04-10-2011

Czechs Renew Tax Incentives for 2012

By FNE Staff
    PRAGUE: The Czech government will again budget CZK 300 million for film production support in the form of tax incentives, the same amount that was budgeted in 2011.

    The funds are given out as a return of up to 20% of production spend in the Czech Republic for foreign productions, however the funding is not limited to foreign productions. Numerous Czech coproductions benefited from the funding in 2011.

    Filmmakers and film service companies have begun speaking about raising the limit or abolishing the ceiling altogether, citing the overall profit that the productions have brought to the Czech Republic since the incentives were first approved in June 2010. Additionally, the demand for access to the funds was so great in 2011 that the entire amount available had largely been promised by spring.

    According to local news reports, several major international productions are expressing interest in filming in the Czech Republic, dependant on tax incentives. They include The Gray Man starring Brad Pitt and the BBC's Henry V.