Help with business (non-domestic) rates bill.
Small Business Bonus Scheme
Provides relief to businesses:
- with properties in Scotland with a combined rateable value of £35,000 or less, or
- if you only have one property, a rateable value of less than £20,000.
This includes both occupied and unoccupied properties.
Small Business Bonus Scheme Relief qualifying criteria:
Amount of relief available (single property)
| Ratepayer with a single property in Scotland with a Rateable Value (RV) | Amount of relief |
|---|
| up to £12,000 |
100% (no rates payable) |
| £12,001 to £15,000 |
% = 100 - (75 x(1 - (15000 - RV) / 3000)) |
| £15,001 to £19,999 |
% = 25 x ((20000 - RV) / 5000) |
Amount of relief available (multiple properties)
| Ratepayer with multiple properties with a combined rateable value (RV) In Scotland) | Amount of relief |
|---|
| Up to £12,000 |
100% (ie no rates payable) |
| £12,001 to £35,000 |
25% on each individual property with a rateable value of £15,000 or less
For individual properties with rateable value
£15,001 to £20,000
% = 25 x ((20000 - RV) / 5000)
|
This allows a business with 2 or more properties with a cumulative rateable value up to £35,000 to qualify for relief of 25% on individual properties with a RV up to £20,000.
A Small Business Bonus Scheme Relief calculator (Excel, 14kb) will calculate for single properties.
Contact the Business Rates team for information regarding the calculation for multiple properties.
Small Business Bonus Scheme Relief cannot be awarded to:
- payday lenders
- unoccupied properties
- advertisements
- car parking spaces
- betting shops
Apply for Small Business Bonus Scheme
Complete and return a Small Business Bonus Application Form (Word, 23kb).
Empty Property Relief
Relief to empty properties is discretionary. Reductions are as follows:
Industrial properties
100% Empty Property Relief
For a maximum of 6 months from the date when the property became vacant.
90% Empty Property Rate
After 6 months, charged as a percentage of the rate that would apply if the premises were occupied.
All other properties
50% Empty Property Relief
For a maximum of 3 months from the date when the property became vacant.
90% Empty Property Rate
After 3 months, charged as a percentage of the rate that would apply if the premises were occupied.
Please note: 100% relief applies to the following type of properties:
- rateable value less than £1,700
- listed building, ancient monument or property with a preservation order
- prohibited by Law from occupation, for example a Building Warrant has been issued
- under compulsory purchase order
- unoccupied due to death or insolvency
- properties not comprising one or more buildings or part of a building
Apply for Empty Property Relief
Complete and return an Empty Property Relief Form (Word, 46kb).
Fresh Start Relief
If you occupy a property which has been awarded Empty Property Relief, for at least 6 months prior to your becoming liable for non-domestic rates and occupying the property, you can claim a 100% discount for a period of 12 months from the date of occupation.
To qualify for this relief the Rateable Value of your property must be £100,000 or less.
Please contact us to see if your property qualifies.
Part Occupied Property Relief
If you have a property which is only partly occupied for a short period of time, you may apply for part-occupied property relief.
If your property is an industrial property, the unoccupied area of the property must be unoccupied for 1 to 6 months for you to be eligible.
For any other property, the unoccupied area of the property must be unoccupied for 1 to 3 months for you to be eligible.
The maximum period of relief which can be awarded is 12 months in total for the same ratepayer. This 12 month period may consist of several separate claims over different financial years.
Apply for Part Occupied Property Relief
Complete and return a Part-occupied Property Relief Form (Word, 43kb). Include a plan of the property showing the unoccupied area.
Charity Relief
Registered charities (or trustees for a charity) that use its business premises wholly or mainly for charity purposes may be eligible for both mandatory and discretionary non-domestic rates relief of up to 100% (80% mandatory and 20% discretionary relief).
Non-registered charities and other organisations and clubs may be eligible to receive between 20% and 100% discretionary non-domestic rates relief if they:
- are established not for profit
- have an equal opportunities policy in place
- are run for social benefit
Apply for Mandatory/Discretionary Rate Relief
An application form will be available here in the near future. In the meantime, please contact the Business Rates team.
Sports Club Relief
For a sports club in North Ayrshire to be considered for rate relief it must:
- have an equal opportunities policy in place
- be registered with the controlling body for clubs of that type
- be a sport recognised by the Scottish Sports Council
Unlicensed clubs that meet the required criteria will receive 100% discretionary relief.
Licensed clubs that meet these criteria are entitled to receive 50% discretionary non-domestic rate relief. If turnover is less than £30,000 per year an additional 10% relief is awarded.
Sports clubs registered with HMRC as Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC) are entitled to receive 80% Mandatory non-domestic rate relief. If unlicensed, this will be increased to 100% relief. If licensed and turnover is less than £30,000 per year an additional 10% relief is awarded.
Find out about how the CASC scheme works and reliefs you might be able to benefit from.
Apply for Sports Club Relief
Contact the Business Rates team to apply.
Rural Relief
In a rural community of less than 3,000 people, 50% mandatory relief can be awarded to:
- Post Offices
- general stores
- petrol stations
- small hotels
- public houses
To qualify as a Post Office:
- rateable value must be £8,500 or less
- the property must be used wholly or partly as a Post Office
- the Post Office must be the only one in the designated rural community
To qualify as a general store:
- rateable value must be £8,500 or less
- the ratepayer must be involved wholly or mainly in the retail sale of food and general household goods
- the general store must be the only one in the designated rural community
To qualify as a petrol filling station, small hotel or public house:
- rateable value must be £12,750 or less
We have discretionary powers to top up this relief to 100% for these businesses, schools, village halls, car parks, public conveniences and other subjects which:
- provide a service that benefits the community
- have a rateable value of £17,000 or less
Apply for Rural Relief
Complete and return a Rural Relief Application Form (Word, 41kb).
Disabled Rates Relief
Relief of non-domestic rates may be granted for an organisation that provides training, welfare or care for disabled persons. To qualify for relief the premises must be used for one of the following:
- provision of residential accommodation for the care or aftercare of disabled persons, or people suffering from illness
- provision of training or activity facilities for disabled person, or persons suffering from illness
- provision of welfare services for disabled persons
- provision of employment or work facilities for disabled persons
- provision of sheltered employment by a local authority
- ancillary purposes whose main purpose is to support premises which provide care to disabled people and already receives disabled relief, for example; office space, laundry, canteen
Please note: institutions whose main purpose is to provide medical treatment are not eligible, for example:
- hospitals
- doctor surgeries
- dental surgeries
Apply for Disabled Rate Relief
Complete and return a Disabled Rates Relief application form (Word, 46kb).
Please note: If applying for disabled rates relief for a nursing home, we'll require details of the number and type of staff in the nursing home. It's not essential for the purposes of this application that your staff have professional nursing or medical qualifications.
Day Nursery Relief
Where premises are used wholly, or mainly, as a nursery school as defined in Section 135 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and which also provides day care for children as defined in paragraph 13 of schedule 12 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.
Contact the Business Rates team to see if your property qualifies.
Business Growth Accelerator Relief (New and Improved Property Relief)
Available for new build property and to existing properties being expanded or improved.
New build properties – if you are a ratepayer of a new build property first entered onto the Valuation Roll from 1 April 2018 onwards, you will pay no rates until the property is occupied.
Once occupied, you will continue to receive 100% rates relief for a further 12 months.
Expanded or improved properties – if a property is expanded or improved and the rateable value increases as a result of this, you will not pay the increase for 12 months. The rates for this period will be based on the rateable value prior to the improvements being made.
Apply for Business Growth Accelerator Relief (New and Improved Property Relief)
Contact the Business Rates team to apply.
Renewable Energy Generation Relief
Relief may be awarded where a property is used solely for the generation of heat, or power, or both from the following sources:
- biomass
- biofuels
- fuel cells
- photovoltaics
- water, including waves and tides, but excluding the pumped storage of water
- wind
- solar power
- geothermal sources
If you produce renewable heat or power from any of the above sources, a reduction may be made as shown in the table below, only if your scheme has arrangements in place that entitle community organisations to:
- at least 15% of the annual profit
- so much of the annual profit is attributable to 0.5 megawatt (or more) of the total installed capacity of the project
Generation activity must take place at the eligible property to be eligible for this relief.
Combined rateable value of business properties
| Combined rateable value of all business properties in Scotland | % of Relief |
|---|
| £145,000 or less |
100% |
| More than £145,000 but not exceeding £430,000 |
50% |
| More than £430,000 but not exceeding £860,000 |
25% |
| More than £860,000 but not exceeding £4,000,000 |
10% |
| More than £4,000,000 |
2.5% |
Hydro Schemes – a reduction of 60% is available where renewable heat or power is produced from water, provided the rateable value of the scheme is less than £5,000,000.
This does not require the scheme to meet the qualifying criteria relating to community involvement or total installed capacity limits.
Contact the Business Rates team to see if your property qualifies.
District Heating Relief
Relief is available where a property is used wholly or mainly for the purposes of a district heating network.
A district heating network is the distribution of thermal energy in the form of steam, hot water or chilled liquids from a central source of production through a network to multiple buildings or sites for the use of space or process heating, cooling or hot water and includes any attached communal heating.
Communal heating is defined as the distribution of thermal energy in the form of steam, hot water or chilled liquids from a central source in a building which is occupied by more than one final customer, for the use of space or process heating, cooling or hot water.
Contact the Business Rate team to see if your property qualifies.
This relief will end on 31 March 2027.
Transitional Relief (TR) for financial years 2023 to 2026
The Scottish Government has made provisions to limit the increase in Non- Domestic Rates charges resulting from the 2023 revaluation exercise. These cover general revaluation transitional relief, small business and rural transitional relief and parks transitional relief, details of these are as follows:
General Revaluation Transitional Relief
Where you are entitled to this relief, it will be automatically awarded to your Non-Domestic Rates account, no application is required.
To be eligible your 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.
The following limits will apply to the increases in gross charges from the position at 31 March 2023.
The 2023 Revaluation Transitional Relief caps for each year are as follows:
2023 Revaluation Transitional Relief caps
| Rateable Value | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
|---|
| Small (up to £20,000) |
12.5% |
25% |
37.5% |
|---|
| Medium (£20,000 to £100,000) |
25% |
50% |
75% |
|---|
| Large (over £100,000) |
37.5% |
75% |
112.5% |
|---|
Small Business and Rural Transitional Relief
This relief is available to cap the maximum increase in the net rates liability relative to 31 March 2023 at £600 in 2023-24, and £1,200 in 2024-25, after any relief is available, for properties which:
- were entitled to Small Business Bonus Scheme Relief on 31 March 2023, and/or
- were entitled to mandatory or discretionary Rural Relief on 31 March 2023 and are no longer entitled on 1 April 2023 as a result of a rateable value increase due to the 2023 revaluation.
To be eligible 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.
Apply for Small Business and Rural Transitional Relief
An apply contact the Business Rates team.
Parks Transitional Relief
Some parks, or parts of, that existed but were exempt from valuation for Non-Domestic Rating on 31 March 2023 have become rateable on 1 April 2023. Such cases are eligible for 67% relief in 2023-24 and 33% in 2024-25.
Apply for Parks Transitional Relief
An application form will be available here in the near future. In the meantime, please contact the Business Rates team.
Islands and remote areas Hospitality Relief
From 1 April 2024, if your business meets the hospitality sector criteria, and your property is on an island, or in a specified rural area, you are eligible for 100% relief for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. There is a maximum level of £110,000 relief per ratepayer.
The hospitally sector covers the following areas:
- bed and breakfast accommodation
- camping site, caravan or caravan site
- chalet, holiday hut, bothy
- guest house, hotel or hostel
- public house
- restaurant
- self-catering accommodation
- timeshare accommodation
Contact the Business Rates team to find out if your property qualifies and to request an application form.
Subsidy Control
Some reliefs are affected by subsidy control rules. These reliefs are offered as a Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA) subsidy under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. MFA is capped at a maximum of £315,000 over a three-year period, cumulated over the current and previous two financial years.
To ensure that the council complies with the subsidy regime, it may be required to cap relief at the MFA maximum limit. This may depend on:
- the level of other public sector assistance received by your entity
- whether or not you have an interest in any business with other properties in receipt, or eligible, for one of the existing rate relief schemes
You are required to keep a written record of the amount of any MFA received, and the date (s) when it was received, for at least three years from the date it was given. Any award of MFA exceeding £100,000 is subject to transparency requirements and will be published.
Not all reliefs are considered to be capped in this way. Relevant relief applications will detail if the MFA limit applies and request the relevant information required.
The specified reliefs subject to these measures are:
- Renewable Energy Relief
- Enterprise Areas Relief
- Telephone Mast Relief
- Rural Relief
- District Heating Relief
- Parks Transitional Relief
- Day Nursery Relief
Complete and submit an application by email to the Business Rates team.
Before submitting an application please read the privacy notice.