Film tax relief claims hit new heights in 2016-17

Film companies made 630 claims for film tax relief (FTR) in 2016-17 up from 535 in the previous year according to the latest statistics from HMRC . The department paid £415m to the UK film industry a 23% rise from 2015-16. In total 175 films were completed in the UK in 2016-17 on which FTR was claimed.

Since the relief was introduced in 2007 £2.3bn has been claimed. More than £1.6bn of this was paid to large-budget films and £630m to limited-budget films.

HMRC’s figures also included details of tax reliefs claimed by other creative industry sectors including high-end television (HETV) animation and video games. Details on the claims for children’s television and theatre tax relief were also included for the first time.

Since 2015 30 programmes have claimed children’s television tax relief resulting in payments of £5m. In 2016-17 £46m...