Children’s Television Tax Relief (CTTR)

Company Eligibility

 

To be qualifying, both the company and the programme will need to meet some conditions.

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The company must be a Television Production Company (TPC). To qualify as a TPC the company must:

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• be liable to UK corporation tax;

• be activity engaged in planning and decision-making and be responsible for pre-production, principal photography and the post-production of the programme;

• be responsible for delivery of the completed programme; and

• directly negotiate contracts and pay for rights, goods and services in relation to the programme.

 

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Programme Eligibility

 

To qualify, the programme must:

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• be intended for distribution on television or the internet;

• be ‘British’ or qualify as an official co-production;

• have at least 10% of total production costs in the UK; and

• be intended for children with the primary audience to be under the age of 15.

 

*Importantly, quizzes, game shows or other programmes for children with an element of competition can qualify provided the prize total does not exceed £1,000.*

 

Programmes which do not qualify include:

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• advertisements or other promotional material

• news or current affairs programmes or discussion programmes

• any broadcast of live events or of theatrical or artistic performance given otherwise than for the purpose of being filmed

• any programme produced for training purposes

 

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Cultural Test

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The programme must be classed as ‘British’ by the British Film Institute (BFI). The BFI has a Cultural Test which is points-based based on content, cultural contributions, location and the cast and crew. To be qualifying, the programme needs to achieve at least 18 from a possible 35 points.

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The cultural test comprises four sections:

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1. cultural content (up to 18 points)

2. cultural contribution (up to 4 points)

3. cultural hubs (up to 5 points)

4. cultural practitioners (up to 8 points)

 

Additional guidance is available from the BFI by following this link

 

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Qualifying Expenditure

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The all-important spend that can be enhanced is core expenditure as:

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• pre-production;

• principal photography; and

• post production.

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Core expenditure does not include development expenditure or expenditure on marketing, distribution or other non-production activities.

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