The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, Catherine Martin, have launched the Tax Credit for Digital Games. Following approval by the European Commission, the regulations have been formally signed to give full effect to the legislation.
The relief will take the form of a refundable corporation tax credit available to digital games development companies for qualifying expenditure incurred on the design, production and testing of a digital game. It will be available at a rate of 32 percent of eligible expenditure up to a maximum limit of €25 million per project. There will also be a per project minimum spend requirement of €100,000.
The introduction of the Digital Games Tax Credit aims to capitalise on the synergies within established film and animation sectors to support the expression of Irish and European culture, and to support quality employment in creative and digital arts in Ireland.
In welcoming the measure, Minister Donohoe stated:
“I am delighted to announce the launch of the Tax Credit for Digital Games. Ireland is already a world leader in other areas of the audio-visual sector including film, television and animation production, I believe that this credit will be instrumental in replicating such successes in the digital gaming sector. The introduction of this credit will ensure that Ireland is competitive in an industry that is estimated to be worth up to €260 billion.”