Does the sun really shine in Watford? According to the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, it does! As the measures regarding funding boosts to the UK film and TV industry were announced in this year’s Autumn Statement, special mention was made of our local film studios as it of course where much of the biggest film of the year was filmed, no, not Oppenheimer, but the sunny, summer hit, Barbie.
In keeping with Barbie’s positivity, there was much to be celebrated in the government’s funding announcements around providing a boost to the industry through audio-visual tax reliefs, which will be reformed to above-the-line expenditure credits, similar to the Research and Development Expenditure Credit. Essentially, the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) will replace the:
- Film Tax Relief
- High-End TV Tax Relief
- Animation Tax Relief
- Children’s TV Tax Relief
As with other measures, these be available to claim from 1 January 2024, are only available to companies, with a cut off point of 1 April 2025 for new productions and a final cut off point of 1 April 2027 when the current tax reliefs will end. In addition, the video games industry was not forgotten with the Video Games Expenditure Credit which will replace the Video Games Tax Relief.
Further to these measures, the government has also announced a call for evidence which will inform the design of additional tax relief for expenditure on visual effects to further bolster one of the UK’s most important industries.
Contact Us
Please don’t hesitate to contact me or a member of my team if you have any questions regarding these tax reliefs or indeed, any of the measures announced in the Autumn Statement.
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