What Reliefs Are Available to Reduce My Charges?

• What reliefs are available to reduce my charge?
• Small Business Rate Relief
• Rate Relief for Charities, Community Amateur Sports Clubs and Non-Profit Making Organisations.
• Discretionary Relief for other Non-Profit Making Organisations.
• How can I apply for Mandatory, Discretionary or Dicretionary Top-up Relief?
• Rural Rate Relief
• Hardship Relief

What reliefs are available to reduce my charge?

There are a number of reliefs available to reduce your National Non Domestic Rates charge.  These are:

• Small Business Rate Relief – for businesses occupying properties with a rateable value less than £18,000
• Charitable and Discretionary Relief – for registered charities, community amateur sports and other non- profit making organisations
• Rural Rate Relief – for a village shop, post office, public house or petrol filling station.
• Hardship Relief – for businesses suffering hardship

Small Business Rate Relief

You may be entitled to a reduction of your Non Domestic Rate charge if your business occupies a Non Domestic Rated property with a Rateable Value of less than than £18,000.  If you have more than one Non Domestic Rated property you may still be eligible to this relief if:

• All other properties have a Rateable Value of less than £2,600 each and 
• The Rateable Value of your main property plus all other properties totals less than £18,000

Small Business Rate Relief will only be granted to your main property - the one with the highest Rateable Value.

Empty properties do not qualify for Small Business Rate Relief.

Ratepayers in receipt of mandatory charitable rate relief or rural rate relief do not qualify for Small Business Rate Relief.

• Properties with a rateable value below £6000 receive a 50% reduction on the Non Domestic Rate charge. This will decrease on a sliding scale by 1% for every £120 rateable value between £6001 and £11,999.

• Properties with a rateable value between between £12,000 and £17,999 will not receive an additional rate reduction, but will pay rates based on the lower multiplier of 40.7p (rather than 41.4p).

Should your circumstances change, such as occupation of an additional property or an increase in Rateable Value, you must notify us within 4 weeks or you could lose your relief entitlement.

It is a criminal offence to provide false information when applying for Small Business Rate Relief.  If you do so you could be fined, imprisoned or both.

Please ensure you have read the Guidance Notes carefully before submitting an application.

On 24 March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government will temporarily increase the level of Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) so that eligible ratepayers will pay no rates on properties with rateable values up to £6,000. A tapered relief of between 100% and 0% will apply for properties with rateable values between £6,001 and £12,000. The new levels of relief will be available for 12 months from 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2011. Meanwhile, you should ensure that you continue to pay your existing business rates bill.
There are no other adjustments to the scheme and the eligibility criteria will remain the same. Details of the changes can be found on the letter and fact sheet  issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Download or complete an online Small Business Rate Relief Application or Notification of Changes Form.

Rate Relief for Charities, Community Amateur Sports Clubs and Non-Profit Making Organisations.

Mandatory Relief for Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs

North Norfolk District Council grant 80% Mandatory Relief to Charities and to Community Amateur Sports Clubs.

Charities are entitled to relief from rates on any property which is used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes.

Community Amateur Sports Clubs are entitled to relief from rates on any property which is wholly or mainly used for the purposes of that club, or that club and any other such registered club.  Community amateur sports clubs are only eligible for 80% mandatory relief if they have registered with the HM Revenues and Customs.

In the case of a shop run by a charity, the majority of the goods must have been donated.  Charity shops selling only new goods have to pay in full.

100% of awarded Mandatory Relief is paid for by the Government.

Discretionary Top-Up Relief
If you are eligible for 80% Mandatory Relief then you can also apply for Discretionary Top-Up relief to cover all or part of the remaining 20% charge.  This is awarded at the discretion of North Norfolk District Council.

Top-up Relief cannot be backdated into the previous year so it is important to apply for this promptly.

25% of awarded Top-up Relief is paid for by the Government.
75% of awarded Top-up Relief is paid by local taxpayers from Council Tax.

Discretionary Relief for other Non-Profit Making Organisations.

If not eligible for Mandatory Relief North Norfolk District Council can grant up to 100% Discretionary Relief to certain types of non-profit making bodies whose aims are either:

•  Charitable
•  Philanthropic (concerned with human welfare and advancement)
•  Religious
•  Concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or fine arts
•  Recreational club or society

75% of awarded Discretionary Relief is paid for by the Government.
25% of awarded Discretionary Relief is paid by local taxpayers from Council Tax.

How can I apply for Mandatory, Discretionary or Discretionary Top-up Relief?

To give consideration to grant any of the above reliefs an application form should be completed.

Before completing an application for relief please ensure you have read the Council’s Guidance Notes and Policy statement. More information can be found here.

Download or complete an online Application form for Mandatory, Discretionary or Discretionary Top-up Relief. (.pdf 71Kb) 

The following must be provided where either Discretionary or Discretionary Top-up relief is requested:

1. A copy of the organisations Memorandum of Association, written constitution and membership rules. 
2. A copy of the full set of audited accounts for the latest financial year at the application date.
3. Copies of any leaflets produced and distributed by the organisation about its activities.
4. A copy of any membership application form in use together with membership fees charged over the last 3 year period and any conditions of membership which are issued to applicants before joining.
5. Any further information which may be considered helpful for North Norfolk District Council to determine discretionary relief including details of how the organisation benefits the residents of North Norfolk and meets the criteria within the policy and guidance.

Rural Rate Relief

Rural Rate Relief is available for certain types of businesses situated within a rural settlement, a parish of 3,000 people or less.  Please download North Norfolk District Council’s list of parishes that have been designated rural settlements.

How do I qualify for this relief?

 Qualifying businesses are:

• The sole General Store with a rateable value below £8,500.
• The sole Post Office with a rateable value below £8,500
• Any food shop (excluding confectionery stores, take-aways and restaurants) with a rateable value below £8,500
• The sole Public House with a rateable value below £12,500
• The sole Petrol Filling Station with a rateable value below £12,500

How much relief would I get?

If you meet one of the above criteria you will be entitled to 50% Mandatory Relief on your Non Domestic Rates bill.   Consideration may be given to granting up to an additional 30% Discretionary relief.

Shops or Post Offices with a rateable value of  between £8,500 and £16,499 are not entitled to Mandatory Relief but consideration will be given to granting up to 50% Discretionary Relief.

How do I apply for Rural Rate Relief?

An application form for relief must be completed.

Before completing an application for relief please ensure you have read the Council’s Guidance Notes and Policy statement .

A copy of the full set of audited accounts for the latest financial year at the application date must be provided where Discretionary Relief is requested:

Download  (Pdf 7Kb) or complete an online Application  Form for Rural Rate Relief

Hardship Relief

North Norfolk District Council has the discretionary power to reduce or remit the payment of your Non Domestic Rate bill by granting Hardship Relief.

75% of this relief is paid by the Government, the remaining 25% is paid for by local taxpayers from Council Tax.  Therefore we must satisfy ourselves that in granting relief, it is in the interests of the local Council Tax payers.

Application for relief  should be made in writing giving details of why you believe North Norfolk District Council should support your application. 

Before submitting an application for relief please ensure you have read the Council’s Guidance Notes and Policy statement. This will enable you to provide any appropriate financial/non financial information to support your case.