Claiming Animation Tax Relief for Corporation Tax
Source: gov.uk (2025-05-21)

Check if your company qualifies for Corporation Tax Animation Tax Relief and what you can claim.

Watch a video about how creative industry tax reliefs work.

What are creative industry tax reliefs and how do they work? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5hz64Y8pa8)

Who can claim

Your company must be responsible for:
- pre-production
- principal photography
- post-production
- delivery of the completed programme
Your company must also:
- be actively engaged in planning and decision-making
- directly negotiate, contract and pay for rights, goods and services
Animation programmes commissioned together are treated as one programme.

Check if your company qualifies as the production company (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-creative-industry-tax-reliefs) before claiming the relief.

Cultural test

To qualify for creative industry tax reliefs, all animation television programmes must be certified as British. They must pass a cultural test or qualify through an internationally agreed co-production treaty.

The British Film Institute manages certification and qualification on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The British Film Institute will issue:
- an interim certificate for uncompleted work
- a final certificate where production has finished
You can find more information about certification and applying on the British Film Institute website (https://www.bfi.org.uk/certification).

Check if the animation qualifies for the tax relief

Your company can claim the relief on an animation programme if:
- the programme is certified as British by the British Film Institute
- the programme is intended for broadcast — this includes streaming online
- at least 51% of the ‘core costs’ are spent on animation
- at least 10% of the ‘core costs’ relate to activities in the UK
- it started principal photography on or before 31 March 2025
Core costs are what’s been spent on pre-production, principal photography and post-production.

Your company cannot claim the relief if the programme:
- is an advertisement or promotional programme
- is a news, current affairs or discussion programme
- is a quiz or game show, panel show, variety show, or similar programme
- consists of, or includes an element of, competition or contest
- is produced for training purposes
You can check if the animation qualifies for the relief (https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-your-production-or-exhibition-qualifies-for-corporation-tax-relief).

What you can claim

You can claim an additional deduction to reduce your profits or to increase a loss. This reduces the amount of any Corporation Tax you need to pay.

The additional deduction will be the lower of either:
- 80% of total core costs
- the amount of UK core costs
If you make a loss, some or all of this loss can be surrendered for a payable tax credit at a rate of 25%.

Work out how much creative industry tax relief (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-creative-industry-tax-relief-or-expenditure-credits-for-your-production) you can claim for your production.

When you can claim

You may make, amend or withdraw a claim for Animation Tax Relief up to one year after the company’s filing date.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, you may make, amend or withdraw a claim for Animation Tax Relief up to 2 years after the end of the period of account the claim relates to.

HMRC may agree to accept late claims in some circumstances.

How to claim

Watch a video about how to claim creative industry tax relief.

How to make a claim for creative industries tax relief (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9nTsziMR7o)

Claim the tax relief on your Company Tax Return (https://www.gov.uk/company-tax-returns).

You will need to calculate the amount of:
- additional deduction due to your company
- any payable credit due
You must submit an additional information form (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/support-your-claim-for-creative-industry-tax-reliefs) as evidence for your claim for creative industry tax reliefs.

For each production you must provide:
- a British cultural certificate from the British Film Institute — if you send an interim certificate, you must send in the final certificate when the programme is complete and the certificate must be in date when you submit it
- statements of the amount of core costs, split by UK and non-UK costs
- a breakdown of costs by category
Closure of Animation Tax Relief from 1 April 2027

You cannot claim Animation Tax Relief for any productions that start principal photography after 31 March 2025.

The relief will close for all productions from 1 April 2027.

You may be able to claim an Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-audio-visual-expenditure-credits-for-corporation-tax) for any productions that you cannot claim Animation Tax Relief for.

Get more information

You can find more information, including examples of how the relief is calculated, in the Animation Production Company Manual (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/animation-production-company-manual).