MGETR10040 - Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief: Meaning of 'exhibition' and 'touring exhibition'

An ‘exhibition’ is a curated public display of an organised collection of objects or works which are considered to be of scientific, historic, artistic or cultural interest. A single object or work can also constitute an exhibition.

The public do not have to be charged for admission.

Certain exhibitions are excluded, those:

• organised in connection with a competition,
• where the sale of displayed objects or works is the purpose, or one of the main purposes,
• which include a live performance by any person, except where this is incidental or an incidental part,
• where anything displayed is for sale, or
• where anything displayed is alive.

To be ‘touring’, an exhibition must have a primary production company within the charge to Corporation Tax. The exhibition must also be intended from the planning stage to fulfil all the following requirements:

• The exhibition must be held at more than one venue.
• At least 25% of the objects or works displayed at the first venue must be displayed at every subsequent venue.
• No more than 6 months should elapse between deinstallation at one venue and installation at the next venue.

The above conditions must be intended to be met at an early stage of the production, in the planning phase. If plans subsequently change e.g. the exhibition is forced into a hiatus of over 6 months due to unforeseen circumstances, then this will not affect the exhibition’s status as a touring exhibition.