Reviewed by Mustafa Bilgic
Founder, WebCalculator
Multipliers and reliefs follow the GOV.UK business rates guides for 2026/27, checked on 24 September 2026. Estimates only, not financial advice.
Business rates changed on 1 April 2026, with new rateable values and new multipliers, including lower ones for shops, pubs, cafés and gyms. Enter your rateable value to estimate your 2026/27 bill in England after small business rate relief.
England, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027
Your bill starts with your property's rateable value, which the Valuation Office bases on its open market rental value on 1 April 2024. Your council multiplies the rateable value by the multiplier that applies to your property, then takes off any reliefs. You can find your rateable value and check how it was calculated on GOV.UK.
| Rateable value | Retail, hospitality, leisure | Other businesses |
|---|---|---|
| Below £51,000 | 38.2p | 43.2p |
| £51,000 to £499,999 | 43p | 48p |
| £500,000 or more | 50.8p | 50.8p |
The lower retail, hospitality and leisure multipliers replace the retail, hospitality and leisure relief offered in 2025/26, and you cannot make a new claim for that relief. For comparison, the 2025/26 multipliers were 49.9p for the small business multiplier and 55.5p for the standard multiplier.
GOV.UK's examples: a dental surgery with a rateable value of £60,000 pays £28,800 for the year at 48p, and a café with a rateable value of £110,000 pays £47,300 at 43p, both before any relief.
If your business uses only one property, you pay no business rates when its rateable value is £12,000 or less. Between £12,001 and £15,000 the relief tapers from 100% to 0%, so a rateable value of £13,500 gets 50% off and £14,000 gets 33% off. You can still get the relief with other properties if none of them has a rateable value above £2,899 and the total rateable value of all your properties is less than £20,000 (£28,000 in London).
When you take on a second property, you keep the relief on your main property for 36 months if you got the second property on or after 27 November 2025, or 12 months if you got it before then.
If your bill went up at the 2026 revaluation and you lost some or all of your small business rate relief, rural rate relief or retail, hospitality and leisure relief, supporting small business relief limits the rise for 2026/27 to £800 or a percentage of your 2025/26 bill, whichever is greater.
| Rateable value | 2026/27 cap |
|---|---|
| Up to £20,000 (£28,000 in London) | 5% |
| £20,001 (£28,001 in London) to £100,000 | 15% |
| Over £100,000 | 30% |
GOV.UK's examples: a café that paid £14,970 in 2025/26 and now has a rateable value of £110,000 pays no more than £19,461, and a gift shop that paid £4,491 pays no more than £5,291, because £800 is more than 5% of its old bill.
Transitional relief phases in big increases after a revaluation. For 2026/27 it limits increases to 5%, 15% or 30% depending on rateable value, and your council adjusts your bill automatically, so it is not included here. Nor are charitable, rural, empty property or other reliefs, or local supplements. Wales and the City of London use different multipliers, and business rates are handled differently in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Running the numbers for your business? The Corporation Tax calculator, employer cost calculator and capital allowances calculator cover other big costs, and the commercial stamp duty calculator helps if you are buying premises.
Multiply your rateable value by the multiplier for your property, then take off any reliefs. In England the multipliers are 43.2p below £51,000, 48p from £51,000 to £499,999 and 50.8p from £500,000, with lower rates of 38.2p and 43p for retail, hospitality and leisure properties below £500,000.
Not if it is your business's only property, because small business rate relief gives 100% off. The relief then tapers to nothing between £12,001 and £15,000.
From 1 April 2026 you cannot make a new claim for it. Eligible shops, pubs, restaurants, gyms and hotels use lower multipliers instead: 38.2p below £51,000 and 43p from £51,000 to £499,999.
Rateable values were updated at the 2026 revaluation. Transitional relief and supporting small business relief can limit how fast a bill rises, and your council applies them.
No. It uses the multipliers for England. Wales and the City of London use different multipliers, and business rates are handled differently in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
GOV.UK lets you find your rateable value and check how it was calculated. For 2026/27 it is based on the open market rental value of your property on 1 April 2024.