Good news in Wednesday's budget; the current temporary increase in Small Business Rate Relief, which was due to end on 30 September 2011 will now continue for a further year (from 1st October 2011 to 30th September 2012).
Therefore ratepayers with rateable values below £6,000 pay no rates at all for the period and those with rateable values between £6,000 and £12,000 receive tapered relief from 0-100%.
More information is available on line at http://www.communities.gov.uk/ or you can contact your local authority Business Rates department.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has also welcomed a number of announcements in the budget; see their website for more information http://www.fsb.org.uk/
