Source: Adobestock composite
Shooting in the UK
The UK's Labour government has given the go-ahead to the eagerly anticipated Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC), which was confirmed by chancellor Rachel Reeves and culture secretary Lisa Nandy on the eve of the BFI London Film Festival today (October 9).
The BFI certification unit will begin accepting applications from October 30, the date on which the IFTC will now take effect after the formal 'statutory instruments' are laid by the government.
The BFI's deputy chief executive Harriet Finney has confirmed the BFI has hired five additional staff to help with demand. The IFTC is a credit that can be claimed by films with a production budget of up to PS15m. It is officially called the enhanced audiovisual expense credit for low-budget movies. They can now benefit from an enhanced credit of 53%, which equates to an actual relief of just under 40%, on up to 80% of qualifying expenditure.
Productions must meet the terms of the BFI's existing cultural test and have a UK writer or director, or be certified as an official UK co-production.
Those productions with a total core expenditure of up to PS23.5m can also qualify for the IFTC; however, they can only claim the IFTC up to a maximum of 80% of PS15m of the UK qualifying spend. Policymakers have identified PS23.5m, as the threshold at which it is more advantageous to claim AVEC standard rates on a film’s total core expenditure.
The standard AVEC is capped at 80% core expenditure, with a headline credit of 34%. The actual relief is 25,5%. The IFTC was announced in March as part of the spring budget of the previous Conservative government. It was ratified in May after years of lobbying from the producer trade body Pact and the BFI. This was due to rising costs and a challenging environment for independent producers in the UK.
Since March's budget, a general election was called in July and a new Labour Government came into power. This delayed ratification of IFTC.
