OTR30020 - Orchestra Tax Relief: taxation: election for concert series

S1217QA Part 15D Corporation Tax Act 2009 (CTA2009)

An Orchestra Production company (OPC) can elect to have a series of concerts treated as a single orchestral concert which is then treated as a separate trade for the relief.

The election must be made in writing to HMRC (an election from the company by email will suffice) and must be made by a certain date. If the first concert in the series falls before 1 April 2024, the election must be made before the first concert in the series is held.

If the first concert in the series falls on or after 1 April 2024, the election must be made 

  • before the first concert in the series is held 

  • before the first company tax return which applies the separate trade treatment to a concert in the series is submitted 

whichever is later.

The election is irrevocable once made. Concerts cannot be added or subtracted at a later date. However, if a concert within the series is cancelled for whatever reason that will not invalidate the election. Minor changes to the concert will not invalidate the election e.g. a change of date or venue for reasons outside the company's control. Any such changes should be noted with the OTR claim.

A high proportion of the orchestral concerts within the series must be qualifying orchestral concerts. The election should specify if there are any non-qualifying orchestral concerts within the series. If circumstances change so that some concerts were originally planned to be qualifying but no longer are, and this has a significant impact on the proportion of non-qualifying concerts, then the election will be invalid. For example, this might happen if the number of instrumentalists is reduced.

If an election becomes invalid, the company may submit a new election or claim separately on any qualifying orchestral concerts.

The election should only include orchestral concerts and defined in s1217PA(1). It should not include any that are not orchestral concerts as defined in s1217PA(2). The inclusion of any non-orchestral concerts will invalidate the election.

Orchestral concerts are defined in OTR50020. A non-orchestral concert might include one where a relevant recording is the main object. If the relevant recording was not the original intention, then the inclusion of such a concert will not invalidate an election because that original concert would be considered to be an abandoned qualifying concert. However, the company can only include costs incurred before the abandonment as part of the series.

The length or number of concerts covered by the election is at the discretion of the OPC and is not limited to a single accounting period. There is no limit to the number of elections an OPC may make in any year.

Example

An OPC runs three seasons of concerts, a Spring season in April/May, an Autumn season in September/October and a Winter season December/January. Its accounting period runs to 31 December.

The OPC could make a single election for all three seasons, or it could make three elections, one for each season. In both instances the series will straddle the accounting date of 31 December.