Orchestra Tax Relief

You can claim orchestra tax relief on your concert/performance if:

• It is an orchestral concert.
• It is intended to be performed live to paying public members or provided for educational purposes.
• It has a minimum of 12 instrumentalists, who are the main feature of the performance.
• The majority of the musical instruments are not electronically amplified.
• The concert meets the minimum expenditure requirements.
  • For accounting periods ending on or after 1 April 2024, at least 10% of the core costs must be UK expenditure.
  • For accounting periods ending before 1 April 2024, the requirement is for at least 25% of the core costs to be European expenditure, i.e., expenditure in the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA).

If you are applying for a series of concerts, in addition to the above requirements, they will qualify if:

• The same production company produces each concert in the series.
• It is intended that all of the concerts in the series are to be performed live to paying members of the public or to be provided for educational purposes.
• The company has made the appropriate election to HMRC.

A production may meet the requirements above, but still be ineligible for OTR if it meets any of the following conditions:

• It’s produced for training purposes.
• Its primary purpose is to advertise.
• The performances include a competition or contest.
• Its primary purpose is to make a recording of the production.

Recorded performances are ineligible for OTR but may find that they are eligible for Film Tax Relief or AVEC. However, performances may be eligible for OTR if the recording is not the primary purpose of the show.

If the production begins with the intention to be shown to a paying audience, but the intention changes to broadcast without an audience, the OPC can claim OTR up to the point that the intention changes.

Core expenditure is expenditure incurred on producing the concert up to the performance and any travel to and from a venue that is not the usual venue of the company.

Non-core expenditure typically relates to the running and promotional costs for the show. This includes:

• Non-producing activities include financing, legal services, and storage.
• Ordinary running activities (e.g., staff costs during the course of the show).
• Marketing and exploiting the concert.

Certain costs may need to be apportioned between rehearsals and the performance itself.

Ineligible expenditures include entertaining, publicity, promotion, audit fees, interest, completion bonds and other forms of insurance.

There is no cap on the amount of relief available via Orchestra Tax Relief. 

A production may meet the requirements above, but still be ineligible for OTR if it meets any of the following conditions:

• It’s produced for training purposes.
• Its primary purpose is to advertise.
• The performances include a competition or contest.
• Its primary purpose is to make a recording of the production.

Core expenditure must be apportioned on a “fair and reasonable basis". There are multiple ways you can define this, depending on the cost. You may wish to explain your methodology to HMRC to ensure you meet this criterion.

As with core and non-core expenditure, you will need to apportion UK/EEA and non-UK/EEA expenditure. Workers based in a UK/EEA office or working remotely in the UK/EEA can be included, for example, but workers physically outside of the UK/EEA are ineligible. This applies regardless of where the company is based, the worker’s nationality or whether the company is in a group with the claimant.

For some costs that are partly based in the UK/EEA, you can choose how to apportion the cost. For example, a staff member who works partly in the UK/EEA will only be eligible for the number of days they are working there.

For accounting periods beginning before 1 April 2024, you may make your claim up to one year after the company’s filing date.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, you may make your claim up to 2 years after the end of the period of account.