Television Tax Reliefs (High-End, Animation, Children's)

If your company produces television programmes, you may be able to claim corporation tax relief through one of three schemes: High-end Television Tax Relief, Animation Tax Relief, or Children's Television Tax Relief. These schemes can provide significant tax savings by offering additional deductions and potentially payable tax credits, but they are closing to new productions from 1 April 2025.

Understanding television tax reliefs

Television tax reliefs are designed to support UK television production companies by reducing their corporation tax bills. The relief you can claim depends on the type of programme you're making:

• High-end Television Tax Relief – for dramas, comedies and documentaries with high production values
• Animation Tax Relief – for animated programmes
• Children's Television Tax Relief – specifically for programmes aimed at under-15s

All three reliefs work in the same way: they give your company an additional deduction against profits (or increase your loss), which reduces the corporation tax you pay. If you make a loss, you can surrender some or all of it for a payable tax credit at a rate of 25%.

Who qualifies as a production company

To claim any of these reliefs, your company must act as the production company. This means you must be responsible for all four stages:

• Pre-production
• Principal photography
• Post-production
• Delivery of the completed programme

Your company must also be actively engaged in planning and decision-making, and directly negotiate, contract and pay for rights, goods and services. You cannot simply be a service provider or distributor.

Programmes commissioned together count as one programme for the purposes of these reliefs.

High-end Television Tax Relief

This relief applies to drama, comedy and documentary programmes that meet high production value thresholds.

Your programme must:

• Be certified as British by the British Film Institute (by passing a cultural test or qualifying through an international co-production treaty)
• Be intended for broadcast to the general public (including online streaming)
• Have average core costs of at least £1 million per hour of slot length
• Have a slot length greater than 30 minutes
• Have at least 10% of total core costs relating to UK activities
• Have started principal photography on or before 31 March 2025

Your programme cannot be:

• An advertisement or promotional programme
• News, current affairs or a discussion programme
• A quiz, game show, panel show, variety show or similar
• A programme that includes an element of competition or contest
• A broadcast of a live event, including theatrical or artistic performance
• Produced for training purposes

Core costs are what you spend on pre-production, principal photography and post-production.

Animation Tax Relief

This relief is for animated television programmes.

Your programme must:

• Be certified as British by the British Film Institute
• Be intended for broadcast (including online streaming)
• Have at least 51% of core costs spent on animation
• Have at least 10% of core costs relating to UK activities
• Have started principal photography on or before 31 March 2025

The same exclusions apply as for high-end television, including advertisements, news programmes, quiz shows, game shows, panel shows, variety shows, competitions and training programmes.

Children's Television Tax Relief

This relief extends the high-end television and animation reliefs specifically for children's programmes.

Your programme must:

• Be certified as British by the British Film Institute
• Be intended for broadcast (including online streaming)
• Have a primary audience expected to be under 15 years old
• Have at least 10% of core costs relating to UK activities
• Have started principal photography on or before 31 March 2025

Your programme cannot be:

• An advertisement or promotional programme
• News, current affairs or a discussion programme
• A panel show, variety show or similar
• A broadcast of a live event, including theatrical or artistic performance
• Produced for training purposes

Unlike the other reliefs, quizzes and game shows with an element of competition or contest can qualify for children's television tax relief if the total prize value does not exceed £1,000.

How much you can claim

All three reliefs work the same way. You can claim an additional deduction equal to the lower of:

• 80% of total core costs, or
• The amount of UK core costs

This additional deduction reduces your taxable profits. If you make a loss, you can surrender some or all of this loss for a payable tax credit at a rate of 25%.

Cultural certification

All three reliefs require your programme to be certified as British by the British Film Institute. You need to pass a cultural test or qualify through an internationally agreed co-production treaty.

The British Film Institute will issue:

• An interim certificate for uncompleted work
• A final certificate when production has finished

When you claim the relief, you must provide a valid British cultural certificate. If you initially submit an interim certificate, you must send the final certificate when the programme is complete.

When to claim

For accounting periods beginning before 1 April 2024, you can make, amend or withdraw a claim up to one year after your company's filing date.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, you have up to 2 years after the end of the period of account to make, amend or withdraw a claim.

HMRC may accept late claims in some circumstances.

How to make a claim

You claim the relief on your Company Tax Return. If you submit your return on or after 6 April 2026, you must include form CT600P Creative Industries supplementary page.

You need to calculate:

• The additional deduction due to your company
• Any payable credit due

You must also submit an additional information form as evidence. For each production, you need to provide:

• A British cultural certificate from the British Film Institute (must be in date when submitted)
• Statements of core costs, split between UK and non-UK costs
• A breakdown of costs by category

Closure of these reliefs

Important: You cannot claim any of these three television tax reliefs for productions that start principal photography after 31 March 2025.

All three reliefs will close completely from 1 April 2027.

If your production doesn't qualify for these reliefs, you may be able to claim Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit instead.

Sources

• Claiming High-end Television Tax Relief for Corporation Tax
• Claiming Animation Tax Relief for Corporation Tax
• Claiming Children's Television Tax Relief for Corporation Tax

This article provides general guidance based on current HMRC rules. For advice specific to your situation, speak to your accountant.