Any promoter selling tickets in France pays 3.5% of their box office into a levy created to fund their own sector. In 2025 that levy raised over €64 million, and €11 million of it never came back: it stayed in the general state budget, caught by the legal cap that limits it.
What happened
The taxe sur les spectacles de musiques actuelles et de variétés — the TSV — stands at 3.5%. For paid shows it taxes "les prix payés au titre de l'admission des spectateurs", in other words box-office revenue net of tax; for free performances, the price paid for the right to stage the show. It's paid by any organiser holding the billetterie, or by the seller for free events, whether professional or not. The legal basis sits in articles L 452-14 to L 452-27 of the code des impositions sur les biens et services.
That levy funds the Centre national de la musique (CNM) and is subject to a cap. Whatever exceeds it goes to the general state budget. This is the écrêtement. The French Senate's report from July 2026 puts a figure on it: "Le produit de la TSV a presque doublé depuis 2022 (33 M€ à plus de 64 M€ en 2025), entraînant un écrêtement de 11 M€ au profit du budget général de l'État en 2025."
The document is rapport d'information No. 878 (2025-2026) from the culture committee, signed by senators Annick Billon and Béatrice Gosselin. Its number-one recommendation is to end the cap on both the TSV and the levy on music streaming. Meanwhile, the state subsidy to the CNM for its public-service remit was cut by €6.5 million in the 2026 budget, down to €19.5 million.
Why it matters
The money comes out of the box office and doesn't all come back. Of the CNM's €101.35 million in direct aid for 2026, €46.8 million corresponds solely to the droit de tirage tied to the TSV: the drawing right through which each company recovers part of what it paid in via the levy, in the form of grants. The CNM has already lowered this from 65% to 60% of the TSV's revenue, to put more weight behind selective aid — the kind that isn't automatic. The report argues that the cap "contredit frontalement la logique de mutualisation" that underpinned the creation of these levies in the first place.
The backdrop: more than one festival in two closed 2025 in deficit. In October 2025, Banque des Territoires already reported that Ekhoscènes, the SMA, France Festivals, Scène ensemble and the LUX network were jointly calling for the déplafonnement of the levy. And there's an asymmetry built into the system itself: classical and contemporary music sits within the CNM's remit but remains exempt from the box-office levy.
What to do with this
- Check the threshold before the rate. If the levy accrued in the calendar year for a given debtor doesn't reach €80, it isn't due.
- The filing has a deadline. At the latest, the last day of the third month following the performance. Registering to sell tickets in France — récépissé, VAT, CNM — follows a separate path.
- A free concert doesn't let you off the hook. For free shows, the liable party is the seller, whether professional or not.
- Don't assume the déplafonnement is a done deal. It's the Senate's top recommendation, not a decision already taken. The same report calls for extending the CNM's three tax credits in the 2027 budget, something the body itself has already requested.