The amount you pay in business rates every year depends
broadly on the rental value of your premises.
Every non-domestic property in North Somerset is given this value
by the Government’s
Valuation Office Agency
(VOA).
It is based on the open market annual rent for property on
1 April 2003 and in turn helps set the amount you have to pay.
This figure may be different
from the rent you actually pay as it is a fixed-valuation taken
from a set date and open to certain Government assumptions.
For example, your own rent could have been agreed at a time after
April 2003.
This rate is set and changed every five years by the VOA, with
the current date relating to the revaluation which took place in
April 2010.
The VOA can alter the value for your property if it believes
circumstances have changed and, under certain circumstances, you
may also be able to propose a change.
If the property you are going to occupy is still under construction
or a newly built then it may not have been assessed for business
rates.
In these cases you may wish to contact
the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and
request an estimated rateable value.
For this you will need to supply your property’s address,
description, internal measurements and any information concerning
the rent you have agreed to pay.
Alternatively, you may wish to consult an independent
adviser.
In all cases, if you think the rateable value of your property is
incorrect you can appeal against this
decision.
A list of local rateable values for the district are
available online at
the Valuation Office Agency
(VOA) website or available at our offices in the Town Hall
in Weston-super-Mare.
Rateable values are a key
factor in calculating your business rates and we are responsible
for calculating how much you have to pay. We do this by applying a
rating
multiplier, or rate in the pound, (supplied by the government)
to your rateable value and deducting any
relief to produce your
final bill.
