Many businesses across Chorley will benefit from permanent changes to the Small Business Rate Relief being introduced from April next year.
Already the Conservatives have boosted the relief given to many small businesses by giving 100% business rate relief on properties with a rateable value of below £6,000 - doubling the 50% discount. Properties with a rateable value between £6,001 and £12,000 have also benefited with a tapering relief of 1% for every £60 of rateable value.
BUT FROM April 2017 business properties with a rateable of £12,000 or less will also benefit with a 100% rate refief, with a tapering discount for those with a rateable value from £12,000 to £15,000.
In his budget speech of 2016 the Chancellor said "On top of these two measures comes the biggest tax cut for business in this Budget. Business rates are the fixed cost that weigh down on many small enterprises.
At present small business rate relief is only permanently available to firms with a rateable value of less than £6,000. In the past I’ve been able to double it for one year only. Today I am more than doubling it, and I’m more than doubling it permanently.
The new threshold for small business rate relief will raise from £6,000 to a maximum threshold of £15,000. I’m also going to raise the threshold for the higher rate from £18,000 to £51,000. Let me explain to the House what this means.
From April next year, 600,000 small businesses will pay no business rates at all. That’s an annual saving for them of up to nearly £6,000 – forever. A further quarter of a million businesses will see their rates cut. In total, half of all British properties will see their business rates fall or be abolished altogether.
And to support all ratepayers, including larger stores who face tough competition and who employ so many people: we will radically simplify the administration of business rates, and from 2020, switch the uprating from the higher RPI to the lower CPI.
That’s a permanent long term saving for all businesses in Britain."
Businesses with more than one property are only eligible for small business rate relief if their additional property or properties all have rateable values of under £2,600 and the total rateable value of all their properties does not exceed £17,999 (£25,499 London).