A promoter that produces a concert, a festival or a theatre tour in the common tax territory can deduct 20% of its production costs from Corporate Income Tax, with the INAEM certificate and up to €500,000 a year, under article 36.3 of Law 27/2014. If it has no tax payable to set the deduction against, another company can fund the show and claim it instead.
At a music industry talk in Bilbao in October 2026, one idea came up several times: almost nobody knows about the tax incentives for live music. Not many artists, not many management offices. And it is not a small benefit: the law allows you to deduct 20% of the artistic, technical and promotional costs of a concert.
This guide explains what it is, who can claim it, what the requirements are and how a show can be funded with another company's money. Everything comes with the article in front of you.
What is the deduction for live performances?
It is a Corporate Income Tax deduction for the production and staging of live performing arts and music shows. It is governed by article 36.3 of Law 27/2014:
- 20% of the direct artistic, technical and promotional costs of the show.
- A cap of €500,000 of deduction per company per year.
- The base is reduced by any grants received for those expenses, and the deduction plus grants cannot exceed 80% of the expenses.
It is not a grant with a call and a deadline: it is a right of any company that meets the requirements. Ticket sales are not part of the base: what counts is what it costs to produce the show.
Who can claim it?
The company that produces the show and bears its risk, and that pays Corporate Income Tax:
- Promoters and production companies for concerts, tours, festivals, theatre, dance or circus.
- Venues that produce their own programming at their own risk (not when they only rent out or lend the space).
- Self-producing artists through their own company, for concerts the company produces at its own risk (it hires the venue and the technical crew and keeps the box office). If a promoter pays a fixed fee, the producer of that date is the promoter.
If you are self-employed, the Personal Income Tax Law (art. 68.2.a) lets you apply the Corporate Income Tax incentives with the same percentages and limits. The funder route (art. 39.7) is designed for companies: check before you count on it.
The requirements
- 1INAEM certificate. The National Institute of Performing Arts and Music certifies that the show qualifies. Without the certificate there is no deduction.
- 2Reinvest 50%. At least half of the profits earned from these activities in the tax year must go towards continuing to produce live performances, in that year or the following four.
- 3Justify the costs. They must be direct (artistic, technical and promotional) and backed by invoices.
The text of article 36.3 sets the reinvestment period: from the start of the tax year in which the profits are earned until four years after it closes. The Tax Agency summarises it the same way on its page on activity-related deductions: 20%, a cap of €500,000 per taxpayer, a base reduced by grants, and the INAEM certificate.
How do you apply for the INAEM certificate?
The procedure is set out in Order ECD/2836/2015 of 18 December, published in BOE no. 312 of 30 December 2015. It is requested by the company that pays Corporate Income Tax and wants to claim the deduction, and it is done electronically: the application goes through the electronic register of the Secretariat of State for Culture, and notifications are also electronic.
The order allows three ways of showing that the company incurred production or staging costs for live music, dance, theatre or circus shows during the year, and they can be combined:
| Route | What you provide | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| INAEM databases | Aid or grants received from INAEM, or programming in the PLATEA Programme, with performances and dates | Companies and producers already working with INAEM |
| Certificate from an association | Certificate from a sector association, following the model in annex 2 | Members of associations in the State Council for Performing Arts and Music, or associations subsidised by INAEM |
| Own documentation | Title of the production, festival or venue, number of performances, dates, contracts or payment of copyright royalties, and promotional material | Live music promoters with no prior relationship with INAEM |
The decision is made by the General Sub-Directorate for Theatre and Circus or the one for Music and Dance, depending on the discipline. INAEM has three months to reply; if it doesn't, the application is deemed approved through positive silence. A refusal can be challenged by an administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) to the INAEM Directorate-General within one month. The order sets no filing deadline, but the certificate must exist for you to claim the deduction, and in third-party funding it marks the last moment to contribute the money (see below).
Our own reading: for a concert promoter, the third route is the usual one, and its main evidence is the contracts with artists and venues and the payment of copyright royalties. If you already handle live music with SGAE and AGEDI-AIE, those supporting documents already exist.
An example with numbers
A concert with €40,000 of artistic costs, €15,000 of technical costs and €5,000 of promotion, with no grants:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Deduction base | €60,000 |
| Deduction (20%) | €12,000 |
This is an example to understand the arithmetic, not a real case. The figure for each show depends on its costs, the certificate and the company's tax position.
With grants: the 80% limit
Article 36.3 deducts from the base any grants received for those expenses, and the deduction plus grants cannot exceed «el 80 por ciento de dichos gastos» (80 per cent of those expenses). With the same €60,000 of costs, 80% is €48,000:
| Grant received | Base (60,000 − grant) | Deduction (20%) | Deduction + grant | Exceeds €48,000? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €0 | €60,000 | €12,000 | €12,000 | No |
| €20,000 | €40,000 | €8,000 | €28,000 | No |
| €45,000 | €15,000 | €3,000 | €48,000 | Right at the limit |
| €50,000 | €10,000 | €2,000 | €52,000 | Yes: the deduction falls to €0 |
Our own calculation based on article 36.3. In the last row, the grant (€50,000) on its own already exceeds 80% of the expenses, so there is no room left to deduct anything. A large public grant does not add to the deduction: it partly replaces it.
How much can I claim in a year?
Generating the deduction is not the same as claiming all of it that year. Article 39.1 of Law 27/2014 caps these deductions combined at 25% of the gross tax liability, after deducting double taxation relief and tax rebates. The cap rises to 50% when the deductions under articles 35 and 36 for the year's own expenses exceed 10% of that liability. Anything that doesn't fit can be applied in the periods ending «en los 15 años inmediatos y sucesivos» (in the 15 immediate and successive years).
With the €12,000 from the example and an adjusted gross tax liability of €20,000:
- €12,000 is more than 10% of €20,000 (€2,000), so the 50% cap applies.
- This year you can apply a maximum of €10,000 (50% of €20,000).
- The remaining €2,000 carries over to later years, with 15 years' margin.
Our own calculation based on article 39.1, with figures invented for the example. If the liability were €4,000, this year's maximum would be €2,000 and €10,000 would remain pending. That is the scenario in which it makes sense to look for a funder.
What if my company doesn't pay enough tax?
That is common in live music: tight margins and little Corporate Income Tax payable to deduct against. That is what article 39.7 of Law 27/2014 is for: another company can fund the costs of the show and claim the deduction itself, up to 1.2 times what it contributes.
The rules:
- The funder cannot keep any rights over the show (art. 39.7): everything remains with the producer. As a precaution, no tickets, sponsorship or visibility in return either.
- A funding contract and a notification to the tax authority are required, signed by the producer and the funder, before the end of the tax year in which the funder claims the deduction.
- The two companies cannot be related.
- What the funder claims, the producer can no longer claim.
- The money goes directly from the funder to the producer, and must be contributed before the INAEM certificate is obtained.
For the promoter, that means funding part of the production before the concert. For the funder, it means claiming a deduction with requirements that, if not met, can be lost.
Two clarifications from the text of article 39.7. Contributions can be made before or after the producer incurs the expense, but always before the certificate under article 36.3.a is obtained. And the funder's deduction also counts towards the 25% cap on tax liability in paragraph 1: the funder needs enough tax payable of its own to absorb it.
With numbers from the article itself: if the funder contributes €10,000, the deduction it can claim does not exceed €12,000 (10,000 × 1.20). Those €12,000 come out of the deduction the producer would have generated, which the producer can no longer claim. The Tax Agency deals with specific cases of this arrangement in its FAQs, such as INFORMA 147861 on regional territories.
Option B: a documentary about the festival or the tour
If, besides the concert, you make a documentary (feature or short) or a documentary series for television about the festival or the tour, whoever produces it can deduct 30% of the first million of the base and 25% of the rest (article 36.1 of Law 27/2014). It can also be assigned to a funder under article 39.7.
- It must be a work, not a recording: its own script, direction, editing and post-production. A recording of the concert, streaming or an aftermovie don't qualify; the Film Law excludes «las meras reproducciones de acontecimientos o representaciones» (mere reproductions of events or performances).
- ICAA certificates of nationality and cultural character, which are requested once production is finished. A documentary about music usually meets the cultural criterion.
- It is produced by an audiovisual production company or by your own company, if it takes the initiative and responsibility for the work.
- At least 50% of the base spent in Spain and a copy to the Film Library (Filmoteca). With grants, the deduction cannot exceed 75% of the cost for documentaries.
- Separate bases: a budget in two columns, and no expense in both. If there is a funder, they contribute before production ends.
Basque Country and Navarre: different rules
Regional rules apply there, with different percentages and caps:
- Álava (Norma Foral 9/2024) and Gipuzkoa (Norma Foral 2/2024): 30% (40% in Basque; in Álava, in Basque and with dialogue), with a cap of €1,000,000 and their own funder arrangement. Bizkaia has a similar scheme.
- Navarre (Ley Foral 26/2016, art. 65 ter): 30% (40% for an international tour), with a cap of €500,000, but without the funder arrangement for live performances.
And they cannot be mixed: according to the Tax Agency (INFORMA 147861), if the producer generates the regional deduction, a funder in the common territory cannot claim the article 39.7 one.
What if you organise as an association or a foundation?
The article 36.3 deduction belongs to Corporate Income Tax and is generated by whoever produces for profit and at their own risk. Many small festivals and cultural programmes are organised by an association or a foundation. For them, the tax-funding route is different: the Patronage Law 49/2002, reformed by Royal Decree-Law 6/2023 with effect from 1 January 2024.
It only applies if the organisation is a beneficiary under article 16: non-profit organisations under the tax regime of Title II of the law, public administrations and a few other bodies. A cultural association that has not opted into that regime does not give entitlement to these deductions.
| Who contributes | Incentive | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Individual (Personal Income Tax) | 80% of the first €250; 40% of the rest, 45% if they give to the same organisation two years running with an equal or higher amount | Art. 19 |
| Company (Corporate Income Tax) | 40% of the donation; 50% if repeated on the same terms. Maximum base: 15% of taxable income; the excess carries over to the following 10 years | Art. 20 |
| Company with a collaboration agreement | The contribution is a deductible expense, and publicising its participation «no constituye una prestación de servicios» (does not constitute a provision of services) | Art. 25 |
Our own calculation based on articles 19 and 20: a person who donates €300 to a festival's foundation deducts €200 for the first €250 and €20 for the remaining €50, €220 in total. A company that donates €10,000 deducts €4,000, provided that the €10,000 does not exceed 15% of its taxable income.
The difference from commercial sponsorship matters. Article 25 says that publicity within the agreement is not a provision of services; our own reading: outside the agreement, visibility in exchange for money is treated as a service and invoiced as such. The agreement only exists with a beneficiary organisation and is incompatible with the law's other incentives. If you are looking for brands for your event, the options are in our guide to finding event sponsors. And if you organise as an association, also check what insurance a cultural association needs.
Common mistakes
- Counting the box office as the base. The base is direct artistic, technical and promotional costs. What you take from tickets is taxed in its own right, as we explain in the guide to tax on ticket sales.
- Forgetting to deduct grants. Public aid for the same expenses reduces the base and triggers the 80% limit.
- Assuming it is all applied in the year. The 25% or 50% cap on tax liability can leave part of the deduction pending for years.
- Receiving the funder's contribution late. If the money arrives after the INAEM certificate, the funder cannot claim the deduction.
- Giving the funder anything in return. Article 39.7 prohibits them from acquiring rights over the show. If you want visibility for a brand, that is sponsorship, not article 39.7 funding.
- Mixing territories. A producer that generates the regional deduction cannot assign the article 39.7 one to a funder in the common territory.
Before you count on it: three tips
- 1Do the numbers like a business. Budget, fee and break-even against expected sales. The deduction is one part of the funding, alongside the box office, sponsorship and advances, not the whole solution.
- 2Don't agree a fee that only works with the incentive. If selling out the venue doesn't cover the cost, the show depends on a deduction you don't have yet.
- 3Organise costs from day one. Every artistic, technical and promotional invoice, kept separate and filed. That is what gets justified later.
Our recommendation
For us, the best ticketing platform for promoters is Futura Tickets (our choice). The deduction is yours by law, whether or not you work with us. What we offer promoters who use Futura is the service of managing it and finding someone to fund it: sales, capacity and event promotion are already organised on the platform, and a tax professional reviews the costs and prepares the documentation.
Work out how much you are entitled to at Fund your event. And if you want it all in one document, download the PDF guide.
*Guidance only, not tax advice. Our service is only for companies that pay tax in the common territory.*
Sources
- Law 27/2014, on Corporate Income Tax, articles 36.3 and 39.7 (BOE, consolidated text)
- Tax Agency, INFORMA 147861 (February 2025)
- Norma Foral 9/2024 of Álava (BOTHA no. 64, 7 Jun 2024)
- Norma Foral 2/2024 of Gipuzkoa (BOPV no. 133, 8 Jul 2024)
- Ley Foral 26/2016 of Navarre, on Corporate Income Tax (BOE, consolidated text)
- Law 55/2007 on Cinema, articles 4 and 5 (BOE, consolidated text)
- Order CUD/582/2020, article 12.3 (BOE, consolidated text)
- Law 35/2006 on Personal Income Tax, article 68.2.a (BOE, consolidated text)
- Order ECD/2836/2015 of 18 December, INAEM certificate procedure (BOE no. 312, 30 Dec 2015)
- Law 49/2002, on the tax regime for non-profit organisations and tax incentives for patronage, articles 16, 19, 20 and 25 (BOE, consolidated text)
- Tax Agency: deductions to encourage certain activities (film productions and live performances) (electronic office, accessed 2 Nov 2026)