OTR20005 - Orchestra Tax Relief: how to make a claim: claims summary
To make a claim for an additional deduction and/or a tax credit, a company must carry out three essential steps.
Prepare supporting evidence
The company must prepare the following evidence, which will be submitted as attachments to the additional information form:
a computation showing how the amount of additional deduction and tax credit has been calculated for each production
a breakdown of production expenditure for each production
details of any connected party transactions
HMRC has produced templates that companies can complete and submit to help them with this requirement.
Complete the additional information form
This online form must be submitted before (or on the same day as) the company submits its claim in its tax return. The form must match the same accounting period that the company is submitting its tax return for, and one form must be used for all of a company’s claims for any of the Creative Industries tax reliefs.
The form can only be completed by a representative of the company, or an agent acting on behalf of the company.
The form contains eight sections, of which six must be completed as part of a claim to orchestra tax relief. The supporting evidence must be provided as attachments to the form.
The entire form doesn’t all have to be completed in one sitting. If the applicant wishes to pause partway, they can save their answers until they return. Draft versions are retained for 28 days before deletion.
The form cannot be amended after it has been submitted, so if companies wish to make any changes, the form must be sent again in its entirety. The company must then follow this up by amending its CT600, if it has already been sent.
Submit a Company Tax Return, including a completed CT600
In order to complete the claim process, the company must make a claim in its CT600 – a form that is part of a company tax return. This involves completing the relevant boxes in the ‘Information about enhanced expenditure’ section. Further guidance is available about the required filing software.
Claims may be made in an original return or via an amended return. Either way, claims can only be made or amended digitally, through the online Corporation Tax gateway, following the submission of an additional information form. It is not possible to make claims in other formats (e.g. via email).
If a claim is made in the CT600 but is not supported by a complete additional information form and all the necessary supporting evidence, it will be invalid and will not be processed. HMRC will amend the CT600 to remove the claim and make the company aware in writing.
As this is a Corporation Tax regime, a company must also meet its normal Corporation Tax requirements (such as submitting its financial accounts).
The time limit to make or amend a claim is normally two years from the end of the company’s period of account (unless the period of account is very long). Any claim received after this will be considered late.