Incentives · Canada vs. the world

Canada
vs. New Zealand

Modelled on a $12M USD limited series. Canada's best province against New Zealand's realistic effective rate — not its headline.

🇨🇦 Canada — best province (Manitoba)
31.5%
≈ C$5.2M · refundable

Cash timing: filed with the corporate return, assessed and paid 12–24 months after wrap. Borrowable against, not sellable.

🇳🇿 New Zealand
20.0%
≈ C$3.3M · 20% headline

Cash timing: Cash rebate, post-completion. Minimum NZ$4m for live action from 1 January 2026 (NZ$15m still applies to theatrical features whose principal photography began before that date). PDV productions qualify from NZ$250,000. The 5% uplift requires a points test..

Where New Zealand is strong
  • Landscape no other jurisdiction can substitute
  • World-leading VFX capability
  • Minimum spend cut from NZ$15m to NZ$4m in January 2026 — far more accessible
  • 5% Uplift threshold cut to NZ$20m and extended to PDV-only projects
  • PDV threshold of NZ$250,000 makes post-only work viable, and the 5% uplift extends to PDV productions from January 2026
Where it costs you
  • Base rate of 20% is the lowest here without the uplift
  • Small crew base — one tentpole absorbs the market
  • Extreme travel distance
The verdict

Canada is ahead by 11.5 points on rate — and the rate is the smaller half of it.

Canada wins when

Almost any urban-set production, and anything schedule-sensitive or needing depth of crew.

New Zealand wins when

The landscape is the character, you are already working with the VFX houses there, or you are a mid-budget production newly eligible under the 2026 threshold changes.

Model your budget → Compare provinces
Other jurisdictions
🇺🇸 Georgia, USA🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇮🇪 Ireland🇭🇺 Hungary🇦🇺 Australia

Deciding between these two?

We will run both against your actual budget and say which wins, including when it is not Canada.

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