Sean Douglass, Audit Partner at Bates Weston considers Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR) claims – who can claim it, what can be claimed for and what it is worth.
Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR) was introduced in 2017 to support museums and galleries in developing new exhibitions and displaying collections to a wider audience.
Who can claim Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief?
A charitable company, or one wholly owned by a charity or local authority that is responsible for maintaining a museum or a gallery. You must be responsible for producing, running and deinstalling the exhibition at a venue, be actively engaged in the decision making and contract and negotiate directly for rights, goods and services relating to the exhibition.
What can you claim for?
A proportion of the costs incurred in producing, installing, uninstalling and closing the exhibition if it is open for one year or less.
A qualifying exhibition is generally:
- a curated public display of an organised collection of works (or of a single object) considered to be of scientific, historic, artistic or cultural interest
- has at least 25% of core costs spent on goods or services from within the European Economic area – from 1 April 2024 at least 10% of core costs must relate to activities in the UK
There are exclusions related to competitions, online activities, live performance and where anything displayed is for sale or alive.
What is Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief worth?
The rates of the tax relief vary based on different periods and touring/non touring exhibitions, but from April 2025 can be worth up to 45% of the expenditure incurred.
How is Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief claimed?
Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief claims are made through your Corporation Tax return. You can make, amend or withdraw a claim for MGETR for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024 up to two years after the end of the period the claim related to. If you are a charitable company maintaining a museum or a gallery or you are a company wholly owned by a charity or the local authority, your auditors should be able to help you to make your MGETR claim.
As Charity auditing is one of Bates Weston’s specialist audit services, Sean has been helping a number of Bates Weston’s Charity clients understand the claims process.
He reflects:
“We have continued to highlight this underutilised income source to all relevant clients, even where they had initially thought a claim would not be possible. It is particularly important, since the relief was made permanent in the Spring budget, that potential recipients reconsider how the entity and its exhibition production processes can be better structured to maximise claims.
It is also worth noting that although MGETR relief is claimed through a Corporation Tax Return, your charity does not need to have paid Corporation Tax in order to claim the relief. If you would like to speak to us about your own charity and your eligibility for MGETR please do get in touch.”
As always, you are reminded that this article is generic in nature and you should take no action based upon it without consulting your professional advisor.
Additional information:
Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief Manual