Film Production Company Manual

FPC60024 - Claims: Additional Information Form - section 4: production details

Sections 4-6 will unlock depending on which reliefs or credits were chosen in section 3.

Section 4 is required for claims to Film Tax Relief (FTR), High-end TV Tax Relief, Animation Tax Relief, Children’s TV Tax Relief and Video Games Tax Relief. If the company is making a claim for any of the Creatives Expenditure Credits, or any of the cultural tax reliefs, then they will also need to complete section 5 and/or section 6.

Film projects – information about specific films

For each individual film a claim is being made for, the following information must be provided. Once these details and the expenditure totals have been provided for one production, the form gives users the opportunity to add details of further productions.

• Production name

This should be the current name of the production, as shown on its most recent British cultural certificate from the British Film Institute (BFI).

• Start date of pre-production or development

This is the date on which the film or programme began pre-production, or the video game began active development. This should be the date at which point the production has been given the green light to go ahead. It does not include any early period where speculative work is being undertaken and a decision is still to be made as to whether the production will go ahead.

• Production status

This is the status of the production at the end date of the accounting period covered by the form. It should not reference any progress made after this date. There are three options:

- ongoing (where the production is still in development but is not yet complete)
- complete
- abandoned

If the production has been abandoned, the form will ask for the date of abandonment.

• British cultural certificate

The BFI reference number for the certificate needs to be manually entered.

A digital version of the certificate for the production must then be uploaded as an attachment. Users should make sure that the certificate is clearly visible in the attachment and that the text is not blurry, otherwise claim processing may be delayed.

A certificate must be included for the production for each and every accounting period. Even if a company is using the exact same certificate as was submitted to HMRC previously, the certificate must be uploaded again every time it is used to support a claim.

All certificates must be in date at the time the claim is submitted. If the production is ongoing, an interim certificate must be provided. If the production is complete, then a final certificate must be provided. If the production is abandoned, users must provide either an interim or final certificate.

A company cannot make a claim for a production without a certificate. Companies should wait to receive a certificate for all their productions before completing the form.

Expenditure totals 

Once the basic production details for a production have been provided, the user must provide some expenditure figures for the production. The form asks for the following, for each production:

• Core expenditure for the period 

This should be the amount of core expenditure brought into account for the period. It includes both UK and non-UK expenditure. Core expenditure is expenditure on pre-production, principal photography and post-production (FPC50010).

• Core expenditure to date

This is the amount of core expenditure incurred in all accounting periods up to and including the period the company is currently claiming for. This amount must therefore be equal to or more than the core expenditure for the current claim period. If the user is completing the form for the first accounting period of the separate production trade, this amount should equal core expenditure for the accounting period, which was entered on the previous page.
 

• Total UK core expenditure to date 

This box requires the amount of core expenditure to date that is also UK expenditure. UK expenditure is expenditure on goods and services used or consumed in the UK (FPC50050). 

• Additional deductions for previous periods

The form will ask if the company has made an additional deduction for the same production in a previous accounting period. If the answer is yes, the company must enter the combined value of additional made for all periods up to and including the most recent period in which it made an additional deduction. It should not include the additional deduction for the current claim period – the form calculates that on the following page.

• Additional deduction for the period 

This is the amount of additional deduction the company is claiming under the relevant cultural relief for the period. The additional deduction is the lesser of: 

• UK expenditure 
• 80% of the total core expenditure 

Where the production is taking place over multiple accounting periods, these figures are cumulative and the figures incurred to date should be compared (FPC55020). 

The form calculates this amount automatically and explains how it has done so. It asks the user to confirm the result.

• Amount of loss surrendered for the period

This is the amount of loss that the company is surrendering in return for a tax credit for the current claim period. It is the lesser of

• the amount of loss made in the separate production trade after making the additional deduction for the period, and
• the amount of the additional deduction for the period

If the company has still made a profit after making the additional deduction, it should enter a zero.

• Amount of tax credit claimed 

This is the amount of credit that the company is claiming in exchange for its surrenderable loss. It may not be the amount actually payable, as this is the amount before set-off against any other liabilities of the company. The form calculates this amount automatically and asks the user to confirm the result.

Films claiming under the pre-1 April 2015 rules

The form is designed to calculate the additional deduction and tax credit for a film using the current rules of Film Tax Relief. Different calculation rules apply to pre-1 April 2015 films that are not limited-budget films (see FPC55030 for more on these rules). If a company is claiming for such a film, the form will therefore not calculate the film’s additional deduction or tax credit correctly.

In these cases, the user should enter the correct expenditure and loss amounts for the film into the form, and accept the incorrect figures calculated by the form. The user must then use the additional information section (FPC60030) to notify HMRC that the pre-1 April 2015 rules apply to the film.

Finally, the company should fill out its CT600 tax return using the correct figures for the additional deduction and tax credit. It should not use the incorrect figures generated by the form. HMRC uses the CT600 figures to make any tax credit payment due to the company, so the company will still receive the right amount of relief.

Expenditure totals table

After the user has entered the details for each production the company is claiming for and confirmed their answers, the form will show a table based on the expenditure totals entered or calculated for each production, with the combined totals for all productions in the bottom row. Users should check the figures and calculations carefully and go back and correct their answers if necessary.