Canary Islands Reform Tax Break Funding, as Archipelago Looks for Further Growth in Its Film-TV Hub

variety.com:

Annika Pham In a move to consolidate its bullishly expanding audiovisual industry, Spain’s Canary Islands have just scrapped a prior €50 million ($53.5 million) cap on total annual tax incentives tapped by movies and series shooting in the archipelago.

Announced April 30, the ground-breaking measure was applauded by local industry heavyweights who have been lobbying national and regional authorities, “This couldn’t be better news for the Canarian audiovisual sector, and by extension, for the Spanish audiovisual sector,” said Rubén Zarauza, president of the Audiovisual Cluster of the Canary Islands, and co-head of Amuse Studios, the Spanish branch of France’s Amuse Animation group. “What we have achieved with this [tax break] cap removal is greater peace of mind for producers and other players in the sector,” Zarauza added.

Pablo Hernández, president of ZEC, the Canary Islands’ tax Special Zone, offered to regions on the periphery of the European Union, echoed Zarauza: “The tax credit in the Canary Islands for [single] audiovisual productions is 54% for the first €1 million [$1.1 million] of eligible expenditure and 45% for amounts exceeding €1 million,” he told Variety. “The maximum is a €36 million [$38.9 million] tax rebate/credit for a film, and €18 million [$19.4 million] per episode for a series.

There was a limit of €50 million for all projects worth approximately €250 million [$270 million] in annual production spend.