AudioUK has today published a report outlining the case for an audio production tax relief (APTR).
The proposed tax relief would aim to take advantage of the growing investment in podcast and audiobook production by international brands, broadcasters and others, which has led to a rapidly growing market. A tax relief would directly reduce the amount of tax paid on a production which met certain criteria.
The government already has a number of other creative sector tax reliefs in areas such as high-end TV production, animation and video games. All of these have been shown to attract investment into those sectors and this has had knock-on positive effects on other parts of the UK economy.
AudioUK’s report details how the UK’s well-established audio production sector is well-placed to take advantage of this boom and that the tax relief would shine a light on the sector and allow it to attract a larger proportion of the international investment available.
UK production companies have a strong track record of making high-quality award-winning content, originating in radio programmes and now in podcasts and audiobooks. This presents a huge opportunity which many producers are already seeking to take, with some success. The report also points out that other countries will increasingly be focusing on that growing creative industry as a place to target investment and other support, therefore meaning that this is a crucial time for UK the Government to introduce incentives to invest in the UK.
The report contains financial analysis from the specialist consultancy Communications Chambers, which estimates that the introduction of an APTR would result in a net gain to the Treasury in terms of its overall contribution to the economy.
The report has been submitted to government and AudioUK will be seeking discussions about introducing an APTR as part of next year’s Budget.
Kellie While, Chair of AudioUK, said:
“Our members are beginning to see the benefits of the growth in podcasts and audiobooks – as entrepreneurs they’re looking to grow their businesses using their long-established expertise in audio production. But it won’t be long before other nations begin to develop their own capacity in podcasting and we are already seeing one or two examples of other governments’ support for this. So now is a crucial time to introduce this tax relief to make sure our creative economy can take full advantage of the growing international investment.”
You can read our report on an audio production tax relief here.