Incentives · Canada vs. the world

Canada
vs. United Kingdom

Modelled on a $12M USD limited series. Canada's best province against United Kingdom'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.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom
25.5%
≈ C$4.2M · 34% headline

Cash timing: Claimed with the corporation tax return. Relief is the lower of 80% of total core expenditure or actual UK core expenditure. At least 10% of costs must be UK qualifying expenditure. Additional VFX credit applies to expenditure from 1 January 2025 and only to productions claiming the standard 34% rate..

Where United Kingdom is strong
  • An additional VFX credit applies to expenditure from 1 January 2025, for productions on the standard 34% rate (BFI). The widely-quoted 39% figure comes from secondary sources and is not stated on the BFI page — confirm with HMRC before relying on it.
  • World-class stage inventory and VFX houses
  • English-language cast pool, no permit friction for UK/EU crew
  • Strong treaty co-production network
Where it costs you
  • AVEC is taxable: the BFI itself describes 34% as equivalent to 25.5% under the previous system, so quoting 34% against a refundable credit overstates it
  • The 80% cap still bites on non-VFX spend
  • Studio space in the southeast books out far in advance
  • Cost base is high in absolute terms even after the credit
  • HMRC changed its AVEC guidance in April 2026 — confirm current treatment
The verdict

Canada is ahead by 6.0 points on rate — and the rate is the smaller half of it.

Canada wins when

You need North American doubling, your crew is West Coast, or you are comparing like-for-like on a refundable basis — 25.5% net is below what a strong Canadian stack returns.

United Kingdom wins when

You have significant UK VFX spend, where the additional VFX credit is genuinely competitive. Also when your cast and department heads are UK-based, or the story needs European geography.

Model your budget → Compare provinces
Other jurisdictions
🇺🇸 Georgia, USA🇮🇪 Ireland🇭🇺 Hungary🇦🇺 Australia🇳🇿 New Zealand

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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