Hungary Raising Film Rebates to 30 Percent

27-06-2014

Hungary Raising Film Rebates to 30 Percent

By Cathy Meils

PRAGUE: The Hungarian National Film Fund has received approval from the European Commission to raise film cash rebates from 20 percent to 25 percent. The Hungarian system also allows for an additional 5 percent rebate for international productions, giving in total a 30 percent cash rebate to eligible films.

The fund’s head of legal affairs Balazs Zachar told FNE, “We expect further growth (of the film industry in Hungary) as there are still possibilities as far as production facilities are concerned.”

The European Commission approved the rebate on 24 June 2014.

Response in Hungary has been overwhelmingly positive. “Everyone is very happy about it,” Zachar said.

Parliament will need to approve the new rebate, which is expected to happen by the end of the summer; however, the rebate will be effective retroactively as of late June 2014 for registered films.

Feature films, TV films, documentaries, and TV series are eligible, but the rebates do not extend to TV soaps and reality programmes.

As in the current system, the rebate has no minimum and no cap.

Published in Hungary