Business rates are charged on most non-domestic premises, including most commercial properties such as shops, offices, pubs, warehouses and factories. Some properties are eligible for discounts from the local council on their business rates. This is called business rates relief. There are a number of reliefs available including small business rate relief, rural rate relief and charitable rate relief.

The non-domestic rating list sets out all rateable values for non-domestic properties in England and Wales. Local authorities use this list to help determine business rates.

A new press release from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) states the following:

A new non domestic rating list comes into effect on 1 April 2023. You can still let us know if the information about your property on this list isn’t correct. But the closure of the 2017 list means that there are only limited circumstances in which further amendments may be made to it. These are when:

• changes need to be made to the list following Checks submitted before 1 April 2023 (and any subsequent challenges and appeals);
• the VOA is correcting inaccuracies on the list (this can be done up to 31 March 2024). If the list is changed, then customers for those properties have the right to make a Check within six months of the change; and
• a customer wants to challenge the 2017 list on the grounds of a tribunal or court decision. They can do this so long as a Check has been made by 30 September 2023.

This means that you have up until 31 March 2023 to check that the factual information we hold about your property on this list is correct, and to let us know if it isn’t (this is known as making a Check case).