This article has been saved to your Favorites!

DC Expands Performance Venue Property Tax Rebate Eligibility

By Abraham Gross · 2020-08-12 17:37:12 -0400

New legislation in Washington, D.C., has expanded eligibility requirements for its live performing arts venue property tax rebate program, adopted because of venue closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

B. 23-348, which was published in the district register on Friday, loosens the required monthly hours of live performance a venue must meet to qualify for the rebate program to 48 hours a month for five months, rather than for every month of the year. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the measure on July 27.

Under the program, a performance venue with a capacity of less than 300 seats that meets the hourly requirement can claim a rebate in the amount of its pro rata share of property tax paid on a leased real property, up to a maximum of $15,000 annually.

The act took effect immediately and provides the loosened requirement for the 2020 tax year, which began in October 2019.

The measure was introduced on July 6 by Councilmember Brandon Todd, D-Ward 4. 

--Editing by Joyce Laskowski.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.