What are business rates?

Business rates - or national non-domestic rates - are charged on most non-domestic premises

If you use a building or part of a building for business, you will probably have to pay business rates. Your premises is given a rateable value by the Valuation Office Agency, which we use to calculate how much you should pay.

How charges are calculated

Business rates help to pay for local services. How much you pay will depend on:

• the rateable value of the property, which is set by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA)
• what multiplier is set by central government
• what rate relief schemes you are eligible for, which are applied by us when we work out your bill
• Find out more about these factors at our page 'How are business rates calculated?'

What happens to your money?

Business rates are calculated and collected by your local authority. They are put in a central pool and then redistributed to local authorities according to the number of people living in the area.

This money, together with revenue from council taxpayers, revenue support grant provided by the Government and certain other sums, is used to pay for the services (police, fire, rescue services etc) provided by your local council and other local authorities in your area.

Crossrail Business Rate Supplement (BRS)

The Business Rate Supplements Act 2009 gives councils and the Greater London Authority (GLA) the power to levy a supplement (a BRS) on business rates in order to finance part of the Crossrail project.

Crossrail will provide a new railway across London connecting the outer suburbs and Heathrow to the West End, the City and Canary Wharf.

• Download the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement leaflet (.pdf, 113.9kB)  - for more information about Crossrail and about how the supplement will be used.
• Get more information about the business rate supplement at www.london.gov.uk.
• Find out more about Crossrail funding on the Crossrail website.