?Theatre companies should already be taking advice as to whether they qualify for this new relief. In most cases the production company will be able to claim a refund from HMRC equal to 20% of the direct cost of the production (defined as “core expenditure” in the legislation) if the production is a “touring production” or 16% of production cost if it is not a touring production.

Like all tax reliefs care has to be taken to ensure that the production company complies with all aspects of the legislation in order to obtain the relief . I cannot include all of the criteria in this blog but the relief broadly follows the model used in the other Creative Sector tax Reliefs (Film, High End Television, Animation and Video Games reliefs). Here is a summary of the main criteria:

• The relief is available in respect of a theatrical production, a ballet, play, opera, musical, or other dramatic piece;

• A claim can be made in respect of costs incurred on or after 1 September 2014;

• The claim should be made by the “Production Company”, the company responsible for producing, running and closing the production;

• At least 25% of core expenditure must be on goods or services provided from within the EEA;

• Claims are made in respect of accounting periods of the Production Company.

This is an exciting time for our creative sector. Please contact me if you wish to explore any of the creative sector tax reliefs.