Legislation passed by Parliament makes important changes to the Location Offset and the Producer Offset.
Amendments to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 are set to boost investment in Australia's screen industry and stories, benefiting local film and television actors, workers, creatives and businesses.
The Location Offset aims to encourage large-budget screen productions to film in Australia by providing eligible productions with a tax rebate. Changes include:
- Increasing the rebate available to eligible productions from 16.5 to 30 per cent—attracting more large-budget productions to Australian shores and providing economic, employment and skill development opportunities for local screen workers. The increased rebate will apply retrospectively to eligible productions that commenced filming on or after 1 July 2023.
- Introducing new eligibility requirements for productions to meet minimum training obligations or contribute to the broader workforce and infrastructure capacity of the sector, and use one or more Australian providers to deliver post-production, digital and visual effects for the production.
The Producer Offset gives a tax rebate to producers for expenditure on eligible Australian films, television and other projects. The amendments will allow more iconic Australian drama series to access the offset by:
- Introducing a new minimum expenditure threshold for drama series of $35 million per season in qualifying Australian production expenditure. The new minimum expenditure threshold will apply to drama series that commence filming on or after 1 July 2024.