- Increased tax relief to boost Britain’s animated film
production
- Measure is “about backing business to innovate and grow the
UK economy”
- Draft legislation also published to clarify design details
underpinning a simplified Research and Development Scheme
Animated film productions in the UK are set for a boost as the
government reveals increased tax relief, to take effect from 1
January 2024.
The creative industry has grown at more than 1.5 times the rate
of the wider economy over the past decade, making it an important
sector for the Chancellor’s plan to grow the economy.
The new tax changes announced today are expected to be worth £5
million each year to business and come alongside the Audio-Visual
Expenditure Credit which was uplifted at budget from 33.33% to
39%. This also follows the Creative Industries Sector Vision
published last month which set an ambition to grow the creative
industries by an extra £50 billion by 2030.
These changes are a key part of the government’s plan to get the
economy growing and make the UK the best place in the world to
start and grow a business.
Financial Secretary to the Treasury said:
“We want the UK to be the best place to start and grow a
business and while we have the lowest corporation tax rate in the
G7, we are not complacent.
“The changes we are making are about backing business to
innovate and grow the UK economy, creating good jobs across the
country.”
This measure is part of 23 tax announcements published today as
part of the government’s ‘Legislation Day’, where draft
legislation for an upcoming Finance Bill is published, as well as
technical tax documents and consultations mostly from measures
announced at the Spring Budget.
Also published today is the proposed design for a simplified
R&D scheme, which would be born out of a merger from two
previous schemes, as well as draft legislation also published to
cement a further new £500 million per year scheme to support
20,000 R&D intensive SMEs.
A final decision will be made in the Autumn on whether to merge
the Research and Development Expenditure Credit and Small Medium
Enterprise relief schemes to form a new scheme. A merged scheme
would simplify the system, by creating a single set of qualifying
rules, and giving clarity on how much could be claimed before
claims are made.
The government has today also announced that:
- From today, any Ukrainian who has arrived in the UK under the
Family, Sponsor and Extension Ukrainian visa schemes will no
longer need to register or tax their vehicle. This will last 36
months, in line with the length of their visas, and can be
applied retrospectively from one’s arrival, potentially saving
them hundreds of pounds.
- Income tax will be exempt on payments made under the Family
Network Support Package, which are aimed to keep children out of
state care and in their family network where appropriate and in
their best interests. The Department for Education will set out
further details on the pilot scheme in the summer.
- It will simplify the process so people who need to start
paying the High Income Child Benefit Charge will not need to fill
out a Self-Assessment form to pay the charge, but will be able to
do it through their tax code. HMRC will set out in due course how
it will do this.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
- For a full list of announcements from today’s Legislation Day
please see the Written Ministerial Statement here.
- The government is committed, where possible, to publishing
most tax legislation in draft for technical consultation before
the relevant Finance Bill is introduced into Parliament. This
allows for transparent scrutiny of tax measures, giving greater
certainty and stability to taxpayers.
- The costing for the Audio-Visual tax relief extension
(estimated to be £5m) will be scrutinised by the Office for
Budget Responsibility (OBR) ahead of their next forecast in the
usual way.
