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2013 Autumn Statement: Media & Telecoms implications
Practical Law UK Legal Update 0-550-9026 (Approx. 4 pages)
2013 Autumn Statement: Media & Telecoms implications
by Practical Law Media & Telecoms
| Law stated as at 05 Dec 2013 • United Kingdom |
The Chancellor's Autumn Statement on 5 December 2013 includes announcements on tax relief for the creative industries and continued support for the roll-out of superfast broadband. (Free access.)
Speedread
The Chancellor has published his 2013 Autumn Statement, which includes announcements on tax relief for the creative industries and the government's continued commitment to the roll-out of superfast broadband across the UK.
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Facts
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, delivered his 2013 Autumn Statement on 5 December 2013. The Statement includes announcements on tax reliefs for the creative industries and the government's continued commitment to the roll-out of superfast broadband across the UK.
For an overview of the key business tax announcements made in the Statement, see Legal update, 2013 Autumn Statement: business tax implications.
For Practical Law's coverage of the Statement, see 2013 Autumn Statement. The key points of relevance to the media and telecoms sectors in the Statement are set out below.
For a summary of the issues relevant to IP and IT practitioners, see Legal update, 2013 Autumn Statement: IP&IT implications.
Consultation on tax relief for theatres
The government plans to launch a consultation early in 2014 on a limited corporation tax relief for commercial theatre productions and a targeted relief for theatres investing in new work or touring to regional theatres. The proposal is to provide relevant support to theatres from April 2015.
(See HM Treasury: 2013 Autumn Statement, paragraph 1.190.)
Film tax relief
Following the government's consultation on tax relief for the visual-effects industry in May 2013 (see Legal update, Consultation on visual effects tax relief), the government has announced that:
- From April 2014, the rate of payable film tax credit for all qualifying films will be 25% on the first £20 million of qualifying expenditure and 20% thereafter, subject in both cases to a maximum of 80% of qualifying core expenditure. This represents an increase in the rate of relief for bigger budget films (that is, films with core expenditure above £20 million), for which the rate is currently 20%. The rate of relief for limited budget films is unchanged at 25%. (For background on film tax relief, see Practice note, Film tax relief.)
- The minimum UK expenditure requirement is to be reduced from 25% to 10% and the cultural test will be modernised to align it with incentives in other member states and support visual effects and wider film production.
- It will seek state aid clearance to increase the rate of relief to 25% for all qualifying expenditure when re-notifying film tax relief in 2015.
These revised measures, which should widen the availability of film tax relief, will be included in the draft Finance Bill 2014.
(See HM Treasury: 2013 Autumn Statement, paragraphs 1.190 and 2.88.)
Broadband
The Statement notes that the National Infrastructure Plan 2013, published on 4 December, includes a £10 million competitive fund, to be launched in 2014, to support the delivery of superfast broadband to the UK's most remote areas.
The government has repeated its commitment to support local bodies seeking coverage in areas that do not benefit from existing plans. This will be achieved through the £250 million allocated at the Spending Round 2013 to roll-out superfast broadband to 95% of UK premises by 2017.
(See HM Treasury: 2013 Autumn Statement, paragraphs 1.221 and 2.197.)