Manage business rates in YionStack
How to track your business-rates bill in YionStack today using the accounting module — set the local council up as a supplier, post the monthly instalment as a recurring bill, and surface the next payment on the cash forecast. A dedicated business-rates surface (rateable value, relief tracking, Check-Challenge-Appeal) is on the OSG-33 roadmap.
In this guide
Accounting- Steps
- 5
- Prereqs
- 3
- Pitfalls
- 3 common ones
- Related
- 3 guides
Walkthrough only — no setup wizard. The flow is exactly what you do inside YionStack today.
Before you start
- Your latest business-rates demand notice from the local council (it sets the annual liability and the instalment schedule).
- Owner or Admin role on the YionStack business.
- A bank account connected for reconciliation, or a manual bookkeeping rhythm if you pay by direct debit and reconcile from the statement.
Steps
- 1
Add the local council as a supplier
Go to Accounting → Suppliers → New. Add the council with its address and your council reference number on the contact record so every bill carries it as the external reference. Set the default expense account to your "Business rates" nominal (create it if it does not exist — most charts use 7100 or similar).
- 2
Post the annual demand as a recurring bill
In Accounting → Bills → Recurring, create a new recurring bill against the council supplier for the monthly instalment amount, starting on the first instalment date and running for the number of instalments on your demand (commonly 10, sometimes 12). The recurring bill posts each month automatically against your business-rates nominal.
- 3
Schedule it into the cash forecast
The recurring bill flows into the 30/60/90-day cash position automatically — every projected instalment appears in the month it is due, so the rates bill never surprises the cash position.
- 4
Reconcile when you pay
Pay by direct debit (the council way) or manual transfer. When the bank feed pulls the payment, YionStack matches it to the open bill on the council supplier; approve the match and the bill closes.
- 5
Review at year-end
The business-rates total for the year sits on its own nominal line in the P&L, easy to surface for the accountant. If the council issues a revised demand mid-year (a relief grant, a revaluation), edit the recurring bill to the new amount from the next instalment forward.
Common pitfalls
Not claiming Small Business Rate Relief
If your property's rateable value is below £15,000 and it is the only property you occupy, you are very likely entitled to Small Business Rate Relief — but you must apply to the local council for it. It is not applied automatically. YionStack cannot file the application, but the saving is significant — a quick check is worth it. See /learn/business-rates for the rule.
Posting the payment without the bill
If you pay the council without first posting the bill, the expense lands in the bank with no matching invoice — the audit trail is missing and year-end reconciliation gets messy. Always run the bill first; the recurring rule makes this automatic.
Forgetting a revaluation or relief change
Business-rates revaluations and relief changes mid-year happen. Whenever the council writes to revise the bill, update the recurring bill amount from the next instalment forward so the forecast and ledger stay accurate. Today you do this manually; the dedicated business-rates surface (OSG-33) will track it once shipped.
Need a hand with this one?
If a step is missing or unclear, tell us — every guide is a working document we improve as customers ask.