Ask the Editor


Dear Editor,

My nightclub is opening this summer. We will be using music for dancing (Tariff 18). Do we get a pro-rated fee the first year?

– Connexion Reader


Dear Reader,

In most cases the full annual fee must be paid, regardless of when the licence is first issued during the year. Currently, the only exception is Tariff 15A (Background Music), which specifically allows pro-rating by month in the first year of operation. It states that "if no music is performed in January of the first year of operation, the fee shall be pro-rated on a monthly basis, calculated from the month in which music was first performed, and shall be paid within 30 days of the date on which music was first performed." Note that the minimum annual fee still applies even if the fees are pro-rated.

Although Tariffs 6 (Motion Picture Theatres) and 13B (Passenger Ships) offer pro-rated rates for seasonal establishments, these are only applicable to theatres or ships operating for less than 12 months in each year (i.e., not only the first year.) A few other annual tariffs, like Tariff 18 (Recorded Music For Dancing), have lower-rate categories built into the tariff (eg. "six months of operation or less"). This would apply to a new non-seasonal account that started operating on July 1 or later in its first year. The "more than six months" category would then apply to subsequent years (as long as they continued to use recorded music for dancing for more than six months in the year.)

– Editor