Ireland’s 8% tax incentive uplift for feature films under €20m comes into force

The Irish government has confirmed that it can claim an 8% rise in the Section 481 film tax incentive, aimed at supporting local feature films with Irish creative talents who budget on a budget of up to 20 million euros (£16.7 million).

The bump was first announced in October 2024, but was subject to approval of European Union aid and was signed into Irish law last week.

In addition to the existing Section 481 requirements, to qualify for 40% tax easing, a film must have one of the key creative roles of a film director, screenwriter, composer, editor, cinematographer, production designer (or art director, composer, production designer in the case of animated feature films).

Feature films should be intended for display at commercial cinemas in Ireland for at least five days.

The 8% bump was introduced to address the important challenges faced by smaller Irish feature film projects.

The tax incentives of Standard Section 481 allow film and television productions to claim a 32% tax deduction on eligible spendings of up to 125 million euros, and the production company offers transactions through Irish residents or branches or agents in Ireland. Tax incentives apply to all eligible expenditures up to 80% of production costs.

The uplift comes from broadly lining up Irish incentives to the UK’s Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC). This is introduced at 80% of the qualification spending, at a 40% tax rate for films with a core spending of up to £15 million or production budget, and can be charged as of April 1st of this year, after entering the production on April 1st, then entering the production. However, although IFTC qualifies, IFTC can only charge up to 80% of the UK qualification expenditures up to £15 million. )

Filming in Ireland within this budgetary range includes ITA Fitzgerald’s UK-Ireland co-production West of the road, Filmed later this year, Grant Gee’s Everyone digs Bill Evansanother British-Ireland co-produced filming this week.

Irish Fund

Smaointe (roughly translated into English “thinking”) is the name of the currently open euro 1 million funds from Screen Ireland to support Irish production companies and develop Irish language projects across films, television and animation. This follows international awards and box office success. Quiet girl and patella.

“At Físéireann/Screen Ireland we are deeply proud to be able to support Irish films, which has been made possible by the creative talent that has brought industry acclaim and success in recent years.” “We would like to thank the Ministry of Finance for the availability of the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Communication, Media, Sports and Scéal Uplift.

“In collaboration with these support, the launch of Screen Ireland’s Smaointe, the Irish Slate Development Fund, offers further opportunities for Irish storytelling on-screen. Thanks to the incredible success of Irish-language films, we are based on the growth of ambitions and artistic visions from Irish-Language Film and Television.”

“The ‘Scéal’ Uplift will provide an additional 8% tax cut to production companies that produce small to medium-sized feature films and animated films,” added Patrick O’Donovan, Minister of Arts, Media, Communication, Culture and Sports. “This is a positive change in the Section 481 Film Tax Relief System that benefits Irish film industry, senior creative roles Irish film workers, and Irish cinemas. As a result of this new scheme, I look forward to seeing productions being created in the coming years for the Irish film and animation sector.”