A children's comedy and two murder mysteries are the first UK projects to qualify for new television production tax breaks first announced in Budget 2013.
The British Film Institute's (BFI) Certification Unit has issued certificates on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), confirming that projects qualify as British under either the appropriate cultural test or as an official television co-production.
Those that meet the requirements can claim an additional deduction when computing their taxable profits, and where that additional deduction results in a loss, can exchange those losses for a payable tax credit. The tax relief is available on production spend incurred after 1 April 2013.
So far the BFI has been taking draft applications while the legislation process was pending and has issued over 30 provisional approval letters to projects which required assurance they would qualify as British or needed the letter for financing purposes.
Among the first projects to quality for the relief are two CBeebies animation series for children, and three high-end television programmes for BBC One, including the six-part drama By Any Means; the three part series Death Comes to Pemberley; and the mystery drama Remember Me.
Alex Jones, production executive at Red Planet Pictures, which made By Any Means, said: 'The tax credits are an important step towards helping ambitious independent production companies like Red Planet close the finance on projects here in Britain without having to leave the country to save money.'
HMRC is currently finalising guidance for the new reliefs in consultation with industry working groups which are due to be published on its website shortly. The HMRC Manchester team who process the film tax reliefs have expanded to become the Manchester Creative Sector Unit and are expected to handle several dozen applications over the coming months.
Creative Industries Minister, Ed Vaizey said: 'I'm delighted that the first certificates have been issued for culturally British high-end television and animation programmes. This is another landmark in the government's continued commitment to supporting the creative industries, a sector that continues to make an important contribution to economic growth and help bolster our position in the global race.'
