Business rates, also known as non-domestic rates (NDR), are collected by local councils. Under the business rates retention arrangements, local councils keep a proportion of the business rates they collect. It is added to the revenue received from Council Tax, government grants and other monies to pay for local services delivered by us, Woking Borough Council.
Read business rates explanatory notes
Find out more about business rates
How your business rates are calculated
The business rates charge is calculated using your ‘rateable value’ of your property and your relevant ‘multiplier’.
Your bill can be reduced if you are entitled to certain types of business rates relief.
Rateable value
Apart from properties that are exempt from business rates, each non-domestic property has a ‘rateable value’. This is set by the valuation officers from the government's Valuation Office Agency (VOA). It draws up and maintains a full list of all rateable values.
The rateable value of a property is shown on the front of your bill. It is based on the yearly rental value of the property on a specific date.
Rateable values are usually reassessed and revalued every three years. The most recent revaluation came into effect in England and Wales on 1 April 2023.
The next revaluation is due to take affect from 1 April 2026.
Find out more about rateable value revaluations
How to challenge your rateable value
Transitional relief
To support the increases and decreases following the business rate revaluations, the government set a limit on the how much your bill can change each year as a result. This is called transitional relief.
Read more about transitional relief
Multipliers
There are two multipliers set each year by the government, which are shown on the front of your bill. These are the standard non-domestic multiplier and the small business non-domestic multiplier.
The standard non-domestic multiplier is used for properties with rateable values under £51,000; the Standard Non-Domestic Multiplier is used for all other commercial properties.
The standard multiplier is set at a higher rate to pay for small business rate relief.