Huge UK tax cut on concert and opera tickets

Huge UK tax cut on concert and opera tickets

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norman lebrecht

July 08, 2020

The UK’s user-friendly Culture Secretary has just tweeted a huge cut in VAT on tickets to the performing arts.

 

 

Comments

  • geoff says:

    No concerts, no tickets, no tax anyway

    • Lex says:

      nor much difference made to all the places that sell culturally exempt tickets and/or aren’t VAT registered…

  • V. Lind says:

    Great. Reduction on a purchase you can’t actually make…who said this was not an imaginative government?

    Actually, Dowden is off to a decent start with the arts, so it will be interesting to hear what comes next.

  • Mark Pemberton says:

    Actually it’s not of much help for opera and concerts, as these are zero rated under VAT Cultural Exemption

    • Allen says:

      They’re exempt, not zero rated like books and newspapers. The difference is that if you provide exempt services, you cannot reclaim all the VAT you incur on costs. This means that, for the consumer, there is a hidden cost representing irrecoverable VAT.

  • JHiggins says:

    I just hope this all isn’t too late, Mr Dowden.

    This is, of course, welcome along with the £1.57billion support package for the arts, but let’s not forget that Institutions have been crying out for support for weeks.

    In the meantime we have mourned the loss of Nuffield Southampton Theatres and sadly, I feel there may be more to come.

  • Una says:

    Fine if there were something near normal to go to so tax to pay anyhow as there are no tickets to buy. Wagner cut down and done in a car park, or similar? Just not my scene.

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