Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

UK audiovisual expenditure credit (AVEC) for film and television programmes: CTA 2009 Part 14A—rates (including independent film uplift), eligibility, cultural tests, UK expenditure, production company rules and calculations

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Practice notes

Audiovisual expenditure credit (AVEC) scheme

In the UK, the Corporation Tax Act 2009 (CTA 2009) makes expenditure credits available for British films and television programmes. The audiovisual expenditure credit (AVEC) replaced the tax relief introduced by the Finance Act 2014 and enables tax credits to be claimed where a film or TV production satisfies the relevant eligibility conditions. Film tax relief first appeared in 2007 under the Finance Act 2006 to stimulate investment in UK productions. Since launch, 5,230 films have lodged claims, with £5,905m paid to qualifying production companies. The relief was broadened in 2013 to cover television programmes. Since then, 1,375 programmes have made claims, and £3,967m has been paid out. For further detail, see Creative Industries Statistics August 2024. Historically, several film-related schemes have come under scrutiny for seeking to exploit legislative loopholes via film partnership structures. This has included tax avoidance through investment arrangements rather than relying on legitimate reliefs (see, for example, Samarkland Film Partnership No 3 and Ingenious Games LLP, Inside Track Productions LLP, Ingenious Film)...

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Henry Birkbeck

Reed Smith LLP

Henry regularly acts on a variety of film, TV and video game production and financing transactions, across a wide spectrum of clients. He has advised production companies, national broadcasters, studios, SVOD platforms, video game developers and apps on their production agreements for a broad range of audio-visual content.Henry has significant experience acting for financiers on film and TV financings, including top-tier international productions. He also advises both production companies and rightsholders on the early stages of content development, including rights acquisitions and development financings.Beyond this, Henry has experience working across the video games, podcast, music and tech industries. Henry joined Reed Smith from the London office of a magic circle firm, where he was involved in a broad variety of finance work across various industries....

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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