Rates Payments

There are two principal factors which contribute to the rates bill received by every non-domestic ratepayer; the rateable value of the property and the business rates poundage (or non- domestic rate) fixed by the Scottish Executive. In addition, actual liability will vary dependent on other factors such as transitional arrangements, charitable and vacant property reliefs etc.

You can use the Executive’s Business Rates Calculator to estimate your actual rates liability from the Values Results pages accessed from the Rateable Values Search, Map or List of Councils on the Portal Home Page. Assessors are responsible for determining only the rateable value and your local Council is responsible for rates collection and administration of the various reliefs which may be available.

The poundage rate which the Executive fixed from 01/04/05 was 46.1p – down from the 2004 rate of 48.8p. This reflected that the 2005 Revaluation has produced an average increase in rateable values in Scotland of 13.3%. The executive also took account of a 2% inflation adjustment and an estimated 4.6% loss arising from Revaluation appeals.

For 2006/07 the Executive fixed a rate of 44.9p

Rates Relief is given under the Small Business Rates Relief Scheme for subjects with a rateable value of £11,500 or less. This is based on the total rateable value of all subjects occupied by the ratepayer. The Relief will vary between 5% and 50% dependent on the level of rateable value. For subjects with a rateable value greater than £11,500 and up to £29,000, the standard poundage rate will apply. For subjects with a rateable value greater than £29,000, a supplement of 0.45p was applied to the standard poundage rate in 2005/06 and for 2006/07 the supplement has been set at 0.40p.

The thresholds for the various Rural Rates Relief Schemes were also increased to reflect the effects of Revaluation.

Transitional arrangements, which are a simplified version of those in place at the 2000 Revaluation, will apply for 3 years where increases in rates bills are above 12.5% (in real terms). Where reductions in bills are greater than 10% (in real terms), the savings will also be phased in over 3 years. All ratepayers will pay their “true” rates bill in 2008/09.

For 2007/08, subject to Parliamentary approval the standard poundage rate will be brought down to 44.1p (the same as England) and the supplement will be 0.3p (the same as England).

Further information on the Executive’s decisions in relation to rates bills can be found on the Local Government Finance website by using the link below.