"Stat's Entertainment!" : Creative Industry Tax Relief

HMRC released the latest statistics on the number of productions made in the UK claiming tax relief and the amounts of UK and total expenditure for Film, High-end TV (“HETV”), Animation, Video Games, Children’s TV and Theatre tax relief for the years up to 2016-17.

Film Tax Relief

• There were 175 films completed in the UK in 2016-17 which claimed FTR, with UK expenditure reaching the £1b mark. Of this, £415m of tax relief was paid back to production companies.

HETV Tax Relief

• There were 45 TV programmes completed in the UK in 2016-17 which claimed HTR, with expenditure reaching the £480m mark. Of this, £163m of tax relief was paid back to production companies.

Animation Tax Relief

• There were 20 animations completed in the UK in 2016-17 which claimed ATR, with expenditure reaching the £38m mark. Of this, £10m of tax relief was paid back to production companies.

Video Games Tax Relief

• There were 90 video games completed in the UK in 2016-17 which claimed VGTR, with expenditure reaching the £163m mark. Of this, £73m of tax relief was paid back to production companies.

Theatre Tax Relief

• There were 1,570 productions completed in the UK in 2016-17 (490 touring and 1,080 non-touring) of which £46m of tax relief was paid back to production companies.

These reliefs are part of a wide range of tax reliefs available to the creative industries.

The aim of these tax reliefs is to promote and encourage the sustainable production of culturally British productions in the UK. It is aimed at production companies that incur expenses in the UK on the production of at least a certain percentage (dependant on which creative sector you fall in).

To find out more, why not speak to one of our Creative Media Tax specialists in house to see how your production could benefit from these valuable reliefs.