Business rates discounts

Your property may qualify for rural rates relief if it is in a rural settlement with less than 3000 residents. If your property qualifies you will not have to pay business rates for that property.

You may qualify if you run one of the following types of businesses and the rateable value is not above the relevant limit:

Your property may qualify for charitable rate relief if it's mainly used by:

• a charity registered with the Scottish Charity Regulator
• a non-profit organisation not registered as a charity but set up to be non-profit making, for example, a sports club or social welfare organisation

If your property qualifies your bill could be reduced by:

• mandatory relief of up to 80%
• discretionary relief of up to 20%

If you qualify for the maximum relief you will not have to pay business rates for that property.

Your property may qualify for disabled rates relief if you provide the following services for people that are ill or disabled:

• residential accomodation for care or aftercare
• facilities for training
• welfare services or workshops

At least half of the floor space must be used for these purposes.

If your property qualifies your bill could be reduced by up to 100%.

Your property may qualify for Business Growth Accelerator relief if it was built, expanded or improved after 1 April 2018.

New build premises

If your property qualifies there will be no business rates to pay for 12 months after the building is completed and occupied.

Expanded or improved premises

If your property qualifies the rate paid will be based on the existing rateable value for 12 months, with no additional charges that would normally be due if the rateable value has increased because of the work done on your premises.

Your property may qualify for renewable energy generation relief if:

• you produce heat or power from renewable or hydro energy
• any community organisation get some of the profits

Renewable energy sources

To qualify you need to be producing heat or power from any of the following sources:

• biomass
• biofuels
• fuel cells
• photovoltaics
• water, including waves and tides but not pumped storage
• wind
• solar
• geothermal

The amount of relief depends on the total rateable value of all properties you own in Scotland.

60% relief

You can apply for 60% relief for individual properties if both of the following apply:

• your scheme produces heat or power from water, including waves and tides but not pumped storage
• your property has a rateable value of less than £5 million

This 60% relief will be available until 2032.

How to qualify

There are 6 criteria used to assess eligibility for each business:

1. Whether the business is solely concerned with the generation of heat or power from specific sources.
2. Whether the property currently gets any other relief (state aid limits apply).
3. If the business gets any other public sector assistance.
4. The combined rateable value of all properties in Scotland that the business occupies or is entitled to occupy.
5. If, in return for investment within the project by a community organisation, they will be get the equivalent of one of the following:
   • at least 15% of the annual profit of the project
   • annual profit attributable to 0.5 megawatt of the total installed capacity of the project

New properties

Any new land or heritage entered into the valuation roll from 1 April 2016 that is used solely for the generation of renewable heat or power may qualify for relief of:

• 10% if the rateable value is £500,000 or less
• 1.5% if the rateable value is over £500,000

Your property may qualify for the small business bonus scheme if the rateable value of your property is less than £20,000. This is not available for empty properties.

The amount of relief depends on the total rateable value of all properties you own in Scotland.

Your property may qualify for unoccupied property relief from when the property was last occupied.

The relief available is:

• 50% relief for the first 3 months after rateable occupation ends
• 10% relief for the next 9 months

Your property may qualify for day nursery relief of 100% if it's used only, or mainly, as a nursery school.

Your business may qualify for Fresh Start Relief if the property:

• has previously been in receipt of empty property relief for a continuous period of at least 6 months
• is actively occupied
• has a rateable value of up to £100,000
• is not used for pay day lending

This relief gives a 100% business rates discount for a year.

The general revaluation transitional relief caps bill increases caused by the 2023 revaluation. It is available if the rateable value of your property increased on 1 April 2023.

The level of relief is determined by the rateable value before 31 March 2023 and the new rateable value from 1 April 2023.

Small business bonus transitional relief

Relief is available for properties that are no longer able to claim small business bonus relief because their rateable value increased on 1 April 2023. If you have seen an increase in your bill, this will be capped at £600 for financial year 2023 to 2024, £1200 for financial year 2024 to 2025 and £1,800 for financial year 2025 to 2026.

Your property or land may qualify for unoccupied property relief from when the property was last occupied.

The relief available is:

• 50% relief for the first 3 months after rateable occupation ends
• 10% relief for the next 9 months

Telecommunications relief is available from business rates to any provider of new fibre infrastructure for telecommunication. It is available for up to 10 years until 31 March 2031.

To qualify for this relief, you must meet the legal criteria.

Telecommunications new fibre infrastructure is:

• new fibre used for the purposes of facilitating the transmission of communications by any means involving the use of electrical or electromagnetic energy
• a proportion of any poles, posts, towers, masts, mast radiators, pipes, ducts and conduits, and any associated supports and foundations on the lands and heritages, used in connection with new fibre, apportioned using the proportion that notional rateable value bears to the rateable value, and
• any parts of the lands and heritages which are exclusively occupied by new fibre,

The fibre of that infrastructure:

• is "new" if it was not laid, flown, blown, affixed or attached before 1 April 2019
• is not "new" if it replaces existing fibre, unless it upgrades what was previously provided

From 1 April 2024 hospitality relief of 40% is available for qualifying properties.

This relief is capped at £110,000 per ratepayer on all properties they occupy in Scotland. The ratepayer is responsible for ensuring they do not exceed this cap.

The following types of properties can claim this relief:

• Class 1 bed and breakfast accommodation
• Class 2 camping site
• Class 3 caravan
• Class 4 caravan site
• Class 5 chalet, holiday hut and bothy
• Class 6 guest house, hotel and hostel
• Class 7 public house or nightclub
• where the sale of alcohol is principally intended for consumption on the premises, and there is no requirement that people consume food on the premises to purchase alcohol
• Class 8 restaurant
• where the sale of food or refreshments to members of the public for consumption on those premises, including café, coffee shop, bistro, fast food restaurant, or snack bar
• Class 9 self-catering holiday accommodation
• Class 10 timeshare accommodation
• Class 11 small music venue

Use as a venue to host live music events where all the following conditions are me:

1. The premises are used as an indoor, permanent venue, operating all year round.
2. The venue is used to host live music events for a public audience.
3. The venue has a maximum capacity of 1500 persons.

Our non-domestic rates reliefs policy details the criteria for awarding reliefs and reductions.

We publish a list of recipients of business rates relief. The latest update is 1 May 2025.