PSTC 36% of accredited B.C. labour, plus regional, distant and DAVE
Primary-sourced 2026-07-29 · full statutes, quotes and legislative history in docs/tax/province-bc.md · estimates only, never tax advice.
before bonuses · the rate a foreign production starts from
Fully refundable, claimed with the T2 corporate return. Filing deadline extended from 18 to 36 months for tax years ending on or after 17 Aug 2024. PSTC pre-certification was eliminated for productions first incurring accredited B.C. labour on or after 20 Oct 2025.
net effective on total budget · ≈C$4.2M stacked with federal
Model your own →Where a province runs more than one, they are usually mutually exclusive — a production claims one, not both. Getting this fork wrong is the most expensive mistake available at this stage.
For accredited productions. Open to domestic and foreign producers with no Canadian-content requirement. Mutually exclusive with FIBC — a production claims one or the other, never both.
| Component | Rate | Base |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 36% | Accredited qualified B.C. labour (AQBCLE) 28% for starts between 1 Oct 2016 and 31 Dec 2024 |
| Regional | 6% | AQBCLE, prorated by B.C. principal-photography days outside the designated Vancouver area |
| Distant location | 6% | AQBCLE, prorated by days in a distant location |
| DAVE | 16% | AQBCLE attributable to digital animation, VFX and post |
| Major production | 2% | AQBCLE where completed B.C. costs exceed $200M Brings the basic rate to 38% |
For Canadian-controlled, B.C.-based production corporations making Canadian-content productions. Requires a B.C.-based Canadian producer, majority copyright, content points and 75% B.C. spend/days tests.
| Component | Rate | Base |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 40% | Qualified B.C. labour (QBCLE), capped at 60% of production cost Raised from 35% by Budget 2025, retroactive to 1 Jan 2025 |
| Regional | 12.5% | QBCLE, prorated by days outside the designated Vancouver area |
Provincial production-services credits can be stacked with the federal PSTC — but under ITA s. 125.5(1) they count as "assistance" and reduce the federal qualified-labour base dollar for dollar. So the provincial credit is computed first, and the federal applies to what is left. This is the interaction that breaks spreadsheets.
ITA s. 125.5 · Income Tax Regulations s. 9300 · Cannot be combined with the federal CPTC on the same production (ITA s. 125.5(4)).
Things secondary summaries routinely get wrong.
Primary only. Secondary aggregators are used as cross-checks, never as a source of record.
Whether your production actually qualifies — and which stream to elect — depends on ownership, content points, labour share and where you shoot. That is the conversation worth having before you lock a budget.
British Columbia against the markets it usually competes with.
Rates are the easy part. Whether the crew and stage space exist in your window is the part that decides it.