Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Prior to 2015, film relief took the form of an investor tax relief which provided an incentive to individual and corporate taxpayers to invest in Irish film production. The relief was granted by way of a deduction from total income of the amount invested for the year of assessment in which the qualifying film investment was made. The Finance Act 2013 amended the scheme such that, rather than providing relief to investors, instead, from 1 January 2015, a payable tax credit of 32% is payable directly to a producer company.  The tax credit reduces the corporation tax liability of the producer company in that period.  Where the tax credit exceeds the tax due for the qualifying period, the tax credit will be a payable credit.  The current scheme is due to expire on 31 December 2020.

As it concerns tax expenditure, section 481 is subject to the requirements of my Department in regard to tax expenditure guidelines. A full analysis and review of that section will be undertaken prior to any announcement on the extension of the relief and this will be done well in advance of any potential extension beyond 2020.

In terms of the operation of the scheme to date, the most up-to-date figures I have available are that the provisional number of claimants of the tax credit in 2015 was 1,102, with a cost to the Exchequer of €69.7 million.

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