Orchestra Tax Relief
Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) is a government initiative for instrumental groups to support the British creative sector. The scheme allows eligible music groups to claim on their annual production costs and receive a payment from HMRC.
So far, we have helped groups claim over £1,000,000! Read on to find out how you could benefit.
If you are already set up to claim and want to use our service, click the links below.
Would you like us to help you claim some money for your concerts?
Before we start, let's clarify a few things; despite being called 'Orchestra Tax Relief':
- the initiative can apply to many types of instrumental group – so don’t be put off if your group is not a traditional orchestra
- you do not currently need to be paying tax or be registered with HMRC to make a claim
It does involve a change to the way that you operate. By signing up to Making Music's OTR service, we will help you through the process and submit a tax claim on your behalf. Once your set up, we can make a claim for you every year.
Why is it so great?
Unlike some sources of funding there is no cultural test: Creative tax reliefs are not dependent on what is being performed, who the audiences are, or how modern the performance is. It is simply money to encourage putting on events – events you would be putting on anyway.
It’s there every year – if you do performances or concerts that qualify every year, you can claim every year.
How much money do we get?
The average payment for our members is 23% of their annual production costs (comprising all costs that go into putting on a performance, including rehearsal venue hire, MD fees, music hire and performance venue hire). Some examples of claims we have submitted so are far shown in the table below.
| Annual production spend | OTR payment received |
| £ 51K | £11.7K |
| £31K | £7.1K |
| £14.6K | £3.4K |
| £6.2K | £1.4K |
These extra funds directly impact on the decisions we are able to make regarding repertoire for the orchestra and means we can budget for larger scale/in copyright works. More exciting and varied concerts for our audience and more interesting works for the orchestra ensuring all our regulars (including the non "classical" instruments such as tuba) are kept happy.
Now, let's check if you're eligible. Are you ...?
- An instrumental group with an annual income under £100K?
- Organising future events with 12 or more instrumentalists as the main focus?
If yes, then read our OTR guidance below to find out more.
What support do we offer?
As part of your membership, you get free access to all our OTR guidance, including:
- Full, detailed guidance about the OTR and how it works
- Templates to help you get set up to claim
For the OTR service, we:
- Template for recording keeping to make your accounts easier for filing
- Provide phone and email support to help you manage the whole process
- Provide news on key updates and changes
- Review all your accounts at year end and submit them to Companies House and HMRC
We are delighted to have just received our first payment from HMRC for Orchestra Tax Relief. We worked closely with Making Music on this - they provided us with training at the start of the process and hand-holding throughout. Hopefully, many other amateur orchestras will also take advantage of this welcome governmental support to amateur music.
Next steps
Read our OTR guidance below to find out more.
At the bottom of the page there is a form where you can also register your interest in OTR and a member of our team will get back to you.
Register your interest in Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR)
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