The B.C. government’s latest 2025-28 budget plan includes increases to the province’s film and television tax credits and restoring regional and distant supplemental tax credits for animation productions.

For Canadian productions, the budget, released on March 4 by B.C. Minister of Finance Brenda Bailey (pictured), would increase the Film Incentive BC (FIBC) basic tax credit from 35% to 40% for projects that began principal photography after Dec. 31, 2024. This represents a 4% increase from what the government initially proposed last December.

The increase to the province’s Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) remains the same as was proposed in December, with the budget set to bring the basic credit up to 36% from 28% for productions beginning principal photography on or after Jan. 1. Creative BC is the administrator for both of the province’s motion picture tax credit programs.

PTSC claimants with projects that began principal photography after Dec. 31, 2024 would also be eligible for a new major productions tax credit.  The credit would be available for productions with costs greater than $200 million and, subject to approval of budget legislation, would equal 2% of the qualified B.C. labour expenditure in respect of the major production upon its completion.

The budget would also see the regional and distant location tax credits for animation productions for both FIBC and PSTC restored. In the 2024 budget, animation productions were excluded from the supplemental credits from June 1 to Dec. 31, 2024.

The regional tax credit for the FIBC, available for productions outside the designated Vancouver area, is 12.5% of qualified B.C. labour expenditures for the tax year. To be eligible, animation productions must have a physical office in prescribed regional or distant locations and have the workers claimed for the credit in that office at least 50% of the time beginning on or after Jan. 1.

For the PTSC, the regional location tax credit is 6%. For animation productions working within a designated distant location area, they would also be eligible for the distant location tax credit. That credit is also 6% for both FIBC and PSTC.

Image courtesy of the Province of British Columbia