[1]Via the BC Government [1]: The Film and Television Tax Credit Program [2] (FTTC) provides refundable tax credits to eligible corporations that produce eligible film or video productions in British Columbia. The credits are for domestic productions with qualifying levels of Canadian content.
The program consists of five distinct credits:
- the basic film and television tax credit
- the regional tax credit
- the distant location regional tax credit
- the film training tax credit
- the digital animation or visual effects tax credit
As announced on February 21, 2012, Budget 2012 has proposed the following changes to the Film and Television Tax Credit Program:
- Proposed removal of the copyright grind on interprovincial co-productions to allow eligible interprovincial co-productions to claim the full basic tax credit. Before this change, interprovincial co-productions were subject to a reduction in the credit when corporations owned less than 100% of the copyright.
- Proposed amendment of the copyright ownership requirements for interprovincial co-productions.
- Clarification that cutscene productions are excluded from British Columbia’s film tax credits.
For more information on the FTTC, please see bulletins CIT 009 [3], British Columbia Film and Television Tax Credit, CIT 011 [4], British Columbia Digital Animation or Visual Effects Tax Credit and the frequently asked questions [5] page.
The credit is fully refundable, but must first be applied against total income tax payable. There are no carry-back or carry-forward provisions.
For information about the federal tax credit, please see the Canada Revenue Agency [6] website.
Production corporations that do not meet the FTTC eligibility requirements may qualify for the Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) Program [7].
To claim the credit, complete form T1196 [8], British Columbia Film and Television Tax Credit, attach the eligibility certificate issued by British Columbia Film [9] and file them along with your T2 Corporation Income Tax Return.
If the production is completed during the tax year, a completion certificate from British Columbia Film should also be attached when submitting the T2 Corporation Income Tax Return to the Canada Revenue Agency [10].
A separate form T1196 [8], British Columbia Film and Television Tax Credit and eligibility certificate are required for each production. Enter the total amount of credits from all productions you are claiming on line 671 on Schedule 5 [11], Tax Calculation Supplementary – Corporations.
You must claim these credits no later than 36 months after the end of the tax year.
Please see Part 5 [12] of the British Columbia Income Tax Act and the Film and Television Tax Credit Regulation [13].