Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC)

Amount: refundable tax credit of 25% of your qualified labour expenditures.

The Canadian film or video production tax credit (CPTC) encourages both production in Canada and Canadian programming.

The Canada Revenue Agency and the Department of Canadian Heritage, through the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office, jointly administer this tax credit.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for the Canadian film or video production tax credit, your production must first be certified by the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office as a Canadian film or video production.

Also, your corporation:

  • Must primarily be a Canadian film or video production business with a permanent establishment in Canada throughout the year.
  • Cannot be tax-exempt at any time in the year.
  • Cannot be controlled by one or more tax-exempt person at any time in the year.

Amount

If eligible for the CPTC, your corporation can get a refundable tax credit of 25% of your qualified labour expenditures. The qualified labour expenditures cannot be more than 60% of production costs (net of assistance). There is no limit on the amount of tax credit you can receive for a production.

You can claim only one of the following federal tax credits for a production:

  • CPTC
  • Film or video production services tax credit