A guide to business rates

Non-domestic rates, or business rates, are collected by local authorities to enable those who occupy non-domestic property to contribute towards the cost of local services.

How we calculate business rates

Rateable value

Each non-domestic property has a rateable value set by the valuation officers of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). This doesn't include properties exempt from business rates.

The agency draws up and maintains a full list of all rateable values, which you can view on the GOV.UK website.

The rateable value of your property will be shown on the front of your bill. This figure broadly represents the yearly rent the property could have been let for on the open market on a particular date.

National non-domestic rating multiplier

We work out your business rates bill by multiplying:

  • the rateable value of the property, with
  • the business rates multiplier, which central government sets yearly in England on 1 April. This is normally changed each year in line with inflation.

Revaluations will now be held every 3 years. The latest revaluation came into effect on 1 April 2023.

Read more about Revaluation.

For 2025/26:

  • the national non-domestic multiplier is 0.555
  • the small business non-domestic multiplier is 0.499

The small business multiplier applies to properties where the rateable value is less than £51,000.

Crossrail business rate supplement

The Greater London Authority (GLA) introduced a business rate supplement (BRS) in April 2010 to finance £4.1 billion of the costs of the £14.5 billion Crossrail project.

Read about the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement.