The Australian Government has announced changes to Australia’s screen content regulation and production support funding and incentives.
The Hon. Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety & the Arts said “The old approach of treating film and television differently no longer makes sense. Increasing the Producer Offset to 30 per cent for television will mean additional funding for Australian television production – and in turn support higher production values and programs with a better prospect of being sold into the global content market, taking advantage of the opportunity created by the explosion of streaming video services like Netflix, Disney+, Stan and Amazon Prime.”
Read the Minister’s Press Release here.
Below Ausfilm has outlined what these changes are in detail. Any questions about the changes to the film tax offsets should be directed to the Office for the Arts via [email protected].
Changes to the Australian Screen Production Incentive and guidelines are as follows:
PDV OFFSET CHANGES
The Post, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) Offset minimum qualifying Australian production expenditure threshold will be increased from AU$500,000 to AU$1 million.
PDV, LOCATION & PRODUCER OFFSET CHANGES
These changes have been implemented to clarify the objectives of the program and help the Australian Government continue to achieve the strongest outcomes for the government, production studios and the production industry.
Review the revised Location Incentive Program Guidelines here.
PRODUCER OFFSET CHANGES
DATE OF EFFECT OF CHANGES
For the PDV Offset, these amendments will come into effect for productions that commence post, digital and visual effects activity on, or after 1 July 2021.
For the Producer Offset and Location Offset, these amendments will come into effect for productions that commence principal photography on, or after 1 July 2021.
As the Australian Screen Production Incentive is underpinned by the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 changes will be implemented through legislative amendments.
Treasury and the Office for the Arts will be responsible for managing the legislative changes.
Any further questions about the Australian Screen Production Incentive changes should be directed to the Office for the Arts via [email protected].
If you have questions about a specific Producer Offset project, these should be directed to Screen Australia via [email protected].
WHY CHANGE?
As noted in the announcement, the Australian Government has made the decision to pursue changes to the Australian Screen Production Incentive in response to the feedback received during the Supporting Australian stories on our screens Options Paper consultations on Australia’s screen tax incentives, content regulations and quotas.
As the Australian Screen Production Incentive is underpinned by the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and changes will be implemented through legislative amendments before they come into effect.