Spain intends to become a magnet for international shoots
- With a range of new, more significant tax incentives, Spain is aiming to compete with other filming locations in Europe and thus attract major movie productions to its soil
Yesterday, the second conference on “The Economics of Shooting in Spain: Tax Incentives for International Shoots” took place at the Ministry of Finance in Madrid, organised by the Spain Film Commission. The function featured an analysis of the taxation system and the implementation of incentives for international shoots in Spain, as outlined in Article 36.2 of the recent Ley 27/2014 law, which regulates the taxation of companies and attempts to boost the development of the Spanish audiovisual industry by increasing the percentage of tax deduction for investments in production. It sets a deduction of 15% of the expenditure incurred on Spanish soil by major international productions in order to subsequently attract this type of project, which has a significant impact on the economy and tourism.
As Begoña García Rozado, Deputy Director of Taxes on Legal Entities, pointed out, Spanish producers that are responsible for carrying out a foreign production in Spain with a minimum investment of one million euros will be able to benefit from this deduction. The value of this deduction will never rise above €2.5 million per film. On the Canary Islands, given their geographical location, a deduction of 38-40% for investment in Spanish productions will be applicable, and a figure of 35% will apply to the expenditure incurred for foreign productions.
According to Carlos Rosado, president of the Spain Film Commission, the benefits that the shoot for Exodus: Gods and Kings brought to Almeria opened up the Ministry of Finance’s eyes, and thus it pledged to increase Spain’s competitiveness in the sector, “because this country is a sleeping lion, and other countries are taking advantage of it”. Meanwhile, Miguel Ferré Navarrete, Secretary of State for Finance, assured those present that with this tax reform, “we want to strengthen national production, with a 20% deduction in costs on films under the one-million-euro mark”. Lastly, Lorena González, director of the Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute (ICAA – read more), asked for these new incentives to be spread beyond the country’s borders.
More information can be found on the websites of the Spain Film Commission and the Spanish Tax Agency.
(Translated from Spanish)
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