Canadian film/TV tax credits — CPTC + PSTC
Canada operates a refundable, layered federal + provincial tax-credit regime. Both federal credits are refundable — a company with no Canadian tax payable still receives the value as a cash payment — and both are labour-focused: the credit is calculated on eligible Canadian labour expenditure, not total production spend. Federal and provincial credits stack. Canada also has the world's largest treaty network (55+ co-production treaties), including the Ireland–Canada co-production treaty.
For Irish producers this matters on Ireland–Canada treaty co-productions: the Canadian co-producer claims the Canadian credit on its side, while the Irish side runs Section 481 — the Irish scripted tax credit — each against expenditure in its own jurisdiction, no double-dipping (see Cross-border productions — Ireland + Northern Ireland + UK).
The two federal credits
| Credit | Rate | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC) | 25% refundable | Eligible Canadian labour expenditure on Canadian-controlled productions meeting CAVCO content criteria (Canadian key creative personnel, copyright ownership, production control). Treaty co-productions can qualify. |
| Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) | 16% refundable | Eligible Canadian labour expenditure on accredited productions. Content does not need to be Canadian — this is the credit for international + Canadian service productions. The applicant must be a taxable Canadian corporation (foreign ownership allowed) with a permanent Canadian establishment, primarily engaged in film/production services, owning the copyright or directly contracted by the owner. |
CPTC and PSTC are mutually exclusive for a given production — a project claims one or the other, not both.
Administration
| Body | Role |
|---|---|
| Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) — within the Department of Canadian Heritage | Certification: Canadian-content points (CPTC) / accreditation (PSTC), copyright + control tests, treaty-co-production verification |
| Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) | Processing + payment of the refundable credit through the corporate tax return |
Provincial top-ups
Each province runs its own refundable corporate-income-tax credits for film / TV / VFX / animation, stackable on top of the federal CPTC or PSTC. British Columbia's Motion Picture Tax Credit family (labour-based) is the canonical example. The total federal + provincial benefit is what makes Canada competitive on labour-heavy productions.
In Togra
The Canada integration models the treaty scorer (ie_ca_2014 — signed 1989, modernised 2016; see Ireland–Canada co-production treaty), Canadian residuals, CAVCO certification tracking and multi-currency F/X. CPTC vs PSTC is the Canadian-side credit choice on a co-production: CPTC where the project is Canadian-controlled and content-qualifying, PSTC where Canada provides services on a foreign-controlled production.
Related
Sources
- · European Audiovisual Observatory IRIS-1, Fiscal incentives and cash rebates in the audiovisual sector (May 2026), section 4.1 (Canada)
- · Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) + Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)