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PO Box 5000
Town Hall
Chapel Road
Worthing
West Sussex
BN11 1JN -
Council Tax and Business Rates: 01903 221061
Housing and Council Tax Benefit: 01903 221062 - revsbens@worthing.gov.uk
Business Rates
Housing and Council Tax Benefit: 01903 221062
The Business Rates collected by Councils is paid into a central pool and redistributed on a population basis to Councils. There are special arrangements for the City of London. This income, together with income from Council Tax and the Revenue Support Grant from central Government, is used to pay for the services provided by the Council.
Latest news
Small Business Rate Relief
In June 2010 the Government announced an increase in Small Business Rate Relief for one calendar year starting in October 2010.
Legislation has now been passed that will effectively double the amount of relief for eligible businesses, with many having nothing to pay. Relief will be granted at 100% for qualifying businesses with a Rateable Value of £6,000 and under.
Since the relief will cross two financial years, the instalments due from October 2010 will be adjusted to reflect the reduction.
Changes to the Schedule of Payments policy / Backdated liabilities
In November 2008 the Government announced help for businesses facing a large Rates bill where a property had been rated retrospectively, mainly as the result of a review of port properties in 2008.
Until that time, retrospective demands could be issued for immediate payment but in 2009 legislation was passed to reduce the impact on the cash-flow of affected businesses by giving those involved up to eight years to pay in certain circumstances.
Earlier this year, the Government announced a moratorium/freeze on the repayment of such backdated liabilities to 31 March 2011, which within a month was followed by an announcement of the intention to cancel specific backdated liabilities. These would be limited to assessments created from a split assessment in a port area between 2005 and the end of 2009/10 where at least thirty-three months had elapsed between the date of creation and the date that the local list was updated.
Legislation is still awaited in this respect and is not expected before the end of 2011, although there are no port properties within the Worthing Borough Council area.
As a nationally determined 'property tax', there are no legislative provisions upon Councils to provide services specifically for Business Rate payers. However, in addition to providing a range of services to the Business community (for which there may be a separate charge), the Council actively seeks consultation in determining its expenditure plans. Formal consultation normally takes place twice a year November and January.
The explanatory notes leaflet for 2010/11 is available below.
On-line access to services
The new secure self-service system is an ideal way to view general information about Rateable Values within Worthing, or personal details about your Business Rates account.
As a Business Rates payer, you can register to see details about your own account, including the charge, and relief or exemption granted, payments that have been made (but please note that payments made today will not be shown) and finally your account balance.
Please take me to Self Service
Other pages with information about Business Rates are available by using the links on the left-hand side of this page.
Amount Payable
The Council has no part in the normal setting of the level of charge for Business Rates, subject to certain discretionary reliefs.
You can search existing rates from our Self Service facility's Rateable Values Search
- The calculation for the amount payable is the Rateable Value x Multiplier = Full Charge
Both these figures are set by Central Government.
There are two multipliers:
- For 2008/9, the first (which applies to businesses that are eligible for Small Business Rate Relief) is 45.8p. The second (which applies to all other businesses) is 46.2p
- For 2009/10, the first (which applies to businesses that are eligible for Small Business Rate Relief) is 48.1p. The second (which applies to all other businesses) is 48.5p
The full charge may be subject to an adjustment in respect of empty rates, reliefs & exemptions or transitional arrangements.
Further information about Business Rates can be obtained from the Business Link website.
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