Zubin Patel, international tax partner at Deloitte, comments on the 2012 Budget:
Companies engaged in the production of TV programming, video gaming and animation will be pleased at the proposed introduction of a new tax credit for these activities.
It is expected that this new credit will apply similar principles to those underpinning the UK's current film tax credit regime. For the film tax credit regime, at least 25% of total production cost must be incurred in the UK and we expect that the proposed relief will carry similar or stricter conditions. It is also likely to apply to productions that commence after a future date to ensure the relief is effective in influencing future behaviour rather than subsidise productions that are already underway.
Furthermore, there has been a history of exploitation of these reliefs and it is likely that the Government will wish to protect the new relief with anti-avoidance legislation to ensure that the relief benefits those businesses to which it is intended.
The detailed changes are expected to be announced imminently. More comment to follow shortly.