Montreal: Quebec Finance Minister Bernard Landry’s March 14 budget extends the admissibility of foreign labor costs for animation productions by one year to March 25, 2001. The admissibility of these offshore costs was scheduled to end March 25, following an initial three-year extension granted in 1997.

The budget also specifies the refundable production tax-credit cap of $2.5 million per production or series is maintained but limited to qualified coproducers who will share the tax-credit benefit on a per company basis, reflecting separately filed admissible production and manpower costs. This modification went into effect March 15.