UK film industry threatened by tax clampdown
More than 20 films in pre-production may have to be scrapped following Dawn Primarolo's decision to clamp down tax avoidance schemes that exploited trading losses through partnerships.
Link: Partnerships loophole slammed shut
The new rules, which came into effect on Tuesday, were described by Primarolo as undermining ‘the true purpose of tax relief’. She said the government was ‘determined to take all appropriate action to counter them’.
But Daniel Taylor of Grosvenor Park, a financier involved in film partnerships, told the FT that it ‘now has between 15 and 20 films very near to principal photography that could now collapse’.
He went on to describe the slamming shut of the loophole as ‘literally a death blow’ to the UK film industry.
The UK film council is set to meet with the Treasury today to discuss the implications of the change in legislation.