Who has to pay Business Rates

Business Rates are a local tax set by the government and paid by occupiers of commercial property. They are sometimes known as National Non-Domestic Dates (or NNDR).

You'll have to pay Business Rates if you use a building or part of a building for business purposes, such as:

shops
offices
pubs
warehouses
factories
holiday rental homes or guest houses

If a property is occupied, the person or company occupying it is liable for rates. If a property is unoccupied, empty rates will usually be charged to the person entitled to possession.

You don't need to pay Business Rates for certain properties, including some empty properties. For more information please see:

Reliefs and exemptions

Business Rates payments are collected by the Revenues & Benefits service at Adur & Worthing Councils.

The money collected is typically spent as follows:

40% will be used to help pay for the local services provided by Adur & Worthing Councils
10% will be used to pay for services provided by West Sussex County Council
50% will go to central government

For further information about Business Rates and answers to commonly asked questions, please see: