Boost for Irish Film Industry: 8% Increase in Tax Incentive

The Irish government has confirmed that the 8% increase in its Section 481 film tax incentive can now be claimed to support local feature films with Irish creative talents that are budgeted up to €20 million (16.7 million GBP). This increase was first announced in October 2024 and has now been approved by the European Union and signed into Irish legislation.

Eligibility Criteria

To qualify for the 40% tax relief, films must have one of the key creative roles – such as film director, screenwriter, composer, editor, cinematographer, and production designer (or art director, composer, and production designer in the case of animated feature films) – filled by an Irish talent. The feature film must also be exhibited in a commercial cinema in Ireland for at least five days.

Background and Purpose

The 8% increase was introduced to address the significant challenges faced by smaller Irish feature film projects. The tax incentive in Section 481 allows film and television productions to claim a tax credit of 32% for eligible expenditure of up to €125 million, provided that the production company is an Irish resident or trades through an Irish branch or agency. The tax incentive applies to all eligible expenses of up to 80% of the total production costs.

Comparison with UK Incentives

The increase brings the Irish incentive more in line with the British independent film tax credits (IFTC), which was introduced for films with a total core expenditure or production budget of up to £15 million. However, the IFTC can only be claimed up to a maximum of 80% of £15 million of qualifying UK expenditure.

Impact on Irish Film Industry

Films within this budget range in Ireland include ITA Fitzgerald’s UK-Ireland co-production West the Street, the Street, which is set to shoot later this year, and Gee’s Everyone Digs Bill Evans, another UK-Ireland co-production that started shooting this week.

Irish-Language Fund

SMAIINTE (which translates to “thoughts” in English) is a €1 million fund from Screen Ireland, now open to support Irish production companies as they develop a number of projects in the Irish language across film, television, and animation. This follows the international awards and cash successes of Irish-language features, including The Quiet Girl and Kneecap.

Support from Screen Ireland and Government

“At Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, we are deeply proud to support Irish cinema productions that have been made possible by the creative talent that has brought our industry so much recognition and success in recent years,” said Désirée Finnegan, Chief Executive of Screen Ireland. “We would like to thank the Department of Arts, Culture, Communications, Media, and Sport and the Department of Finance for their support as the SCÉAL uplift is now available and offers a new opportunity for Irish filmmakers and screen artists.”

“The SCÉAL uplift offers production companies producing small to medium-sized feature films or animated feature films an additional tax relief of 8%,” added Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture, and Sport Patrick O’Donovan. “This is a positive change in the film tax relief scheme in Section 481, which will benefit the Irish film industry, Irish film workers in high-ranking creative roles, and Irish cinemas. I look forward to seeing the productions that will be created in the coming years for the Irish film and animation sectors as a result of this new program.”