Movie tax relief climbs to £85m
Tax relief paid for qualifying British films more than doubled to £85m in 1999-2000, chief secretary to the treasury Andrew Smith revealed in the House of Commons yesterday.
The figures will come as good news to the government which has worked hard to ensure the film tax scheme, which brought in 100% tax relief for film makers, is a success.
Film production has increased enormously under the scheme introduced in 1997 by Labour but relief currently has only a limited life span.
The original programme was due to end in 2000, but was then extended to 2002 and has since received yet another extension to 2005.
Enthusiasm for the relief has been hugely and a whole mini industry has been developed offering advice to exploit the tax benefits.
In many cases opportunities to participate in film shcemes are now hugely oversubscribed.