Estimate your business rates
How you estimate your business rates depends on where your property is.
England or Wales
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Find the rateable value of your business. This is an estimate of its open market rental value on 1 April 2015.
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Check the table to find out which ‘multiplier’ to use. Use the standard multiplier if your rateable value is £51,000 or more. Use the small business multiplier if your rateable value is below £51,000.
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Multiply your rateable value by your multiplier. This shows you how much you will have to pay in business rates (before any relief is deducted).
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Take away any business rate relief that you’re entitled to. If your business rates are increasing as a result of the 2017 revaluation, this may include transitional relief so that changes to your bill are phased in gradually.
| Year | Standard multiplier | Small business multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 to 2020 | 50.4p | 49.1p |
| 2018 to 2019 | 49.3p | 48.0p |
| 2017 to 2018 | 47.9p | 46.6p |
| 2016 to 2017 | 49.7p | 48.4p |
Before 2017 to 2018, use the small business multiplier if your rateable value is below £18,000 (£25,500 in Greater London).
There are different multipliers in Wales and the City of London.
Example
Barbara has a business in England. The rateable value of her business is £10,000, so she uses the 2019 to 2020 small business multiplier (49.1p) to estimate her business rates as follows:
£10,000 (rateable value) x £0.491p (multiplier) = £4,910 (basic business rates)
As her rateable value is less than £15,000, she may be able to reduce her bill by applying for small business rate relief.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
There’s a different way to calculate business rates in Scotland and Northern Ireland.