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PSTC | Production Services Tax Credit

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About PSTC

The Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) is a refundable labour based tax incentive for international projects made in B.C.

The PSTC is a refundable corporate income tax credit. When filing tax returns, your corporation may claim a specified percentage of the labour costs incurred in making a production. The credits are applied to reduce tax payable, and any remaining balance is paid to the corporation.

In order to claim the PSTC tax credits, your accredited production corporation must file a corporate income tax return, along with the certificates, with the Canada Revenue Agency.

The PSTC is not subject to any Canadian content requirements. In addition, there is no limit on the PSTC that may be claimed on a particular production and there is no limit that a corporation or group of corporations can claim.

The program includes four initiatives: Basic, Regional, Distant Location and Digital Animation, Visual Effects and Post-Production (DAVE).

FOR PRODUCTIONS WITH A PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY START DATE AFTER SEPTEMBER 30, 2016*:

Tax Credit Value
Basic PSTC 28%
Regional PSTC 6%
Distant Location Tax Credit 6%
Digital Animation, Visual Effects + Post-Production (DAVE) 16%

For productions with a principal photography start date after September 30, 2016

*For productions with a principal photography start date before October 1, 2016, please contact Creative BC for more information.

Important message regarding pre-certification

As previously announced, Budget 2023 introduces legislative measures for accredited production corporations that first incurred an ABCLE between July 1, 2020 and February 21, 2022.

These measures will allow accredited production corporations to claim ABCLE incurred up to 120 days prior to the pre-certification form submission date, regardless of how late the pre-certification form was filed. However, accredited corporations will be unable to claim ABCLE incurred more than 120 days prior to filing the pre-certification form. This may reduce the production services tax credit available.

The CRA is administering the production services tax credit using these new rules. If an accredited production corporation has already been denied a portion of their PSTC claim by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) due to late pre-certification filing, the accredited corporation can request an adjustment to its T2 corporate tax return.  For more information, see Requesting a reassessment of your T2 return – Canada.ca

For productions that first incurred an ABCLE on or after February 22, 2022, these accredited production corporations are still required to submit their pre-certification form within 120 days of their first ABCLE. Once the pre-certification number is issued, the accredited corporation may apply to Creative BC to receive an accreditation certificate for the production. If a production company submits their pre-certification form after the 120-day period, ABCLE incurred prior to submitting the form will not be eligible for the PSTC.

Read recent legislative changes on the BC Government PSTC webpage.

Important message about when to submit a full PSTC application

Accredited production corporations are encouraged to apply for their tax credit certificates as soon as they have locked budget and principal photography or key animation started. We strongly recommend accredited production corporations submit their accreditation certificate application to Creative BC within 12 months of the corporation’s taxation year end. This is because we may require up to 4 months to process complete applications. We are unable to guarantee that applications filed later will be processed in time for the accredited production corporation to file with the CRA before the deadline, which may result in denied claims.

Last updated: April 1, 2023.

Apply Online

PSTC Pre-Certification Form

Pre-requisite for PSTC – Apply through Creative BC’s online tax credit application portal

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Access the online Tax Credit Application Portal

For PSTC applicants

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Additional Resources

Patricia Lee | Business Analyst, Motion Picture Tax Credits
Tel: +1 236 471 0786
plee (at) creativebc.com

Derek Clayton | Business Analyst, Motion Picture Tax Credits
Tel: +1 236 471 0877
dclayton (at) creativebc.com

Troy Taillon | Business Analyst, Motion Picture Tax Credits
Tel: +1 236-471-0681
ttaillon (at) creativebc.com

Application Fee

Fee Increase 2020

The schedule of timelines and dates relevant to change is as follows:

Projects that start Principal Photography on or after February 19, 2020 $10,000 fee + GST
Projects that start Principal Photography prior to February 19, 2020 $5,500 fee + GST

Please note that all applications are subject to GST (unchanged)

Please contact taxteam@creativebc.com with any questions or comments.

PSTC Pre-Certification Process

PSTC Pre-Certification Form
PSTC Pre-Certification FAQs

Tax Credits Overview

PSTC Summary
Application Checklist
Motion Picture Tax Credit Recipients: On-Screen Credits
Fee Schedule

Basic Tax Credit

Template Production Schedule
PSTC Calculator

Chain of Title

Official Designee Declaration

Regional + Distant Tax Credits

Template Regional Distant Location Breakdown
Regional + Distant Location Map

B.C. Budget

Learn about the adjustments to Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) application timelines and protocols.

2023

Effective July 1, 2020, the Income Tax Act’s production services tax credit is amended to allow corporations to claim labour expenditures incurred up to 120 days prior to the pre-certification form submission date under the credit, regardless of how late the pre-certification form was filed. This will only apply to film productions that incurred their first eligible accredited labour expenditure between July 1, 2020, and February 21, 2022. Read Budget and Fiscal Plan 2023/24 – 2025/26 (gov.bc.ca).

As previously announced, Budget 2023 introduces the afore-mentioned legislative measures.

2022

B.C. Budget 2022 extends the deadline for the production services tax credits applicant to file a pre-certification form from 60 to 120 days effective February 22, 2022.

This impacts productions that first incur accredited BC labour expenditures on or after February 22, 2022 and they must give a notice by submitting a pre-certification form through the Creative BC website within 120 days after incurring the first accredited B.C. labour expenditure.

Productions that first incurred accredited B.C. labour expenditures before February 22, 2022 but after June 30, 2020 have 60 days to file a pre-certification form (per Budget 2020).

If a pre-certification form is not submitted within the specified number of days, production companies are unable to claim labour expenditures incurred prior to filing the form.

For example, if a company files their pre-certification form 150 days after their first accredited B.C. labour expenditure, they will not be eligible to claim any labour expenditures that occurred within those 150 days. This in turn would reduce the production services tax credit that the production company would receive.

Once the pre-certification number is issued, the production corporation may apply to Creative BC to receive an accreditation certificate for the production.

To find out more, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/income-taxes/corporate/credits/production-services

 

2020
With the recent announcement of B.C.’s Budget & Fiscal Plan 2020, one new and two previous announcements should be noted by applicants to B.C. motion picture tax credit programs:

For details, please visit the Tax Credit Program pages on our website. Thank you for your ongoing collaboration, the Creative BC team looks forward to enhancing our services.