British Production London Band Scene 1966

Tax boost for film production in the UK

Wednesday 7 March 2001 - LONDON. The British Government has today announced as part of its annual Budget that it will extend the Section 48 tax relief for film production in the UK for a further three years.

Today’s announcement was the result of extensive discussions between the FILM COUNCIL, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Treasury over the past six months. The relief will now be continued until April 2005.

The continuation of the Section 48 relief introduced by the Government in 1997 has delivered real benefit to the investment community translating into production finance for British films.

It is estimated that in 1999/2000 approximately ?500 million ($733.5 million) of film production was generated through the application of Section 48 reliefs (100% first year write-off for films budgeted below ?15 million/$22 million).

Tax incentives are a key component of the FILM COUNCIL’s strategy to help develop a sustainable UK film industry.

Section 48 complements the long-standing Section 42 relief that can be used for “British-qualifying” films with budgets over ?15 million ($22 million). This tax relief has been instrumental in attracting international films to be made in the UK sharply increasing inward investment into the UK production sector over the last eight years from ?58 million ($85 million) in 1992 to ?539 million ($790 million) in 2000. The creation of high quality jobs across the film production sector has provided a consistent flow of work for film crews, talent, studios, facilities and related services as well as generating indirect economic activity.