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

Check if your company qualifies for Corporation Tax High-end Television 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
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, high-end 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 programme qualifies for the tax relief

Your company can claim the relief on a programme if:
- the programme is certified as British by the British Film Institute
- the programme is intended for broadcast to the general public — this includes streaming online
- the programme is a drama, comedy or documentary
- at least 10% of the total core costs relate to activities in the UK
- the average core costs are at least £1 million per hour of slot length
- the slot length in relation to the programme is greater than 30 minutes
- it started principal photography on or before 31 March 2025
Core costs are what’s 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 a broadcast of live events, including theatrical and artistic performance
- is produced for training purposes
You can check if the production 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 will reduce the amount of any Corporation Tax you will 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 High-end Television 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 High-end Television 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 High-end Television Tax Relief from 1 April 2027

You cannot claim High-end Television 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 High-end Television Tax Relief for.

Get more information

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