If your museum or gallery maintains or puts up an exhibition or display, you could be eligible for the Museums and Galleries tax relief (MGTR), writes Scott-Moncrieff director, Kirsty Murray

Important new relief for museums and galleries

With last month’s Finance Bill, museums and galleries can now take advantage of the Museum and Galleries tax relief (MGTR).

This allows these organisations to claim tax relief on costs, incurred after 1 April 2017, of maintaining and putting up exhibitions and displays – whether temporary, permanent or touring.

How to assess your eligibility

If you are a museum or gallery, please bear in mind the following criteria to ensure you are eligible to make a claim:

How it impacts you

Where an exhibiting company is profitable, the MGTR claim reduces the company’s tax liability by up to an additional 15.2 per cent of the qualifying costs.

Where a company is loss making or does not pay corporation tax, a tax credit at a rate up to 20 per cent of the qualifying costs, capped at £80,000 per exhibition, may be repayable to the exhibiting company.