Creative Tax Relief

What are Creative Tax Reliefs?

Creative tax reliefs are a group of 8 corporation tax reliefs that were devised by the UK government to help and support the UK creative industries to grow.  The reliefs are as follows:

• Film Tax Relief
• High-end Television Tax Relief
• Children’s Television Tax Relief
• Animation Tax Relief
• Video games Tax Relief
• Theatre Tax Relief
• Orchestra Tax Relief
• Museum and Gallery Exhibition Tax Relief

Broadly speaking, these creative tax reliefs enables your company to increase its allowable expenditure by way of an enhanced deduction which can reduce the amount of Corporation Tax your company has to pay.

If your company makes a loss as a result of the claim, you may be able to surrender the loss and convert some or all of it into a payable tax credit.

Who Can Claim Creative Tax Reliefs?

Your company may be able to claim a creative tax relief it is liable to Corporation Tax and is directly involved in the production and development of:

• films
• high-end television
• children’s television
• animation television
• video games
• theatrical productions
• orchestral concerts
• museum or gallery exhibitions
• involved with decision-making

Your company must directly negotiate, contract, and pay for rights, goods, and services in relation to the relevant project.

For films, programmes, and games your company must have responsibility throughout development, from the start of pre-production until completion.

For theatrical productions, orchestral concerts, or exhibitions, the company must be responsible for producing, running, and closing the production.

What is the Cultural Test?

For films, animation, and television programmes or video games to qualify they must be certified as British. This means they must pass a ‘cultural test’ or qualify through an internationally agreed co-production treaty.

The British Film Institute (BFI) deals with certification and qualification on behalf of the government in this regard.

The cultural test is a points-based test. Under this test, the film, animation, programme or game project needs to achieve 16 points out of a possible 31 points to pass. The test is comprised of 4 parts

• Cultural content (up to 16 points)
• Cultural contribution (up to 4 points)
• Cultural hubs (up to 3 points)
• Cultural practitioners (up to 8 points)

How can Hawsons help?

At Hawsons our team of experts can take care of your creative tax relief claim for you so you do not have to worry about your claim.

Our team will complete the claim process for you to include the preparation and the final submission of your claim. We will also use our expert knowledge to investigate whether there are any other tax reliefs that could apply to supplement your claim.

If you would like to find out if your business is eligible for a creative tax relief claim please book your free initial meeting here.