Claiming Orchestra Tax Relief for Corporation Tax
Source: gov.uk (2025-05-21)

Check if your company qualifies for Corporation Tax Orchestra Tax Relief and what you can claim.

Watch a video about how creative industry tax reliefs work.

What are creative industry tax reliefs and how do they work? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5hz64Y8pa8)

Who can claim

Your company must:
- be responsible for putting on the concert from start to finish, including employing or engaging the performers
- be actively engaged in planning and decision-making
directly negotiate, contract and pay for:
- rights
- goods
- services
Check if your company qualifies as the production company (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-creative-industry-tax-reliefs) before claiming the relief.

Check if the production qualifies for the tax relief

Your company can claim the relief if it’s a qualifying orchestral production company putting on a qualifying orchestral concert.

A qualifying orchestral concert is one which:
- an orchestra
- an ensemble
- a group
- a band
- consists of a minimum of 12 instrumentalists
- all or the majority of the instruments are not electronically amplified
- is intended to be performed live for the paying public or for educational purposes
- has at least 25% of ‘core costs’ on goods or services provided from within the UK or the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein known as the European Economic Area (EEA) — from 1 April 2024, at least 10% of the ‘core costs’ must relate to activities in the UK
Core costs are what’s spent on producing the production. It does not include costs on the actual performance.

Your company cannot claim the relief for the concert if the:
- main purpose, or one of the main purposes, is to advertise or promote any goods or services
- performances include a competition or contest
- main object, or one of the main objects, is to make a relevant recording
You can check if the production qualifies for the relief (https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-your-production-or-exhibition-qualifies-for-corporation-tax-relief).

What you can claim

You can claim an additional deduction to reduce your profits or to increase a loss. This will reduce the amount of any Corporation Tax you will need to pay.

The additional deduction is the lower of:
- 80% of total core costs
- the amount of core costs on goods or services that are provided from the UK or EEA — from 1 April 2024, it is the amount of core costs relating to activities in the UK
If you make a loss, some or all of this loss can be surrendered for a payable tax credit at a rate of 45%.

Work out how much creative industry tax relief (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-creative-industry-tax-relief-or-expenditure-credits-for-your-production) you can claim for your production.

When you can claim

You can make, amend or withdraw a claim for Orchestra Tax Relief up to one year after the company’s filing date.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, you may make, amend or withdraw a claim for Orchestra Tax Relief up to 2 years after the end of the period of account the claim relates to.

HMRC may agree to accept late claims in some circumstances.

How to claim

Watch a video about how to claim creative industry tax relief.

How to make a claim for creative industries tax relief (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9nTsziMR7o)

Claim the tax relief on your Company Tax Return (https://www.gov.uk/company-tax-returns).

You will need to calculate the amount of:
- additional deduction due to your company
- any payable credit due
You must submit an additional information form (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/support-your-claim-for-creative-industry-tax-reliefs) as evidence for your claim for creative industry tax reliefs.

You must also provide:
- the name and address of the venue for each performance
- UK or EEA
- non-UK or non-EEA
- a breakdown of costs by category
- the production start date
You may elect to have multiple concerts treated as a single concert. If you’ve made an election, you should indicate the date of the election in your return.

Elections must be made before the later of either:
- the date of the first concert in the series
- the date of the first claim which relates to a concert in the series
Elections should be sent by email to: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

Get more information

You can find more information, including examples of how the relief is calculated, in the Orchestra Tax Relief Manual (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/orchestra-tax-relief).