Minimum budget levels for PSTC applicants

Know the minimum budget requirement for your production to be qualified for PSTC

Under the Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) there are different minimum budget threshold requirements for different types of productions.

The following can help you determine a minimum global budget for your next production.

If your production is intended for television broadcast as an episodic series, the global production budget must be greater than:

• $100,000 for live action episode less than 30 minutes long;
• $200,000 for live action episode that is 30 minutes or longer;
• $0 for digitally animated episode less than 30 minutes long;
• $200,000 for digitally animated episode that is 30 minutes or longer.

In all other cases, the global production budget minimum under PSTC must be greater than $1,000,000:

• single production intended for television broadcast (e.g. one-off, MOW, TV mini-series)
• single production NOT intended for television broadcast (e.g. SVOD program; feature theatrical film),
• episodic production NOT intended for television broadcast (e.g. SVOD series, web and other episodic productions).

See Section 79(1) of Income Tax Act (BC) to learn more about the definition of an “accredited production” and “episode”.

“accredited production” means a film or video production, other than an excluded production, for which the total expenditures included in the cost of producing the production, incurred in the 24 month period beginning when principal photography begins, other than any amounts determined by reference to profits or revenues, are

(a) greater than $100 000, in the case of a production that is an episode, or a pilot for an episode, with a running time of less than 30 minutes,

(a.1) despite paragraph (a), greater than nil, in the case of a production, all or substantially all of which consists of prescribed digital animation or visual effects, that is an episode, or a pilot for an episode, with a running time of less than 30 minutes,

(b) greater than $200 000, in the case of a production that is an episode, or a pilot for an episode, with a running time of 30 minutes or more, or

(c) greater than $1 million, in any other case;

“episode” means an episode of a film or video production intended for television broadcast as a series.

This post is intended as a general overview. It is not exhaustive and should not be relied upon to determine eligibility or the final amount of an anticipated tax credit. In case of any discrepancies between this post and the Income Tax Act (BC) and Regulations (the “Act”), the provisions of the Act prevail.