Claiming Children’s Television Tax Relief for Corporation Tax
Find out if you qualify for Children's Television Tax Relief for Corporation Tax and what you can claim.
Who can claim
Children’s Television Tax Relief is an extension of high-end television and animation relief but is specifically for the producers of children’s television programmes.
Your company can claim Children’s Television Tax Relief on a programme if:
- the programme is certified as British by the British Film Institute
- the programme is intended for broadcast — this includes streaming online
- the primary audience for the programme is expected to be under the age of 15
- at least 10% of the ‘core costs’ relate to activities in the UK
Core costs are what is spent on pre-production, principal photography and post-production.
Quizzes, game shows, and other programmes including an element of competition or contest may qualify if the prize total does not exceed £1,000.
Programmes commissioned together are treated as one programme.
Your company must be responsible for:
- pre-production
- principal photography
- post-production
- delivery of the completed programme
Your company must also:
- be actively engaged in planning and decision-making
- directly negotiate, contract and pay for rights, goods and services
Cultural test
To qualify for creative industry tax reliefs, all films, television programmes or video games must be certified as British. They must pass a cultural test or qualify through an internationally agreed co-production treaty.
The British Film Institute manages certification and qualification on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The British Film Institute will issue:
- an interim certificate for uncompleted work
- a final certificate where production has finished
You can find more information about certification on the British Film Institute website.
Who cannot claim
Your company cannot claim Children’s Television Tax Relief if the programme is:
- an advertisement or promotional programme
- a news, current affairs or discussion programme
- a panel show, variety show, or similar programme
- a broadcast of a live event, including theatrical and artistic performance
- produced for training purposes
What you can claim
You can claim an additional deduction to reduce your profits or to increase a loss. This will reduce the amount of any Corporation Tax you will need to pay. If you make a loss, some or all of this loss can be surrendered for a payable tax credit at a rate of 25%.
The additional deduction will be the lower of either:
- 80% of total core expenditure
- the amount of UK core expenditure
When you can claim
You may make, amend or withdraw a claim to Children’s Television Tax Relief up to one year after the company’s filing date.
For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, you may make, amend or withdraw a claim to Children’s Television Tax Relief up to 2 years after the end of the period of account the claim relates to.
HMRC may agree to accept late claims in some circumstances.
How to claim
You can claim for relief on your Company Tax Return. You will need to calculate the amount of:
- additional deduction due to your company
- any payable credit due
From 1 April 2024, all claims must be accompanied by an additional information form. This will allow you to provide the necessary evidence to support your claim.
For each production you must provide:
- a British cultural certificate from the British Film Institute — an interim certificate is provided when the production is in development, you must also provide the final certificate when the programme is complete and the certificate must be in date when you send it
- statements of the amount of core expenditure, split between UK and non-UK expenditure
- a breakdown of expenditure by category
Closure of Children’s Television Tax Relief — from 1 April 2027
Children’s Television Tax Relief will be closed to all productions from 1 April 2027. You may be able to continue to receive relief under the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit scheme.
You cannot claim Children’s Television Tax Relief for any productions that do not start principal photography by 31 March 2025. You may be able to claim an Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit instead.
Further information
You can find detailed guidance for children’s television companies, including examples of how the relief is calculated, in the Television Production Company Manual.
Last updated 19 January 2024 + show all updates
-
We have updated the page with information on the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit scheme and the closure of Children’s Television Tax Relief from 1 April 2027
-
The 'How to claim' section has been updated with a link to 'Support your claim for creative industry tax reliefs' which explains how to provide evidence to support your creative industry reliefs claim.
-
First published.