Film and television tax credit

The film and television tax credit is for eligible corporations that produce eligible film or video productions in British Columbia (B.C.). The credits are for domestic productions with qualifying levels of Canadian content.

The film and television tax credit program consists of six tax credits:

  • Basic tax credit
  • Regional tax credit
  • Distant location regional tax credit
  • Film training tax credit
  • Digital animation, visual effects and post-production (DAVE) tax credit
  • Scriptwriting tax credit

Changes have also been made to the:

  • Calculation of the regional and distant location tax credits for animated productions that start principal photography after June 26, 2015

  • DAVE tax credit to reduce the rate from 17.5% to 16% for productions that start principal photography on or after October 1, 2016

  • Eastern boundary of the Designated Vancouver Area to align with the eastern boundary of the City of Surrey for productions that start principal photography on or after January 25, 2017

If you don’t meet the eligibility requirements for the film and television tax credit, you may qualify for the production services tax credit program.

Claiming the credits

You can claim the credit(s) by:

  1. Completing the British Columbia Film and Television Tax Credit form (T1196)
  2. Attaching the certificate you received for your production from Creative BC. This is either the:
    • Eligibility certificate (if production is not yet complete), or
    • Completion certificate (if production was completed in the tax year)
  3. Submitting the T1196 and certificate with your T2 Corporation Income Tax Return to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)

A separate T1196 and certificate is required for each production. Enter the total amount of credits from all productions you are claiming on line 671 on Schedule 5, Tax Calculation Supplementary - Corporations.

Creative BC may require 6 months to process certificate applications.

We strongly encourage you to apply for an eligibility certificate as early as possible in the pre-production or production stage.

Creative BC recommends you submit completion certificate applications within 12-24 months of the end of the taxation year in which principal photography began.

For applications submitted later, Creative BC cannot guarantee it will be processed in time for you to file with the CRA before the deadline, which may result in denied claims.

For tax years beginning before February 19, 2020, you must claim the credit(s) no later than 36 months after the end of your corporation’s tax year. For tax years beginning on or after February 19, 2020, you must claim the credit(s) no later than 18 months after the end of your corporation’s tax year.

As part of our COVID-19 supports, the deadline to claim this tax credit for claims required to be made between March 13, 2020 and December 30, 2020 was extended to six months from the original due date or to December 31, 2020, whichever was earlier.

The credit is fully refundable, but must first be applied against total income tax payable. There are no carry-back or carry-forward provisions.

Legislation

The following legislation applies to the film and television tax credit program: