Corporation Tax Act 2009 section 1216AE

Television production company

Section 1216AE defines what a television production company is for the purposes of the television tax relief provisions, and establishes that only one such company can exist in relation to any given relevant programme.

• Only one company can be the television production company for a particular relevant programme — it must be responsible for all stages of production (pre-production, principal photography and post-production) and for delivery of the completed programme, and must actively plan, make decisions, and directly negotiate, contract and pay for rights, goods and services.
• For qualifying co-productions, a company that is a co-producer can qualify as the television production company provided it makes an effective creative, technical and artistic contribution to the programme (but not if acting in partnership), and co-producers who merely provide finance are excluded.
• Where more than one company meets the qualifying conditions, the company most directly engaged in the production activities is treated as the television production company; conversely, it is possible that no company meets the conditions, in which case there is no television production company for that programme.
• A company may elect in its corporation tax return not to be treated as a television production company, and that election applies to all relevant programmes commencing principal photography in the accounting period of the election or any subsequent accounting period; the election may be amended at a later date.