CT600P Creative industries

CT600P Tax Return Form for Creative industries

You need to complete these supplementary pages if:

Notes:

The following information is required:

P1 - Company name: Enter the name of the company.
P2 - Tax reference: Enter the company’s 10 digit unique taxpayer reference.
Period covered by this supplementary page (cannot exceed 12 months)
P3 - from DD MM YYYY: Enter the start date of the accounting period.
P4 - to DD MM YYYY: Enter the end date of the accounting period.

Information in P1–P4 will be automatically populated from the CT600 main form.

Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit:

A: Relevant global expenditure
B: UK expenditure
C: Qualifying expenditure
D: Expenditure credit claimed
E: Additional credit for visual effects (where applicable)

P5 Film

P10 High-end TV programmes

P15 Children’s TV programmes

P20 Animation

P25 Independent film

Note: P25A cannot exceed £15m per production. P25D subject to cap.

P30 Total

The totals of boxes P5 to P25 will be automatically calculated for each column, with the figure in column C copied to box P75, column D to box P80, and column E to box P81.

Video Games Expenditure Credit

A: Relevant global expenditure
B: UK expenditure
C: Qualifying expenditure
D: Expenditure credit claimed

P35 Video games

P45 Total

The figures in box P35 for each column will be auto-populated based on the entries made in P30, with the value from column C copied to box P85 and the value from column D copied to box P90.

Pre-step 1 restriction

Complete this section if you either:

have an amount of Step 2 restriction brought forward from a previous accounting period
wish to include an amount of AVEC and/or VGEC surrendered from other group companies

P50: Step 2 restriction brought forward from previous accounting periods and/or amounts surrendered from group companies.
P55: Corporation Tax liability.
P60: Amount of Step 2 brought forward and surrendered AVEC and VGEC used to discharge Corporation Tax liability.
P65: Amount of Step 2 brought forward AVEC and VGEC carried forward.
P70: Remaining Corporation Tax liability carried forward to Step 1.

Step 1: Calculation of Audio-Visual (AVEC) and Video Game (VGEC) Expenditure Credit set against Corporation Tax liability

This step uses expenditure credit arising in this accounting period to discharge any Corporation Tax liability remaining after the pre-Step 1 restriction. If you did not complete the pre-Step 1 restriction, your company’s Corporation Tax liability will be drawn from the figures in your CT600 form. Detailed guidance follows.

P75: Qualifying expenditure on which AVEC is claimed in this accounting period.
P80: AVEC claim for this accounting period (excluding additional credit for visual effects).
P81: Additional credit for visual effects for this accounting period.
P85: Qualifying expenditure on which VGEC is claimed in this accounting period.
P90: VGEC claim for this accounting period.
P95: Total AVEC and VGEC for the accounting period.
P100: Remaining Corporation Tax liability.
P105: Income Tax deducted from profits (applicable to Corporation Tax liability).
P110: Maximum amount available for Step 1 set-off.
P115: Amount of AVEC and VGEC used to discharge Corporation Tax at Step 1.

Step 2 – Calculation of notional tax charge

This step ensures that loss-makers receive the same net benefit as profit-makers, by applying a notional tax charge to the credit if it has not already been sufficiently reduced by Corporation Tax liability at Step 1. This makes the total cash benefit for all claimants equal to the expenditure credit, net of tax at the main rate of Corporation Tax.

P120: Step 1 balance carried forward to Step 2.
P125: Corporation Tax charge on AVEC and VGEC for this accounting period.
P130: Total AVEC and VGEC less Corporation Tax charge for this accounting period.
P135: AVEC and VGEC less remaining Corporation Tax liability at Step 1.
P140: Step 2 restriction carried forward to next accounting period.

Step 3: AVEC/VGEC to be offset against outstanding Corporation Tax Liabilities

Any amount remaining after Step 2 is used to discharge any outstanding Corporation Tax liabilities of the company for any other accounting period(s). A liability is any amount of Corporation Tax that is due but not settled.

P145: Step 2 balance carried forward to Step 3.
P150: Amount used to discharge Corporation Tax liability on another accounting period (cannot exceed P145).

Step 4: Amount surrendered to group member

If the company is a member of a group, it may surrender some or all of any amount remaining after Step 3 to any other group member. This step is optional – your company can choose not to surrender any amount.

P155: Step 3 balance carried forward to Step 4.
P160: Credit surrendered to group member (cannot exceed P155).

Step 5: Amount used to discharge other company liabilities

Any amount remaining after Step 4 is used to discharge any other liability of the company to pay a sum to the Commissioners, for example VAT liabilities or amounts owed under a contract settlement.

P165: Step 4 balance carried forward to Step 5.
P170: Amount used to discharge other company liability on this Corporation Tax Self Assessment (cannot exceed P165).
P175: Amount used to discharge any other company liability (cannot exceed P165 minus P170).
P180: Total used to discharge other company liability.

Step 6 – Payable Audio-Visual (AVEC) and Video Games (VGEC) Expenditure Credit

The final amount remaining is payable to the company, provided that the company is not in administration or liquidation when its CT600 Company Tax Return is submitted.

P185: Amounts not payable due to section 1179CG CTA 2009 (administration/liquidation rule).
P190: Payable AVEC and VGEC (P165 minus P180 and P185).

AVEC and VGEC carried forward

This section allows your company to surrender amounts of credit restricted by Step 2 to other companies in the same group. Like Step 4, this is optional, and your company can surrender some, all or none of its available credit as it chooses.

Credit which is not surrendered is carried forward and can be used to discharge your company’s Corporation Tax liabilities of future accounting periods, at the pre-Step 1 restriction.

P195: Pre-step 1 restriction.
P200: Step 2 restriction.
P205: Surrendered to other group company (cannot exceed P195 + P200).
P210: Total carried forward to next accounting period (P195 + P200 minus P205).

AVEC and VGEC surrendered

P215: Step 2 restriction surrendered.
P220: Step 4 credit surrendered to group member.
P225: Total surrendered.

Total credits to discharge against liabilities in this Company Tax Return

P230: AVEC and VGEC pre-step 1 discharge amount.
P235: AVEC and VGEC Step 1 discharge amount.
P240: AVEC and VGEC Step 5 discharge amount for this accounting period.
P245: Total (P230 + P235 + P240).
P250: Details of AVEC and VGEC surrendered.

You need to complete this section if you are surrendering any amount of credit using box P205 and/or box P160. Include details of all companies receiving a surrendered amount.

For each surrender, enter:

The name of the company receiving the surrendered amount
The tax reference of that company (known as their Unique Taxpayer Reference number or UTR number)
The start and end date of the accounting period of that company. This can be different from the period covered by your company’s tax return, but the periods must overlap by at least one day
The amount surrendered

If you are surrendering credit to the same company for multiple different accounting periods of that company, make an entry in the table for each period.

P255: Total amount surrendered.

Film, high-end TV, children’s TV, animation and video games tax relief

If your company has films, TV programmes or video games for which it is claiming Audio-Visual or Video Games Expenditure Credits instead of one of the predecessor tax reliefs, do not include them in this section – see box P5 onwards.

If your production began on or after 1 April 2025, you must claim Audio-Visual or Video Games Expenditure Credits instead of the tax reliefs. All remaining productions must switch over to the expenditure credits from 1 April 2027. This section is unavailable for accounting periods beginning on or after that date.

For films and TV programmes, core expenditure is expenditure on pre-production, principal photography and post-production. For video games, core expenditure is expenditure on designing, producing and testing a game. Do not include any sub-contractor costs that exceed the £1 million cap for video games and are therefore not qualifying expenditure (see section 1217CF(3A) Corporation Tax Act (CTA) 2009).

Core expenditure is expenditure ‘for this accounting period’ if it is brought into account when calculating the profits of the separate production trade for the accounting period covered by this supplementary form.

For films and TV programmes, ’UK core expenditure for this accounting period’ is the amount of total core expenditure for this accounting period that was incurred on goods and services that are used or consumed in the United Kingdom. See:

Section 1185(1) CTA 2009, for films
Section 1216AH(1) CTA 2009, for TV programmes

For video games, European expenditure is used instead of UK expenditure. Enter the amount of total core expenditure for this accounting period that was incurred on goods and services provided from within the United Kingdom or European Economic Area (see section 1217AE(1) CTA 2009).

The ‘additional deduction’ is the amount given by:

Section 1200 of the Corporation Tax Act (CTA) 2009, for films
Section 1216CG CTA 2009, for TV programmes
Section 1217CG CTA 2009, for video games

The additional deduction is calculated for each period of account. If your company’s period of account is over 12 months long and is covered by multiple accounting periods, you should apportion the additional deduction between the accounting periods. You should only include the additional deduction for this accounting period in the table.

The ‘losses surrendered for this accounting period’ is the amount given by:

Section 1202 CTA 2009, for films
Section 1216CH CTA 2009, for TV programmes
Section 1217CH CTA 2009, for video games

The ‘tax credit claimed for this accounting period’ is the amount given by:

Section 1202 CTA 2009, for films
Section 1216CI CTA 2009, for TV programmes
Section 1217CI CTA 2009, for video games

In each row of the table, you should enter the combined total of total core expenditure, UK core expenditure (European for video games), additional deduction, losses surrendered, and tax credit claimed for all your productions that are of the same category. For example, if your company has produced two films, you should include the sum of both films’ total core expenditure for the period in box P260 column A, the sum of their UK core expenditure for the period in column B, the sum of their additional deductions for the period in column C, the sum of their losses surrendered in column D and the sum of tax credit claimed for the period on both productions in column E.

Although you should enter combined totals in this table, your computations should show a detailed calculation of all the figures for each production separately.

Film, TV & Animation

A: Core expenditure
B: UK core expenditure
C: Additional deduction
D: Losses surrendered for tax credit
E: Tax credit claimed

P260: Film

Include totals for all films, including animated films.

P265: High-end TV

Include totals for all high-end TV programmes.

P270: Children's TV

Include totals for all children’s TV programmes.

P275: Animation

Include totals for all animated TV programmes (not films).

P280: Video Games

Include totals for all video games.

P285: Total

Totals of boxes P260–P280 for each column and the values are filled in automatically.

Cultural reliefs

Core expenditure is defined in:

Section 1217GC of the Corporation Tax Act (CTA) 2009, for theatrical productions
Section 1217RC CTA 2009, for orchestral productions
Section 1218ZCD CTA 2009, for museum and gallery exhibitions

‘UK core expenditure for this accounting period’ is the amount of total core expenditure for this accounting period that was incurred on goods and services that are used or consumed in the United Kingdom. See:

Section 1217GB(2) CTA 2009, for theatrical productions
Section 1217RB(2) CTA 2009, for orchestral productions
Section 1218ZCC(2) CTA 2009, for museum and gallery exhibitions

For accounting periods beginning before 1 April 2025, you may need to include European expenditure instead of UK expenditure, for some or all of the period. European expenditure is expenditure on goods and services provided from within the United Kingdom and European Economic Area. For more information, read:

TTR50090 - Eligible expenditure: European and UK expenditure - transition rules - HMRC internal manual, for theatrical productions
OTR60070 - Orchestra Tax Relief: eligible expenditure: European and UK expenditure - transition rules - HMRC internal manual, for orchestral productions
MGETR60070 - Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief: eligible expenditure: European and UK expenditure - transition rules - HMRC internal manual, for museum and gallery exhibitions

The ‘additional deduction’ is the amount given by:

Section 1217J CTA 2009, for theatrical productions
Section 1217RE CTA 2009, for orchestral productions
Section 1218ZCF CTA 2009, for museum and gallery exhibitions

The ‘losses surrendered for this accounting period’ is the amount given by:

Section 1217KA CTA 2009, for theatrical productions
Section 1217RH CTA 2009, for orchestral productions
Section 1218ZCI CTA 2009, for museum and gallery exhibitions

The ‘tax credit claimed for this accounting period’ is the amount given by:

Section 1217K CTA 2009, for theatrical productions
Section 1217RG CTA 2009, for orchestral productions
Section 1218ZCH CTA 2009, for museum and gallery exhibitions

In each row of the table, you should enter the combined total of total core expenditure, UK core expenditure, additional deduction, losses surrendered, and tax credit claimed for all your productions that are of the same category. For example, if your company has produced two theatrical productions, you should include the sum of both productions’ total core expenditure for the period in box P290 column A, the sum of their UK core expenditure in column B, the sum of their additional deductions for the period in column C, the sum of their losses surrendered in column D and the sum of tax credit claimed for the period on both productions in column E.

Although you should enter combined totals in this table, your computations should show a detailed calculation of all the figures for each production separately.

Theatre, Orchestra & Exhibitions

A: Core expenditure
B: UK core expenditure (may include European expenditure in some cases)
C: Additional deduction
D: Losses surrendered for tax credit
E: Tax credit claimed

P290: Theatre

Include totals for all theatrical productions (plays, operas, musicals, ballets).

P295: Orchestra

Include totals for all orchestral productions.

P300: Museum/gallery exhibition

Include totals for all museum and/or gallery exhibitions.

P305: Total

Totals of boxes P290–P300 for each column and the values are filled in automatically.

Cultural reliefs and film, high-end TV, children’s TV, animation and video game tax relief

P310: Total core expenditure for this accounting period.
P315: Total additional deduction for this accounting period.
P320: Total tax credit claim for this accounting period.
P325: Payable tax credit set-off against other liabilities on this return.
P330: Balance payable tax credit.