For the first time in more than a decade, the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) is increasing its tax credit administration fees.

Beginning Apr. 1, the OMDC will apply a rate of 0.15% of eligible expenditures to all tax credits, with a minimum and maximum cap for each application.

The OMDC administers six credits, including the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit (OFTTC), Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit (OCASE), Ontario Production Services Tax Credit (OPSTC) and the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit (OIDMTC). All of these tax credits previously had different fee structures, but minimum fees ranged from $100 to $1,000 and maximum caps ranged from $2,000 to $5,000.

Under the new system, all screen-based credits will have a maximum fee of $10,000 per application, while the OFTTC and OCASE will have minimum fees of $500, $5,000 for the OPSTC and the OIDMTC will have a minimum of $1,000. 

According to the OMDC, there’s been a 221% increase in the number of tax credit applications since the 2004/2005 year. At the same time, the administrative costs of processing applications has also increased.

“The legislation does change, and the more you add on layers to legislation there’s more for us to review with each file,” Jennifer Blitz, director of tax credits and financing at OMDC, told Playback Daily.

Blitz said the move was necessary for Ontario to recover costs and the OMDC was also looking to find “a consistent logic” that could be used for all of its tax credits. While Blitz did state that “everyone will see an increase in their tax credit admin fee,” she said the OMDC was looking to find an equitable and proportional solution.

“Since we’re using the same percentage and it’s based on eligible expenditures, a producer of a small-budget production will see a smaller increase to the tax credit admin fee that they’ll pay compared to a foreign producer coming in with a $100 million-dollar production,” she said.

Blitz also noted that other jurisdictions in the country are moving to a cost-recovery model and the admin fee charged by the OMDC is still favourable to those charged in other locations. Some jurisdictions, she said, have a much higher cap or no cap at all.

The Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit (OBPTC) and Ontario Sound Recording Tax Credit (OSRTC) minimum and maximum fees per application are untouched and will remain $50 and $200 respectively. The corporate max cap per year for the OSRTC will also remain $3,000.

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