30% Australian Federal Tax Offset for Videogame Development Announced
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30% Federal tax offset for videogame development announced:
It finally happened: The next federal budget will include a refundable tax offset for videogame development. This is Australia's only federal incentive for game development since the axing of Screen Australia's Interactive Games Fund in 2014, and the country's first federal tax incentive for game development ever. The policy has been announced as part of the Digital Economy Package, overseen by Superannuation, Financial Service and the Digital Economy Minister Hon Jane Hume MP. The incentive will be available to game development projects that meet a qualifying threshold of $500k in Australian spending. The Digital Economies Package outlines that videogames that include gambling will not be eligible, though the specifics of these disbarring qualities have not been laid out in detail. Games that do not obtain a classification rating in Australia will also not be eligible.
After decades of lobbying, the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) welcomed the news: 'We congratulate the Prime Minister, Minister Hume, and the Minister for the Arts the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, for recognising not only that video games have an important place alongside TV and film in Australian screen production and storytelling, but also their unparalleled potential for supercharging Australia's exports, attracting vast inward investment, and up-skilling a whole new generation of Australian digital workers,' said CEO Ron Curry.
As Australia's first tax incentive for game development, the offset will help unify an industry that often been atomised by state-based, piecemeal support. In 2019, South Australia became the only state to offer any tax rebate on game development, and videogame funding varies wildly from state to state, with New South Wales, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory offering no funding for game development.
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