Business Rates Calculator

An estimated £7,956.00 for 2026/27, about £663.00 a month. Small business multiplier of 43.2p is applied to a rateable value of £18,000.00. Your billing authority issues the actual demand and decides which reliefs apply.

The engine applies the rules of the nation you choose. In England the multiplier depends on the rateable value band and on whether you confirm the property qualifies for the retail, hospitality and leisure rate. Small Business Rate Relief is full up to £12,000 and tapers to nothing at £15,000. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run through separate logic with their own bands and relief schemes.

Supplements are never folded into the multiplier. The 2026/27 transitional supplement of 1p, the City of London premium and the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement each appear as their own line so you can see what changes the figure.

Where eligibility for a relief is not confirmed, the relief is not applied. It is shown as a potential reduction instead, so the headline figure is never optimistic about something your council has not agreed.

The calculator uses the figures you enter plus the 2026/27 statutory rules. It does not look up your rateable value, and it does not estimate Transitional Relief or Supporting Small Business Relief, both of which depend on your previous liability. Empty property rating, charitable relief, rural rate relief and enhanced sector schemes are outside the scope of this version.

Business rates are a tax on the occupation of non-domestic property. The Valuation Office Agency values property in England and Wales, the Scottish Assessors value property in Scotland, and Land & Property Services values property in Northern Ireland. That valuation is the rateable value, or the Net Annual Value in Northern Ireland, and it is the starting point for every bill.

The multiplier is set centrally each year and expressed in pence per pound of rateable value. A rateable value of £30,000 at 43.2p gives a gross charge of £12,960.00. Relief is then deducted by the billing authority, and any supplement is added.

Rates are one of the largest fixed costs of holding premises, often second only to rent. Once you have an annual figure, put it alongside the rest of your occupancy cost using the commercial lease cost calculator to calculate the full cost of occupying commercial premises, and test the effect on trading with the break-even calculator.

Shop in England, rateable value £18,000

No relief is due because the rateable value is above £15,000. Gross rates of £7,776.00 at 43.2p plus the 2026/27 transitional supplement of £180.00 gives £7,956.00 a year, about £663.00 a month.

Cafe in England, rateable value £13,500

As a confirmed single property in the retail, hospitality and leisure category the multiplier is 38.2p and relief covers half the charge, so £2,578.50 comes off. With the supplement the bill is £2,713.50.

London office, rateable value £150,000

The standard multiplier of 48.0p gives £72,000.00. Crossrail adds £3,000.00 because the rateable value is above £92,000, and the supplement adds £1,500.00, for a total of £76,500.00.

Scottish unit, rateable value £14,000

The Basic Property Rate of 48.1p gives £6,734.00, and the Small Business Bonus Scheme taper gives 50% relief, leaving £3,367.00.

Belfast premises, Net Annual Value £10,000

The combined regional and district poundage of 65.0288p gives £6,502.88 before any Small Business Rate Relief.