Local authorities are issuing out their business rates demands for 2025-2026, but could you be paying too much?
Thanks to changes announced in the Chancellor’s first Autumn Statement last year, some businesses could face crippling hikes in what they have to pay for the period 2025-2026.
The bills, or business rates demands as they are also known, are already beginning to land on desks, so how do you know if you’re paying too much?
Adam Barnfield, Head of Business Rates at property consultancy Vail Williams, explains how business rates work and are calculated, as well as what you can do to avoid overpaying this complex property tax.
Discover how to work out business rates
Your business rates bill is calculated based on the rateable value (RV) of your building. RVs are essentially the rental value of a property at a set date in the past.
Every three years, the RV for your building is updated through a process called Revaluation, to ensure as accurate a business rates bill as possible.
To calculate your business rates bill, your RV is multiplied by something called a Non-Domestic Rating Multiplier.
For 2025-26 the standard multiplier is 55.5 pence in the pound, while the small business multiplier is 49.9 pence in the pound.
Will your business rates bill increase this year?
It is highly likely that your business rates bill increases for larger businesses this year.
This is because the standard multiplier for business rates in England increased from 54.6 pence to 55.5 pence in the pound in April 2025. This increase is based on the CPI inflation figure. However, the small business multiplier remained the same.
Highstreet occupiers in particular could see a significant increase in their business rates bills.
This is because of the government’s decision to slash Business Rates Relief for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses to just 40% (capped at £110,000 per business) from 1 April 2025. For some, this could see bills more than double as a result.
Whilst the change to business rates relief will come as bad news for high street businesses, action can be taken to either minimise liability or at the very least, ensure that companies are not overpaying.
Act now to reduce your business rates bill
With the new tax year looming, it is important not to take your rates bill for granted.
The VOA is becoming more accurate with their valuations, but mistakes do happen resulting in business rates overpayments. The most common being uncorrected factual errors and the VOA over-analysing rental information.
If you haven’t already done so, act now to avoid overpayment of business rates through miscaulated rates, or to claim certain reliefs you may be entitled to.
Professional business rates advice pays
We understand how complex it can be to navigate the world of business rates. That’s why getting professional advice from qualified business rates experts can help.
At Vail Williams, our business rates experts specialise in helping businesses to reduce their business rates liability through mitigation and recovery.
Not only can we check that your RV is correct, we can also help with a business rates appeal, challenging it on your behalf if we believe it to be wrong, through the ‘Check, Challenge, Appeal’ process, liaising with your charging authority to recover any overpayments.
We can also explore potential reliefs, exemptions or allowances available to you, and undertake an audit to ensure that historical overpayments are recovered, where possible.
