New film tax relief set to attract more projects

The makers of a new Pierce Brosnan film were the biggest beneficiaries of the Government’s new tax relief for movie and television productions last year.

According to figures provided by Revenue, the production firm behind I.T., which was shot in Dublin, Woodside Pictures Ltd last year received €2.4m in tax reliefs under the Section 481 Film Relief Scheme.

The figures show that the overall value of the productions availing of the scheme in 2015 totalled €118m and the cost to the exchequer in tax reliefs was €17.4m.

Speaking yesterday Irish Film Board chief executive James Hickey said that, based on the board’s calculations, the cost of projects that went into production in the independent film, television drama and animation sector is much higher at just under €200m.

“These figures take into account projects that received their Section 481 certificate from the Revenue under the old system at the end of 2014, but which actually went into production during 2015.

“It also takes into account projects which will be certified on the new system in 2016 but which went into production in 2015,” he explained.

“We believe that with the new more internationally competitive tax credit in 2016, we are looking forward to attracting many more exciting projects to Ireland in 2016.

“Production activity has been at record levels for the past three years and we hope to maintain this positive trend creating increased job opportunities in Ireland as well as exporting Irish culture to worldwide audiences,” he added.

The Revenue returns show the total cost of the I.T. movie, which also stars Anna Friel, in 2015 amounted to €11.2m.

The firm that received the second highest tax relief, at €1.63m, was Element Pictures Productions Ltd for the second series of TV3’s Red Rock, that cost €7m to produce.

Another Irish firm, Léiriuchán received €1.1m in tax reliefs towards Series 20 of Ros na Rún, that cost €4.8m to produce.

In total, 42 separate productions by 32 different production companies received tax reliefs.

The most expensive production under the Section 481 scheme last year included in the Revenue list is Telegael Teoranta’s Blinky Bill The Movie that cost €12.79m to make and availed of €314,109 in tax reliefs.