Business rates reductions

You may be able to reduce your business rates bill through a relief or exemption. Which one applies depends on your property, your organisation and how the property is used.

Small Business Bonus Scheme

You can get business rates relief through the Small Business Bonus Scheme if the combined rateable value of all your business premises in Scotland is £35,000 or less.

If you are only liable for one property:

• Rateable value of £12,000 or less: 100% relief
• Rateable value between £12,001 and £15,000: relief on a sliding scale from 100% to 25%
• Rateable value between £15,001 and £20,000: relief on a sliding scale from 25% to 0%

If you have a liability for more than one property:

• Combined rateable value of £12,000 or less: 100% relief
• Rateable value between £12,001 and £35,000: 25% relief for each individual property with a rateable value of £15,000 or less, and a sliding scale from 25% to 0% for each property with a rateable value between £15,001 and £20,000

SBBS relief is not available to: advertisements; car parks; betting shops; payday lending businesses; properties requiring a short-term let licence but which do not have one; and shootings and deer forests with some specified exemptions where a) shooting rights are exercised solely for the purposes of deer management, including to prevent damage to woodland or to agricultural production, environmental management or vermin control, b) crofts and c) all forms of agricultural and small landholding tenancies, leases for new entrants, and leases agreed for environmental purposes.

Small Business Transitional Relief

Small Business Transitional Relief (SBTR) reduces the net bill increase where a property, on 31 March 2026, was eligible for SBBS relief, mandatory or discretionary Rural Relief, Hospitality Relief, or Small Business Transitional Relief (2023 Revaluation).

The maximum increase in the net bill for each qualifying property, compared to the amount payable as at 31 March 2026, is capped at 25% for 2026-27.

Properties that require a short-term let licence to operate but do not have one are not eligible for this relief.

Charitable and non-profit making organisations

Mandatory and discretionary rates relief is available for properties used by charities and non-profit organisations, including sports clubs.

Mandatory relief (80%) is available if your property is occupied by a registered charity or a charity for Income Tax purposes, and used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes. Charity shops qualify if they mainly sell donated goods and use the proceeds for the charity. Registered community amateur sports clubs also qualify.

Discretionary relief (20% to 100%) - We may also award discretionary relief: 20% for organisations already receiving 80% mandatory relief; 100% for quasi-charitable organisations not run for profit, with charitable, philanthropic, religious, educational, welfare or arts-related aims, including community centres and halls; and 100% for sports clubs used mainly for sport or recreation and not run for profit. Your property must not be used for commercial sales, and relief may end if the occupier or use of the property changes.

Rural rates relief

Also known as Village Shop relief, this is available to general stores, post offices, small food shops, pubs, hotels and petrol stations in rural settlements outside Kirkwall, where the rateable value is £17,000 or less. A rural settlement is an area with a population of 3,000 or less, excluding Kirkwall.

Mandatory relief (100%) is available if you are a general store, post office or small food shop with a rateable value of £8,500 or less and the only such business in the settlement; a pub or hotel with a rateable value of £12,750 or less, the only such business in the settlement, and you don't pay rates on a similar business elsewhere in Scotland; or a petrol filling station with a rateable value of £12,750 or less and you don't pay rates on another petrol filling station in Scotland.

Discretionary relief (up to 100%) may be available if your rateable value is £17,000 or less but you don't meet the mandatory criteria above.

Fresh Start Relief

If you take on a property that was empty for at least 6 months, you may get 100% relief for up to 12 months. Your property must have a rateable value of £65,000 or less, and must not be used for payday lending.

New and improved properties

You may be entitled to relief if your property is a new build, or if you have expanded or improved it. This is sometimes called business growth accelerator relief.

New build properties will not pay rates for 12 months after occupation. This does not apply if the property was previously on the Council Tax Valuation List rather than being genuinely new.

If you expand or improve your property, your rates will stay based on your old rateable value for 12 months. This applies where the increase in value is caused by refurbishment, expansion or new construction, but not by combining, dividing or reorganising the property.

The Assessor will tell us about new builds or valuation changes from improvements, and we will contact you if you may be entitled to relief. If you think you are eligible and have not heard from us, contact the Revenues team.

Unoccupied rates relief

If your property becomes unoccupied, you can get 50% relief for the first 3 months, then 10% after that, for as long as it remains empty. Unoccupied industrial properties get 100% relief for the first 6 months, then 10% after that. Some properties continue to receive full relief, including listed buildings, properties with a rateable value below £1,700, and properties legally prohibited from occupation. A cap of £10,000 per ratepayer per financial year applies.

Disabled Persons Act 1978 relief

Full exemption from rates is available for buildings used as residential care homes, or to provide training, for disabled people.

Renewable energy relief

Relief of up to 100% is available to renewable energy producers generating heat or power from biomass, biofuels, fuel cells, photovoltaics, water (including wave and tidal, but not pumped storage), wind, solar or geothermal sources. To qualify, your project must give a community organisation either at least 15% of the project's annual profit in return for their investment, or a share of profit equivalent to at least 0.5 megawatts of the project's total installed capacity.

Day Nursery Relief

If your premises are used as a day nursery, you may be entitled to relief. We will identify eligible properties from Valuation Roll updates and contact you directly. If you think you are eligible and have not heard from us, contact the Revenues team.

Islands and prescribed remote rural areas Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Relief

In December 2025, the Scottish Government announced in their Budget that they were extending the Island and Remote Areas Hospitality Relief to include Retail and Leisure Businesses. On application, 100% relief can be applied in 2026-27 for properties used for specified retail, leisure and hospitality purposes located on islands as defined by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, as well as in the specified areas of Knoydart, Scoraig and Cape Wrath. All Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Relief is capped at £110,000 per business in 2026-27.

Please note that if you previously qualified for Hospitality Relief during 2025/26, this should be applied automatically. If not, you will need to complete an application form and return it to the Revenues Section, Orkney Islands Council, Council Offices, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY, or email revenues@orkney.gov.uk.

Subsidy control

Subsidy and aid to ratepayers from public bodies is capped at a maximum of £315,000 Special Drawing Rights over a three-fiscal-year period. This amount is set out in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

Non-Domestic Rates relief counts towards the cap and applications from the 2022-23 financial year must be accompanied by a completed subsidy declaration. Before you submit an application for relief you should download and complete the Subsidy and Aid Declaration from the Related Downloads section below. If an award of relief may mean that you would exceed the cap based on assistance you already received in the previous two fiscal years, you should also complete the additional pro-forma giving details of the assistance you received.