Children’s Television Tax Relief

Under the Children’s Television Tax Relief definition, a co-production is a programme produced under the terms of an international co-production agreement between two or more countries or authorities.

In the UK, such programmes are made under:

• A bilateral co-production treaty, or
• The European Convention on Cinematic Co-production.

The advantage of a programme being made as an official co-production is that each producer can access the support within their respective countries, including tax relief where available.

To benefit from Children’s Television Tax Relief, there must also be;

• A UK production company responsible for all UK production elements from beginning to completion.
• Corresponding production companies in the other co-producing party countries.
• The minimum UK spend must be at least 10% of the programme’s total core expenditure.

If you want to claim Children's Television Tax Relief, your Children's television programme must be certified as British. You must pass the British Film Institute (BFI) cultural test to receive this certification.

To pass the BFI cultural test, complete an online application form for each high-end television programme for which you want to claim CTTR. If the programme is intended as a series, you can make one application to cover all episodes within the series. The BFI will assess your application and award points based on the cultural content of the programme, its cultural contribution, its cultural hubs, and its cultural practitioners. Each high-end television programme must score 18 out of 35 points to pass the test.

Myriad Associates employs BFI application specialists who can help you pass this test. Contact us for advice. 

The cultural test for Children's television programmes is set out in The Cultural Test (Television Programmes), but for more information, feel free to contact us.

In addition to completing an application form for each high-end television programme, a Statutory Declaration to certify the truth of the particulars in the application is also required.

The Statutory Declaration can be made before a practising solicitor, a general notary, a Justice of the Peace, or any other officer authorised by law to administer a statutory declaration under the Statutory Declaration Act 1835.

An Accountant's report is required if an application for a final certificate relies upon points in Section C and/or Section D of the cultural test. The Accountant's Report must be prepared by a person eligible for appointment as a company auditor under Section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Accountant's Report is required when an application claims points in Section C and/or Section D.

The purpose of the Accountant's Report is to verify the total and UK expenditure of the work in Section C and the nationality or residence of all persons in Section D.

The Accountant's Report must be prepared by a person eligible for appointment as a company auditor under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

An Accountant’s Report can cost between £500 and £2,000 per application, depending on the programme’s costs and the number of applications you submit.

The BFI cultural test regulations require you to make a statutory declaration which states that the information you’ve given in your application is accurate.

A statutory declaration is required for both the Interim and Final certifications.

The statutory declaration must be made either before a practising solicitor, general notary, Justice of the Peace or an officer authorised by law to administer a statutory declaration under the Statutory Declaration Act 1835.

Non-core expenditure relates to initial design stage activities or commercial exploitation of the children’s television programme.

For example, initial concept artwork used as part of the process of establishing commercial viability is not a core expenditure and is not eligible for CTTR.  Marketing a children’s television programme isn’t classed as a development expenditure and, therefore, is not a core expenditure.

Ineligible expenditures include entertaining, publicity, promotion, audit fees, interest, completion bonds and other forms of insurance.

The amount of Children’s Television Tax Relief (CTTR) to which a Television Production Company (TPC) is entitled is determined by the amount of core expenditure related to activity undertaken in the UK.

Where a television programme is partly produced in the UK and partly outside of the UK, it will follow that some goods and services may be non-UK. In such cases, it will be necessary to apportion the relevant core expenditure between UK and non-UK expenditure. This applies to goods and services provided throughout core expenditure stages.

The apportionment method is not fixed and can be determined on a case-by-case basis. The key criterion is that it must be done on a fair and reasonable basis. There will often be more than one ‘fair and reasonable’ basis.

Contact the CTTR team today.

You can claim Children’s Television Tax Relief on your programme if:

• It has been certified as British by the British Film Institute (BFI). This is achieved via a cultural test completed online.
• The television programme is intended for broadcast, which includes streaming online, at the commencement of production activities.
• The primary audience for the programme is expected to be under the age of 15.
• At least 10% of the core costs relate to activities in the UK.

For the purpose of tax relief, a television programme is defined as “any programme (with or without sounds) which is produced to be seen on television (including the internet) and consists of moving or still images or of legible text or of a combination of those things”.

There is a list of excluded programmes. If your programme falls into one of these categories, it does not qualify for Children’s Television Tax Relief:

• Advertisements or other promotional material;
• News or current affairs programmes or discussion programmes;
• Any panel show, variety show, chat show or similar entertainment;
• A children’s programme consisting of or including a competition or contest for which the total prizes exceed a value of £1,000 (this limit applies to a series of programmes commissioned together);
• Any broadcast of live events or theatrical or artistic performance given otherwise than to be filmed;
• Any programme produced for training purposes.