11 Feb 2017 | 1 min read
Recent media reports relating to high-profile investors in Ingenious film partnerships have misrepresented the tax status of their investments and Ingenious’ film business.
These are not ‘tax avoidance schemes’. This is not just Ingenious’s view, it is also the judgment of the UK court.
Ingenious is the largest private investor in the UK creative industries. Ingenious’ investors have helped independent films such as Selma and Mr Turner come to screen and backed profitable blockbusters like Life of Pi and Avatar.
Ingenious is proud of its track record in supporting the UK film industry and looks forward to the release of its next feature, Viceroy’s House, on March 3rd.
Notes to editors:
HMRC has tried to claim that certain partnerships that utilised government tax breaks designed to support the UK film industry were set up for the purpose of avoiding tax.
However, a Tax Tribunal brought by Ingenious against HMRC to challenge this notion vindicated Ingenious’s position and ruled that they were bona fide businesses run for a commercial profit and that Ingenious investors were putting their money into legitimate film investment vehicles.
This stands in contrast to other film related tax cases that have been before the courts in recent years.
The exact amount of tax relief that Ingenious investors are able to claim is still in dispute and Ingenious will continue to fight for its investors’ interests.
Founded in 1998, Ingenious has produced and co-financed hundreds of feature films and more than 550 hours of television programming with partners including 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Disney, Lionsgate, Film4, Pathé, the BBC, ITV and Endemol Shine.
Ingenious is a serial investor in the global creative economy, having raised and deployed more than £8 billion across the sector.