Irish Parliamentary Committee In Favour Of Retaining Film Tax Breaks
by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London
14 November 2003

An Irish parliamentary committee has recommended that tax breaks for the Irish film industry should remain in place until 2007, a development welcomed by industry umbrella group, Screen Producers Ireland.

After conducting public hearings into the section 481 tax incentives, Sean Fleming, chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance concluded that the tax measures had been "instrumental in the development of a vibrant film industry in this country".

Mr Fleming observed that the tax breaks actually added to the value of the Irish economy. "The annual cost to tax payers is 25 million euros (£17 million), however the existence of the relief led to the expenditure of approximately 107 million euros (£74 million) per annum in the film industry in Ireland.”

However, as part of the recommendations, the committee has asked the Irish Revenue Commission to recoup some 23.3 million euros in revenue lost as a result of alleged abuses of the tax breaks.

A comprehensive report in our tax shelters series describing tax-effective regimes for film production in a number of key countries is available in the Tax News Reports Shop at http://www.tax-news.com/reportshop