Business Rates information

Register for Business Rates

Does your business trade from one of the following buildings:

  • shop
  • office
  • warehouse
  • factory
  • industrial estate
  • holiday rental homes
  • guest houses

If so, you’ll need to register for Business Rates.

Call us on 0300 1234 105 (option 1) or email revenues@scilly.gov.uk to register for Business Rates or to tell us about a change to your business.

What to pay and when

We will send you a Business Rates bill in March every year. This is for the following tax year.

You can also estimate your Business Rates bill.

There are a number of ways you can pay your Business Rates.

How your rates are calculated

Business Rates are based on your property’s ‘rateable value’.

This is an estimate by the Valuation Office Agency of how much it would cost to rent a property for a year on 21 April 2021.

There’s guidance on how to estimate your Business Rates. 

Information supplied with demand notices

Information relating to the relevant and previous financial years in regard to the gross expenditure of the local authority is available at: https://scilly.gov.uk/council/council-finances/statement-accounts-annual-governance-statement-and-audit

A hard copy is available on request by calling 0300 1234 105 (option 1) or email revenues@scilly.gov.uk

If you think your rates are wrong

If you think your rates are wrong, use your Business Rates valuation account to tell the Valuation Office Agency that:

  • your property details (such as floor area sizes and parking) need changing
  • you think that your rateable value is too high

Revaluation

At revaluation, the Valuation Office Agency updates the rateable value of business properties to reflect changes in the property market.

The most recent revaluation came into effect on 1 April 2023, based on rateable values from 1 April 2021.

At revaluation:

This means that a change in your rateable value does not always mean a change in your bill.

To make sure your valuations are accurate, the Valuation Office Agency may ask for your rent and lease details for your property.

You can find your Business Rates valuation online.

Sort out your Business Rate arrears

If you’re having difficulties or are struggling to pay your Business Rates, contact us immediately by calling 0300 1234 105 (option 1) or by emailing revenues@scilly.gov.uk or by writing to us at PO Box 676, Truro, TR1 9EQ.

We can check to make sure you’re getting all the discounts and reliefs you’re entitled to and review your payment plan.

If you do not contact us and continue to miss your payments, we will have to take action to recover any outstanding money. This will involve the issue of a Magistrates' Court summons and costs being added to what you owe.

Relief Schemes

You may be able to get money off your Business Rates bill. This is sometimes automatic, but you may need to apply.

Business Rates Data

We receive many requests for information relating to Business Rates accounts. We are now publishing details of our most frequently requested information. This is so that you do not need to make a formal request and can obtain the information more quickly. 

All Business Rates accounts including those with relief are listed on our Open Data and Transparency Pages: https://scilly.gov.uk/council-democracy/open-data-transparency under National Non Domestic Rates (NNDR).

What’s included

  • property address and reference number
  • account holder
  • start date of account
  • property description
  • current rateable value
  • reliefs

What’s not included

  • Details of sole traders or partnerships
  • We do not provide contact names or address for the companies listed.
    This information is available from Companies House.
  • We do not supply ratepayer telephone numbers or email addresses. These are supplied to the council in confidence and for the sole purpose of administering their business rate liability
  • The ratepayer is the person liable to pay the charge. In many cases this is a leaseholder and not an owner. It is not possible to identify the owners from our records. 
    This information is available from Land Registry.
  • Account references are not included as these are personal to the account. They are used to ensure that a ratepayer is actually the account holder when they contact the council
  • Details of empty properties.

The next list will be published in the next quarter.

Business rates credits and write-ons

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) published information – highlighting the risks of releasing details of business rates credit balances. In particular they highlight the potential for fraud to be committed using this information.  Therefore, we no longer publish these credit/write-on balances on our website or release them in response to an FOI request.