Museums & Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief

Qualifying costs are referred to as core expenditure.  This general includes the expenditure on;

• Planning and preparation of the exhibition
• De-installing and closing the exhibition (if it runs for less than 12 months).

Non-core expenditure typically relates to the running and promotional costs for the exhibition, this includes;

• Marketing and advertising
• Storage (except with there is a tour)
• Ordinary running cost of the museum or gallery
• Purchase of the exhibit(s)
• Infrastructure cost not solely related to the new exhibition

Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief is a creative industry tax relief incentive, funded by the UK government.

MGETR supports UK museums and galleries by offering them a tax rebate against the money they spend on the production of new exhibitions.

There are two standard rates of Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief available.

Non touring exhibitions can claim back 20% of qualifying expenditure. Claims are capped at

£80,000 per exhibition

Touring exhibitions can claim back 25% of qualifying expenditure, with is available to both the

Primary Production Company (PPC) and the Secondary Production Company (SPC). Claims are capped at £100,000 per exhibition, per venue.

Museums and galleries can claim MGETR on which is the lower

• 80% of total core expenditure
• the amount of core expenditure on goods or services that are provided from the EEA

In the Autumn 2021 budget new temporary rates of relief for MGETR where announced.  From 27^th October 2021 until April 2023 the rates increase to 50% for touring and 45% for non-touring exhibitions.  From April 2023 the rate will be 35% for touring and 30% for non-touring exhibitions.  Then returning to standard rates from April 2024.

To qualify for Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief you must be:

• a charitable company, or company wholly owned by a charity or local authority, which maintains a museum or gallery
• a charity that is formally recognise by HMRC
• able to submit a full corporation tax return (CT600), although you do not need to be pay corporation tax relief.
• You must identify as the Primary Production Company (PPC), or the Secondary Production Company (SPC) if the exhibition is touring. You cannot be the PPC and a SPC for the same exhibition.

The Primary Production Company (PPC) is responsible for organising an exhibition at the first (if touring) or only venue (if not touring).  It must also be responsible for the following at the first or only venue:

• Creative and technical decisions
• Contractual agreements
• Producing and running the exhibition
• Deinstallation and closing the exhibition

A Secondary Production Company (SPC) is responsible for organising an exhibition at the second or subsequent venues for a touring exhibition.  It must be responsible for the following at its venue:

• Production and running the exhibition at that venue
• Deinstalling the exhibition at the venue

There is a cap on the amount of relief available via Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief. 

The maximum repayable credit is capped at £100,000 for touring exhibitions and £80,000 for non-touring exhibitions.

An exhibition is a curated display of an organised collection of works, a single object or work considered to be of scientific, artistic, historic or cultural interest.  The exhibition must be open to the general public irrespective of admission charge.

The following criteria would disqualify an exhibition from being eligible for Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief;

• If it’s in connection with a competition of any kind
• If one of its main purposes is to sell anything displayed or to advertise or promote any goods or services
• If it includes a live performance by and person, unless that performance is incidental to the exhibition
• If anything displayed is for sale
• If anything displayed is alive

The method for making an apportionment is not fixed and can be determined on a case-by-case basis. The key criterion is that it must be done on a fair and reasonable basis.

There will often be more than one ‘fair and reasonable’ basis. The requirement is not that the apportionment must be made using the fairest and most reasonable basis, but simply that it must be made on a basis that is fair and reasonable.

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To qualify for MGETR, you need to meet the following criteria;

1. Your company (charitable or local authority owned) must be either be considered the;

Primary Production Company (PPC) responsible for producing and running the exhibition, creative and technical decisions, contractual agreements and closing/deinstallation at the first or only venue

or

Secondary Production Company (SPC) responsible for Production and running of the exhibition and deinstalling at a second or subsequent venues.

2. The exhibition is intended to be open to the general public irrespective of admission fee
3. At least 25% of your core production expenditure is within the European Economic Area (EEA)