British Columbia To Increase Film Production Tax Credit

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

26 January 2005

British Columbia has become the third Canadian province in recent weeks to announce improvements to its tax incentive regime in a bid to attract film production firms.

According to British Columbia’s Finance Minister Colin Hansen, changes to the province’s film tax credit regime will be introduced as part of next month’s budget which will raise the tax incentives available for both domestic and foreign film productions.

Under the proposed legislation, the production services tax credit would increase to 18% from 11% for foreign productions, and to 30% from 20% for domestic projects – bringing the province’s film tax credit exactly into line with Ontario after its culture minister, Madeleine Meilleur announced improved tax incentives in December.

Seeking not to be outdone, Quebec’s Finance Minister Yves Seguin also followed Ontario’s lead earlier this month by announcing an increase in the province’s refundable tax credit to 20% from the current 11%.

Welcoming the move by the B.C. authorities, the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of British Columbia stated that the changes will help the province “remain competitive” by potentially attracting some C$200 million in initial investment, whilst providing a more certain outlook for the local movie production industry in 2005.

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