• one main property and other additional properties, providing the additional properties do not have individual RVs of more than £2,200, and the combined RV of all the properties is under £15,000 (or £21,500 in London). The threshold for the combined RV is dependent on the location of the main property. The main property is the only one that will have the relief applied to it; the additional properties will have their charges calculated using the standard multiplier.

 

To find out how much relief your business could be eligible for, click here.

 

Eligible ratepayers must apply for the relief each year, including those with RVs of £10,000 to £14,999 (£21,499 in London).

 

To apply for SBRR, you must write to the authority issuing the rates demand before 30 September 2007.

 

Click here to find out how to make an application.

 

The FPB believes the Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) thresholds should deliver relief to a greater number of businesses.

About the FPB's campaign

Business rates are the second highest tax burden small businesses face after Employer National Insurance Contributions. The Government, in recognition of this fact, introduced the Small Business Rates Relief Scheme (SBRR), aimed at relieving the financial burdens of this tax on the smaller businesses.

The FPB believes these thresholds do not go far enough and are not delivering enough relief for small businesses. Under our proposals, the thresholds are dramatically increased to ensure more is done to relieve the constraints to growth which small businesses face from business rates.

For further details of our proposals, email policy@fpb.org

The benefits of the FPB's scheme are:

• 75% more businesses will benefit in some way
• £580 million more will be given out as rates relief to small businesses, whilst maintaining the fiscal neutrality of the scheme
• Fewer small businesses will face a surcharge

Member comments

"The current system is unfair, the rates are a tax ,therefore they should be levied on businesses ability to pay i.e. profitability. To levy the tax on the size of the premises is daft, we are not situated on a high street, neither do we have an equivalent turnover or profit, but we do have a large garden and car park, these do not generate income but merely provide a service to our guests, we cannot charge a price to cover the increased charges we are obliged to pay because of their existence."

"Business Rates have a disproportionate impact on the small business compared to larger companies. It is purely another tax, for which we get no services at all and zero representation at local level."