Plans Underway in the UK for Possible Tax Break for Developers

Lobbying will begin this week in the UK following a move by the EU in France where game makers will start to receive up to a 20% tax rebate on development costs. According to the UK developer body Tiga’s CEO and chairman Fred Hasson, steps are being taken to get the same tax breaks for UK developers, and the government is expected to make a decision very soon.

“We’re going to be going to the Ministries, including the Treasury, and asking them if they would now like to consider applying the same tax breaks that apply to film in the UK, to the videogames industry,” he said. “We’ll definitely be doing that, this week. I’ll be putting calls in to the Ministries, and we’ll be looking to get a response very soon after Christmas, if not before.”

The reasoning behind the recent tax break talks relates largely to companies relocating outside the UK and they are hoping that with a new tax incentive it will entice companies to stay. Other European countries have already felt the monetary impact from companies leaving to go elsewhere for a “better deal” – mostly Canada and Singapore – and this is what prompted the EU to to take action in France originally.

“We have got a lot of anecdotal evidence to show that individuals are being targeted by the Canadian tax breaks in a very aggressive way. The French lost half their industry to Canada in a period of about two years. I don’t think we’ve hit a peak yet in the UK, I think that peak is coming any time now. And then add to that a downturn in the fortunes after the Christmas market, which we’ll know about in February or March next year – nothing new in that – but it’s not going to look as rosy as it is now with everybody working as much as they can,” said Hasson.

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