Montreal: The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency reports its specialized film services units in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are fully operational and open for business.

The ccra says its new one-stop service will provide tax-related information to Canadian and offshore film and television producers as well as to foreign actors and workers shooting on location in Canada.

‘The fact there is a specialized unit that becomes sensitive to the way the industry operates, typical commercial arrangements in the industry, I think will help them [ccra] to refine the interpretations so they are more favorable,’ says David Zitzerman, an entertainment partner with Toronto law firm Goodman Phillips and Vineberg.

Zitzerman says the new dedicated units will help create a climate of greater consistency. ‘Just in my own [situation] in Toronto I find that it’s more efficient dealing with the same people so one develops an understanding of what the thinking is. Before there were so many people within Revenue Canada, each with their own views. And consistency is a great thing for the private sector because it leads to predictability and that leads to our ability to plan productions properly.’

Industry issues on the table with the ccra include taxation of non-resident actors in Canada and the ‘investor rules’ as related to the Canadian content tax credit and instances of the ‘transfer of the beneficial ownership of the copyright.’

ccra inquiries covering productions in b.c., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba should be directed to Bob Lee in the Vancouver film services unit office; inquiries for jurisdictions including Ontario, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon go to Ed Gough in the Toronto office; and for production in Quebec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, inquiries go to Colette Langlier in the Montreal office.

www.rc.gc.ca