.png)
.png)
The Treasury has hailed as a success its film tax relief programme, after publishing figures showing that £104 million of relief has been provided to support the production of around 100 new UK films.
The numbers are the first to be produced since the scheme began in January 2007 with the aim of promoting the production of 'culturally British' films (that must incur a minimum of 25% of total expenditure in the UK to qualify for the relief).
To the end of March 2008, 110 claims received relief, while 155 claims have been made overall for a total of £126 million — although some claims are still being processed and are, therefore, not included in the newly published data.
Financial secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms said: 'These figures reinforce the role film tax relief is playing in strengthening the British film industry and encouraging the production of high-quality home-grown films'.
At the beginning of the year, HMRC established a new, Manchester-based unit dedicated to handling claims for film tax relief.
