Creative sector tax reliefs: consultation outcome

Background

At Budget 2012 the Government announced that, following consultation on design, it would introduce corporation tax reliefs for the animation, high-end television and video games industries from April 2013, subject to State aid approval from the European Commission.

The Government is introducing reliefs for these creative industries with the combined aim of promoting the production of cultural products and encouraging investment in the UK. A Government consultation on the proposed design of these three new reliefs was released in June 2012.

Legislation

Draft legislation setting out the proposed final design of these reliefs was published for consultation on the HMRC website on 11 December.

Working groups

The Government established industry focussed working groups for the animation, high-end television and video games industries to complement wider consultation on the new tax reliefs and to discuss options and proposals in more detail.

Membership of the three working groups, their Terms of Reference and a summary of group discussions can be found in the relevant sections below.

Animation tax relief working group

Membership details are listed below:

• Emily Davidson, PACT

• Tim Searle, Baby Cow Productions

• Kerry Lock, Aardman Animations

• Ruth Fielding, Lupus Films

• Daniel Isman, Blue-Zoo Animation Studio

• Alex Slade, Nickelodeon UK

• Teresa Rogers, The Walt Disney Company

• Tony Collingwood, Collingwood O’Hare Entertainment

• Michael Carrington, Turner Broadcasting

The meetings of the working group took place on 27 July and 28 August 2012. A summary of issues discussed and Terms of Reference are available below:

High-end television tax relief working group

Membership details are listed below:

• John McVay, PACT

• Helen Flint, Company Pictures

• Jay Roewe, HBO

• Daniel Isaacs, Kudos Productions

• Mary-Ann Hughes, The Walt Disney Company

• Richard Williams, Northern Ireland Screen

• Nigel Stafford Clark, Deep Indigo Productions

• Sheryl Trinh, Impossible Pictures

The meetings of the working group took place on 25 July and 15 October 2012. A summary of issues discussed and Terms of Reference are available below

Video games tax relief working group

Membership details are listed below:

• Jason Kinglsey, Rebellion

• Andy Payne, Mastertronic

• Sarah Fahy, Sony

• Ian Mattingly, Activision Blizzard

• Clare Stobbs, Square Enix Europe

• Martin Servante, Creative Assembly

• Colin Anderson, Denki

• Patrick O’Luanaigh, nDreams

• Riaan Hodgson, Jagex

The meetings of the working group took place on 25 July and 5 September 2012. A summary of issues discussed and Terms of Reference are available below.