CM: Bisness rates????

[leonifay]

i've just been told by a friend that because i'm a childminder and have a bisness i might have to pay bisness rates is this right?
my mum has never paied bisness rates and has been childminding for 20 years. does any one else pay this and if you dont mind, roughly how mich is it???

Not usually. Don't worry about it until the council gets in touch with you... if they do, then contact NCMA for advice.

Avoid using any room exclusively for childminding, always use that room also as part of your family home.

No I have never paid this.

Its my understanding that you may be liable for business rates if any part of your home is not used for domestic purposes and is dedicated solely to your business. Eg if you built an extension or converted a garage to use just for mindees and your family did not use that part of the house for any other reason.

If you have a playroom or other room used just for mindees, most childminders are also using these for their own children or, outside of childminding hours, for other family/domestic use such as sewing/ironing/laundry, crafts/hobbies/music practice ...

AFIK as long as the entire property is also being used as a domestic family dwelling you should only have to pay the domestic council tax charge. I don't know anyone who pays business rates to be a childminder. Whenever you talk to the council - planning dept or refuse collection for example, never describe yourself as commercial, even though you run a business its a domestic dwelling.

As Nick says, if you get asked to pay business rates contact NCMA.

Rates are more properly called Non Domestic rates ie not your home, this is to differentiate them from the domestic rates which were payable on people houses years ago, before the 1990s. These rates were the forerunner of the Poll Tax and now Council Tax.

As the other poster siad they will only become liable if you allocated a part of you house solely to CMing and didnt use it your self for domestic purposes. I work in my council finance sectoin and have never come across this before.

I wouldn't worry unless your friend works for the Non Domestic Rates of your local council.

thankyou so much, i was just starting to stress over it. every room is used by the family, not just for cming.
friend used to be a cm but then changed to a day care centre, and she pays. thankyou.

Ayla99 is correct, I used to bill and collect business rates. It applies to any business run from a house but has to have exclusive use of the room in question.

We had a lady convert her garage as a treatment room for doing holistic therapies. She was charged business rates as this was its sole purpose. She had a separate door that led straight into the garage so no going through the domestic dwelling etc.

As you usually use the room in your home for yourself and not just mindees then you are exempt from business rates.