Business Rates for your Salon or Barbershop
Your business rates are based on a valuation of your salon or barbershop and changes are being made.
New legislation is being introduced, depending on where you are in the UK:
England & Wales
Property revaluations are now to be done every 3 years, rather than every 5 years. The next property revaluation will now take place in 2021 rather than 2022.
Scotland
Similar legislation is expected to be replicated in Scotland, likely to take place in 2022.
Good or bad news?
That depends.
Hilary Hall, NHF/NBF chief executive, said:
“Especially for salons in areas where commercial rents are falling, this is good news. Earlier and more frequent revaluations give salons a better chance of business rates more accurately reflecting their current value on the rental market. Of course, the opposite is true for salons in areas where rents are going up.”
According to a recent survey by the NHF/NBF, around two thirds of hair salons, beauty salons and barbershops don’t pay business rates at all because they qualify for small business rates relief (see the section at the bottom).
Larger salons are more likely to pay business rates, which are becoming an increasing financial burden. Almost half (42%) reported that their business rates had gone up when they were last revalued in April 2017, although 13% had seen their rates go down.
Discounts of up to one third are available for businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or less in 2019-2020 and 2020-21. In the NHF/NBF survey, 41% of salons said they were unaware of this additional relief and many were unsure whether they had to apply for it or whether it would be automatically applied by their local authority.
Business Rates Relief
In England, if your Salon or Barbershop’s rateable value is less than £15,000, you receive a discount to your rates bill.
And if it’s less than £12,000 you can apply to pay no rates.
The rules in Scotland depend on your local council but there are also reliefs available.
More information can be found here:
England: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief
Scotland: https://www.mygov.scot/business-rates-relief/