The amount of film tax relief (FTR) paid out in the UK rose by 6% year-on-year in the financial year ending March 31 2023, although it did not return to pre-pandemic levels, according to statistics released today (August 29) by the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority, HMRC. There were 895 FTR claims in the 2022-23 fiscal year (April 2022-23), totaling PS553m. This is an increase of PS520m from the previous year. The number of claims increased steadily each year prior to the Covid-19 impact on the 2020-2021 financial period.
In 2019-20, 950 claims were made, with PS627m of relief paid.
According to HMRC, the number of claims has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, in part due to the recent increase in the number of films produced for streaming services, which usually claim high-end TV (HETV) relief rather than FTR.
Of all claims made in 2022-2023, 63% were for PS100,000 or less. The proportion (65%) is the same as last year. Despite only 3% of claims in 2022-2023 being for over PS5m, these accounted for 65% of the total amount paid.
Films in production in the UK across 2022-23 included Greta Gerwig’s
Barbie and Sam Taylor Johnson’s Back To Black.Since FTR was introduced in 2007, companies have made claims for 5,230 films and PS5.9bn has been paid out.
HMRC’s 2022-23 statistics relate to the claims for film and TV at a 25% rate of relief, which has since been reformed. In early 2024 the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit was introduced, which equates a small increase in relief to around 25.5%.
HETV
There were 615 claims made for HETV relief in the 2022-2023 financial year, totalling PS1.1bn of relief paid out. This represents a 13% increase from the previous financial year. This is due to both an increase in high budget TV productions and an increase in feature length films created for streaming services that claim HETV rather than FTR. In this period, high-end TV productions shot in the UK included the sixth season (
) of
The Crown and season two (
) of The Lord Of The Rings : The Rings Of Power. The high-value claims (over PS2m), accounted for over three-quarters the total amount paid. The total amount of relief paid for the 2022-2023 fiscal year was PS2.2bn. This includes film, high end TV, animation, children’s TV, videogames, theatre, orchestra, museums and galleries exhibition tax relief. HMRC says that the increase in tax relief for HETV and theatre was the main reason behind the increase.
