Portugal to slash concert VAT to 6%

The Portuguese parliament has approved a new state budget that cuts the value-added tax (VAT) on tickets for live shows from 13% to 6%.

The Orçamento Geral do Estado, or General State Budget, for 2019, which was approved by Portugal’s Assembly of the Republic yesterday (29 November), provides for a reduction in the VAT paid by promoters to 6% in the Portuguese mainland, 5% in Madeira and 4% in the Azores.

Promoters’ association APEFE (Associação de Promotores de Espetáculos, Festivais e Eventos, Association of Promoters of Shows, Festivals and Events) says in a statement the VAT cut is not only a victory for APEFE, but for the entire cultural sector “and all Portuguese”.

The reduction has also been welcomed by APEFE’s counterpart in Spain, APM, whose president Albert Salmerón says Portuguese lawmakers have recognised culture as an “engine of economic growth and social progress.”

In Spain, cultural VAT was cut to 10% from a sky-high 21% in June last year, while Italy followed suit in November.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.