The U.K. government formally opened its consultation on a proposed tax break program for high-end TV productions, animation projects and video games.
The Treasury Secretary George Osborne said Monday that industry representatives and others can comment on the proposal, first outlined in the budget earlier this year, until September. The incentives, modeled after a long-standing 25 percent tax break for feature films and scheduled to go into effect in April 2013, would address concerns about runaway production.
The treasury dept. announced on its website, “The U.K. is a world leader at producing animated programs, high-end television and video games and the government is keen to provide the necessary support to maintain this status. Without government support for these industries, there is a risk that underinvestment will lead to valuable productions moving overseas or not being made at all.”
Osborne also promised that that the incentives offering tax breaks of 25 percent will provide “tax reliefs that will be among the most generous available anywhere.”
To be eligible for the tax breaks, productions must meet a certain “cultural” test and at least 25 percent of the core expenditures incurred by the production company must be for “goods or services that are used or consumed in the U.K.,” the Treasury Secretary said.
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