Practical tips to maximise your Museums & Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief claim

The extension to the sunset clause of the Museums & Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR) is great news, says Associate Supplier, Mo Suleman. But there are a few simple ways you can maximise your claim.

AIM, along with others in the sector, was successful in getting the sunset clause of MGETR extended for another two years. This is fantastic news and a great opportunity for organisations to claim cash back, and prove the necessity of this tax relief to the sector.

Having been involved with MGETR since its inception and made claims to HMRC during my time at Derby Museums, I’ve picked up a few practical tips that can help maximise your claim, but also make the process easier by ensuring the information you need is readily available.

• Make a list of all the exhibitions that you have or have planned to have. Where there is a major capital project, ensure you identify all the gallery/exhibition spaces that are created. This is important as there is a limit to how much relief is available per exhibition, so the more you can break down the better.

• Have a central point where this list of exhibitions can be saved. I would create a separate spreadsheet for each year, and then have a tab for each exhibition, populated with all the relevant information like Dates, Location, Touring or Non-Touring. Each tab should have a heading for the type of expenditure it is e.g., staff costs, installation, transport, digital, loan costs, venue costs, insurance, admin etc.

• When a meeting takes place to discuss exhibitions or you incur a cost specific to an exhibition, make a note of it in the spreadsheet. This means that costs are easily identified by exhibition and any missing costs can be plugged into the spreadsheet.

• Encourage staff to record the time spent on each exhibition on a weekly basis. This should include thinking time, research time, discussions, brainstorming etc. A lot of work takes place which is often overlooked and not captured. Doing this weekly ensures it’s fresh in the memory to capture as much time as possible.

If you need any help with MGETR, I run a consultancy that does all the detailed work for you, putting the numbers together so that you don’t have to. Plus I offer a unique no-win-no-fee basis, so you only remunerate me if I am successful in getting you cash back.

Mo Suleman, FFCA

Email Akhtar_suleman@hotmail.com or phone 07725 070 253.