Consultation - Section 481

Regular readers will know that I have been harping on about the workings of Section 481 for some time, most recently here.

Yesterday the Department of Finance announced that a consultation on Section 481 will take place between now and July 31st.  A good briefing on the consultation and the workings of Section 481 is available on the Department website here.

The one issue that is not mentioned is that a new European dispensation for the industry is to come into effect before our present Section 481 arrangements come up for renewal in 2015. That said, the Department may be taking the view that any change to the regulatory framework to be introduced at the European, supra-national level may be minimal in its effects.

The consultation questions are summarised as follows:

1. Is the exchequer’s supports to the film and TV sector in Ireland through Section 481 relief an efficient use of scarce resources and if so why?
2. Is the current Scheme maximising the potential economic benefits to Ireland in terms of stimulating activity in the film and TV sector? If not, why not?
3. What are the economic arguments for restricting or terminating the scheme?
4. What possible changes to the existing scheme, if any, should be considered and why?
5. Do interested parties agree that there is merit in extending Section 481 Film Relief Tax incentive scheme beyond 2015? If yes, why? If no, why not?
6. How does the scheme interact with other enterprise tax incentives such as the BES/EII?

Get your spake in, as they used to say before we got posh.


update - James Hickey, IFB CEO, speaking about the consultation on 'Morning Ireland', RTE Radio 1, this morning - at this link.