Forum needed to review film and television tax break, notes report

A stakeholder forum is required to address aspects of Section 481, the film and television tax break that has attracted Hollywood and other productions to Ireland, a report has recommended following a review of the popular scheme.

Discussions would involve all those with a stake in the sector and address various topics including employment rights, copyright and intellectual property issues.

Section 481 has been a longstanding crutch for productions based here, providing relief in the form of a corporation tax credit of 32 per cent of either eligible expenditure, 80 per cent of total production cost, or €70 million, depending on which is the lowest.

At least €250,000 must be spent on a production and the minimum eligible expenditure amount to qualify is €125,000.

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Numerous household name movies have benefitted from the scheme, with Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin recently among them.

Expenditure by productions that qualified for the tax relief reached a record-breaking €500 million in 2021, with the majority of this activity attributed to the incentive.

However, several recommendations regarding how the scheme is run have been made following a review by the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight, established to examine tax expenditure.

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It held four meetings with a range of stakeholders from across the film and television sector and on Tuesday published 14 key recommendations and observations.

“The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Department of Finance [should] convene a stakeholder forum as a priority to discuss how to maximise the benefits of the Section 481 credit for all concerned stakeholders and to facilitate best practice in employment rights, industrial relations, collective bargaining, address copyright and intellectual property issues and any other relevant issues,” it said.

Fixed-term contracts

Committee members, comprising 15 cross-party TDs, said they would write to the European Commission requesting an examination of the use of numerous fixed-term contracts for film crew working across multiple productions.

In cases where crew members never acquire contracts of indefinite duration or any acknowledgement of service, the committee wishes to examine whether this amounts to a breach of EU directives, including those relating to State aid for the audio-visual sector.

With much focus on employment issues, the report recommended assurance be given that Irish performers will not be subject to lesser terms and conditions regarding their intellectual property rights than for international performers in similar roles on the same project.

The committee also recommended consideration be given to removing or increasing the €70 million cap.