New movies starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan were some of the big winners in the Section 481 film corporation tax credit scheme for the Irish movie and TV production sector last year.
New figures provided by the Revenue Commissioners show that the value of payments made under the Section 481 film corporation tax credit scheme in 2023 was €129.5m.
The 2023 total was a slight increase on the €127.2m in corporation tax credits paid out in 2022 under the scheme.
Netflix hit, Valhalla was the only production to secure tax credits in the €10m to €30m bracket last year for its Season 3 of the Viking drama.
Shot on location in Co Wicklow, Valhalla is a spin off of the successful Vikings and is set more than 100 years after the events of Vikings.
The figures show that series 2 of The Tourist, starring Jamie Dornan qualified for tax credits in the €5m to €10m range last year.
Series 2, currently on BBC’s Sunday primetime slot, features Dornan reprising his role as an amnesia-afflicted car crash victim struggling to piece together his past and Series 1 of the global TV hit has already featured on RTE and BBC.
Filming on Series 2 commenced in Dublin in April of last year.
A movie adaptation of acclaimed novelist, Claire Keegan’s bestseller, ‘Small Things Like These’ starring Oscar tipped Best Actor nominee, Cillian Murphy, received between €2m to €5m in movie tax credits.
The movie – set in an Irish town at Christmas 1985 – also stars Ciaran Hinds and Emily Watson and is to receive its world premiere when it opens the 74th Berlin International Film Festival next month.
Another production featuring Jamie Dornan, Borderline received tax credits of between €2m to €5m.
In the action thriller produced by Shinawil Ltd, Dornan plays an IRA operative sent to London in the mid-1970s – the production company put out a call for extras to feature in the production where parts of the drama were shot in Dundalk.
Production to receive tax credits in the final quarter of last year include two productions by Telegael Teoranta, Cat & Keet 2 and Pierre the Pigeon Hawk that each received tax credits in the €1m to €2m range.
Last month, the multi-award winning Brown Bag Films received tax credits of between €2m to €5m for Eva the Owlet and for Lu and the Bally Bunch.
Other well known productions to receive tax credits in 2023 include Cocaine Bear and Season 2 of crime drama, Kin while Sharon Horgan’s Bad Girls production received tax credits from €2m to €5m.
Last October, as part of Budget 2024, the Government announced an expansion of the Sector 481 tax credit scheme.
Prior to the Budget announcement, Section 481 credit offered a 32% corporation tax credit on qualifying expenditure for films or television productions made in Ireland, up to a limit of €70m per project.
That cap has now been raised to €125m.
Article Source – €129.5m paid out under film tax relief scheme last year – RTE