Enter your rateable value and see the 2026/27 bill, which multiplier applies, and whether small business rate relief wipes it out. England, Scotland and Wales — talk to Buzz about reliefs.
This covers England, and only the main relief.
Scotland and Wales set their own multipliers and their own relief schemes, and both are built in above. Northern Ireland uses a different rating system again and is not covered here. Retail, hospitality and leisure relief, charitable relief and transitional arrangements all sit on top of the figure shown here. Talk to Buzz about what else you can claim.
Your property
Enter your rateable value, then click Calculate to see the bill.
The basics
How business rates are worked out
Business rates are calculated from the rateable value of your premises, set by the Valuation Office Agency, multiplied by a figure the government sets each year. Then reliefs come off. For a lot of small businesses the reliefs matter far more than the multiplier.
The 2026/27 multipliers, England. If your rateable value is below £51,000 you use the small business multiplier of 43.2p. At £51,000 or above you use the standard multiplier of 48p. So a £50,000 rateable value and a £52,000 one are not two per cent apart on the bill — they are on different multipliers entirely.
Small business rate relief. If the property is the only one your business uses and its rateable value is £12,000 or less, you pay nothing. Between £12,001 and £15,000 relief tapers from 100% down to zero — so at £13,500 you get roughly half off, and at £14,000 about a third.
The taper is why a small rise in rateable value can cost far more than it looks. Going from £12,000 to £13,500 does not add a little to your bill; it moves you from nothing to a real one.
Worth checking rather than assuming. Relief normally requires you to use only one property, but there are exceptions once you take on a second, including a grace period on the main one. Plenty of businesses that would qualify never claim.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about business rates
Do I have to pay business rates if I work from home?
Usually not. Working from home with a laptop at the kitchen table does not create a rateable property. You may become liable if part of the home is used exclusively for business — a converted outbuilding, a room fitted out as a shop or salon, or somewhere customers regularly visit. If only part of the property becomes rateable, you pay business rates on that part and council tax on the rest, and small business rate relief will often reduce the bill to nothing anyway.
What is a rateable value and who sets it?
It is the Valuation Office Agency's estimate of the annual open-market rent for your premises at a set valuation date — not what you actually pay, and not the property's sale value. You can look yours up free on the VOA website. Because it is an estimate of rent, a good deal on your actual lease does not reduce your rates, and an expensive one does not increase them.
How do I get small business rate relief?
You apply to your local council — it is not always applied automatically, and this is where money gets left on the table. If the property is the only one your business uses and its rateable value is £12,000 or less, you pay nothing. Between £12,001 and £15,000 relief tapers away to zero. Councils can normally backdate relief you were entitled to but never claimed, so it is worth asking even if you have been paying for years.
What happens if I take a second property?
You normally lose small business rate relief, but not immediately. You keep it on the main property for 12 months after taking the second one. After that you can usually keep relief on the main property if each additional property has a rateable value under £2,900 and the total across all of them stays under £20,000 (£28,000 in London). It is worth checking before signing a second lease rather than after.
Can I appeal my rateable value?
Yes, through the Check, Challenge, Appeal process on the VOA website. It is free to do yourself. Grounds that succeed tend to be factual — the floor area is wrong, the property has been altered, part of it is unusable, or comparable premises nearby are valued lower. Be wary of firms that cold-call promising to cut your rates for a share of the saving; some are competent and some submit speculative challenges that go nowhere.
Do I still pay rates on an empty property?
After an initial exemption, generally yes. Most empty commercial property gets three months free, extended to six months for industrial and warehouse premises, after which full rates usually become payable. Properties with a rateable value below a small threshold, listed buildings and those held by charities have their own exemptions. An empty unit you are still paying rates on is a cost worth actively managing.
What about Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Scotland and Wales are both covered here, so choose the country above. Scotland runs multipliers of 48.1p, 53.5p and 54.8p by rateable value, with the Small Business Bonus Scheme relieving all the way to £20,000, and its rateable values are set by the Scottish Assessors rather than the Valuation Office Agency. Wales runs a 0.502 standard multiplier, 0.515 above £100,000 and a 0.350 retail multiplier below £51,000, with Small Business Rates Relief stopping at £12,000 but applied automatically. Northern Ireland uses a regional and district rate system that is not modelled here.
Are there other reliefs I might be missing?
Several, and they stack on top of small business rate relief. Retail, hospitality and leisure relief, charitable rate relief at 80% for registered charities, rural rate relief, hardship relief at the council's discretion, and transitional arrangements that phase in large increases after a revaluation. Councils do not always volunteer them.
More tools
Other Buzz calculators
Self-employed tax
Estimate Income Tax and NI on your self-employed profit.
Two shops on the same street, both the only property their business occupies.
Shop A — rateable value£12,000
Small business rate relief at 100%−£5,184
Rates payable£0
Shop B — rateable value£13,500
Gross bill — £13,500 × 43.2p£5,832
Tapered relief at 50%−£2,916
Rates payable£2,916
£1,500 more rateable value, and roughly £2,900 a year more in rates. The taper is not a gentle slope; it is the whole relief unwinding across a £3,000 band.
There is a second cliff at £51,000. A property valued at £50,000 uses the small business multiplier of 43.2p; one at £52,000 uses the standard 48p. That is not a 4% difference in the bill — it is a different multiplier applied to a larger number, and it is worth knowing about before you agree to an alteration that pushes the valuation up.
What to do with the answer
What to do about your bill
Check you are actually getting small business rate relief. It is not always applied automatically, and councils will usually backdate it. This is the single most commonly missed item on this page.
Look up your rateable value on the VOA site. It is free, it takes two minutes, and factual errors in floor area or property description are more common than people expect.
Check the reliefs that stack. Retail, hospitality and leisure relief, charitable relief and transitional arrangements sit on top of the figure this calculator produces.
Think before taking a second property. You keep relief on the main one for twelve months, and may keep it permanently if the numbers stay under the thresholds. Worth modelling before signing.
Do not ignore an empty unit. Three months' exemption, six for industrial, then the full bill. It is a cost that quietly runs.
Paying more in rates than you expected? Let's check the reliefs.
