Finance (New Duties) Act, 1916

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Duty on payments for admission to entertainments.

1.—(1) There shall, as from the fifteenth day of May, nineteen hundred and sixteen, be charged, levied and paid on all payments for admission to any entertainment as defined by this Act as Excise duty (in this Act referred to as “entertainments duty”) at the following rate (namely):—

Where the payment, excluding the amount of the duty,—

(2) No person shall be admitted for payment to any entertainment where the payment is subject to entertainments duty except—

(a) with a ticket stampd with a stamp (not before used) denoting that the proper entertainments duty has been paid; or

(b) in special cases with the approval of the Commissioners, through a barrier which, or by means of a mechanical contrivance which, automatically registeres the number of persons admitted,

unless the proprietor of the entertainment has made arrangements approved by the Commissioners for funishing returns of the payments for admission to the entertainment and has given security up to an amount and in a manner approved by the Commissioners for the payment of duty.

If any person is admitted for payment to any place of entertainment and the provisions of this section are not complied with, the person admitted and the proprietor of the entertainment to which he is admitted shall be liable in respect of each offence to an excise penalty, in the case of the person admitted of five pounds, and in the case of the proprietor of fifty pounds, and the proprietor shall in addition be liable to pay any duty which should have been paid.

(3) Entertainments duty shall be charged in respect of each person admitted for payment, and, in the case of admission by stamped ticket, shall be paid by means of the stamp on the ticket, and, in the case of admission otherwise than by stamped ticket, shall be calcualted and paid on the number of admissions.

Entertainments duty, in the case of admission otherwise than by stamped ticket, shall be recoverable from the proprietor, and may, if the amount of duty is less than fifty pounds, without prejudice to any other means of recovery, be recovered by the Commissioners summarily as a civil debt.

(4) Where the payment for admission to an entertainment is made by means of a lump sum paid as a subscription or contribution to any club, association, or society, or for a season ticket or for the right of admission to a series of entertainments or to any entertainment during a certain period of time, the entertainments duty shall be paid on the amount of the lump sum, but where the Commissioners are of opinion that the payment of a lump sum or any payment for a ticket represents payment for other privileges, rights or purposes besides the admission to an entertainment, or covers admission to an entertainment during any period for which the duty has not been in operation, the duty shall be charged on such an amount as appears to the Commissioners to represent the right of admission to entertainments in respect of which entertainments duty is payable.

(5) Entertainments duty shall not be charged on payments for admission to any entertainment where the Commissioners are satisfied—

(a) that the whole of the takings thereof are devoted to philanthropic or charitable purposes without any charge on the takings for any expenses of the entertainment; or

(b) that the entertainment is of a wholly educational character (any question on that point to be determined in case of difference by the Board of Education); or

(c) that the entertainment is intended only for the amusement of children, and that the charge is not more than one penny for each person; or

(d) that the entertainment is provided for partly edcational or partly scientific purposes by a society, institution, or committee not conducted or established for profit, or is provided by any such society or institution, which has been founded with the object of reviving national pastimes, in furtherance of that object.

Where the Commissioners are satisfied that the whole of the net proceeds of an entertainment are devoted to philanthropic or charitable purposes, and that the whole of the expenses of the entertainment do not exceed twenty per cent. of the receipts, they shall repay to the proprietor the amount of the entertainments duty paid in respect of the entertainment.

In this subsection the Scotch Education Department, as respects entertainments in Scotland, and the Lord Lieutenant, as respects entertainments in Ireland, shall be substituted for the Board of Education.

(6) For the purpose of the provisions of this Act relating to entertainments duty—

The expression “entertainment” includes any exhibition, performance, amusement, game or sport to which persons are admitted for payment; and the expression “admission to an entertainment” includes admission to any place in which the entertainment is held;

The expression “admission” means admission as a spectator or one of an audience, and the expression “payment on admission” includes any payment made by a person who, having been admitted to one part of a place of entertainment, is subsequently admitted to another part thereof for admission to which a payment involving duty or more duty is requried;

The expression “proprietor” in relation to any entertainment includes any person responsible for the management thereof.