Entertainment and Media Tax Clip: Ontario proposes to make enhanced film and television tax credits permanent (March 5, 2009)

Ontario proposes to make permanent:

• The 35% enhanced Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit rate
• The 25% enhanced Ontario Production Services Tax Credit rate

Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit

The Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit is available to Ontario-based Canadian-controlled corporations that produce film and television productions in Ontario. It is a refundable tax credit that equals 35% of qualified Ontario labour. Qualifying corporations may also be eligible for the:

• Regional tax credit: 10% of qualified Ontario labour, if principal photography is outside the Greater Toronto Area
• Enhancement for first-time producers: 5% of the first $240,000 of qualified Ontario labour

Ontario proposes to make the 35% rate permanent. (For productions with qualifying labour expenditures incurred after 2009, the rate was to have dropped to 20%, while the enhancement for first-time producers rate was to have increased from 5% to 10%.)

Ontario Production Services Tax Credit

The Ontario Production Services Tax Credit provides domestic and foreign-based production companies that produce film and television productions in Ontario a refundable tax credit equal to 25% of qualified Ontario labour.

Ontario proposes to make the 25% rate permanent. (It was to have dropped to 11% for productions with qualifying labour expenditures incurred after 2009.)

PricewaterhouseCoopers Comments

Film and video producers will welcome these changes. They are intended to help Ontario continue to attract film and television productions.

For more film, video and digital media incentives, see PricewaterhouseCooper's The Big Table of Film and Video Incentives and Big Table of Digital Media and Animation Incentives, which will be updated for recent enhancements shortly.