 33% relief in 2024 to 2025.

From the 1 April 2018 a property that is wholly or mainly used to provide day nursery care for pre-school children may be eligible for relief. The relief will last for three years from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2021.

From the 1 April 2018 any relevant new entry lands and heritages that is not a result of a combination or division of an existing entry can claim relief for up to 12 months.

Where there has been a relevant increase in the rateable value on an existing property due to improvements, 100% relief for 12 months can be awarded on the relevant increase.

Ratepayers should note that certain types of non-domestic rates relief is capped by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement de minimis threshold.

From 01 April 2021 The Non-Domestic Rates (Restriction on Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 set a cap on the aggregate financial amount that can be awarded in the form of specified non-domestic rates reliefs. In calculating the cap regard must be had to relief or assistance that prior to EU Exit would have been considered de minimis state aid (financial support from the government).

The specified reliefs now subject to these measures are:

• Day Nursery relief
• District Heating relief
• Enterprise Areas relief
• Hospitality relief
• Renewable Energy relief
• Rural relief
• Telephone Mast relief
• Transitional relief for small businesses
• Transitional relief for properties in parks.

These reliefs and any de minimis assistance, when added together, must not exceed 325,000 Special Drawing Rights.

If you consider that you, or any other company you have a single undertaking relationship within the UK, have already received support from UK, Scottish and Local Government in excess of, or close to this sum you must declare this if applying for any further support.

Not all grants or relief awards are considered to be capped in this way, therefore we will only ask for this information where appropriate.

Special Drawing Rights (SDR) are an artificial currency instrument created by the International Monetary Fund, which uses them for internal accounting purposes.

The value of the SDR is calculated from a weighted basket of major currencies, including the US dollar, the Euro, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, and British pound.

The 325,000 figure is the threshold set for de minimis relief by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement entered into on 30 December 2020 between the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and the United Kingdom.