Tax Credits for Videogame Production Companies — Law n° 220/2016 (art. 15)

Description

Law n° 220 of 14 November 2016 'Disciplina del cinema e dell'audiovisivo' establishes the 'Film and Audiovisual Fund' aimed at funding works through tax credits, automatic contributions and selective contributions.

The law recognises six types of tax credits:

Tax credits for production companies (article 15);
Tax credits for distribution companies (article 16);
Tax credits for film exhibitors, technical industries and post-production companies (article 17);
Tax credits for strengthening the film supply (article 18);
Tax credits for attracting investments in film and audiovisual products to Italy (article 19);
Tax credits for companies that do not belong to the film and audiovisual sector (article 20).

Tax credits for videogame production companies allow companies to offset tax liabilities (IRES – corporate income tax, IRPEF – income tax, IRAP – regional income tax, VAT, social security and insurance contributions) with credits accrued following an investment in film and audiovisual development and production.

Contacts

Carla Felli
Phone: 06 6723 3329
Email: carla.felli@cultura.gov.it

Link to the call Print Tab

Data sheet

Production

Italian videogame

Film industry branch

Production

Assessment

automatic

Beneficiaries

Italian production company
(Italian videogame production companies)

Maximum contribution

€ 1 million for each company

Type of contribution

Tax credit

Tax credit rate

25%

Requirements

Minimum paid-up share capital: €10,000
Minimum net assets: €10,000

ATECO code 62 or 58.2
Legal headquarters in the European Economic Area
Taxable in Italy
Excluded: individuals, Non-profit foundations and cultural associations
The project must be recognised as being of Italian nationality
The project must be recognised as having cultural value
An amount, equal (or more) to the tax credit requested, must be spent in the Economic European Area

Payment schedule

Recognition by the examining commission (as per Art. 5 D.M.) of the cultural value of the work, following the criteria and parameters established in Table A of the D.M.

Work on the videogame must begin no later than 180 days from the end of the session where the application was made.

The definitive request, with final accounting, within 180 days from the date of the first market offer (in any case no later than 36 months from the publishing date of the list of beneficiaries).

Notes

The tax credits mature and may be used from the 10^th day of the month following the calendar month when the conditions below are met:

DG Cinema e Audiovisivo publishes the list of videogames that have passed the examining commission (as per Art. 5) and the potential tax credit due to that project (in chronological order of application presentation while the available resources permit);
production expenses have been incurred, as per Art. 109 of Presidential Decree 22/12/86 n. 917, including «Testo Unico delle Imposte sui Redditi» (“TUIR”);
Payment for the preceding letter b. has been made.

*NOTE ON ASSESSMENT. This is a form of attribution that is mostly AUTOMATIC but with a SELECTIVE element. Automatic in that the credit is calculated automatically against the eligible costs spent by the applicant company; however, recognition of the credit is subordinate to reaching a minimum number of points from the examining commission of experts which meets after each session to deliberate on the cultural value of the projects.