The Ministry of Culture has just provided an overview of the ten tax credits that support cultural production. In 2023, 5,056 organizations declared €791.6 million in receivables. Liquidated debts – charged against tax or paid to the company – reached 711 million euros, compared to 17 million in 2005. The term tax advantage therefore only imperfectly describes the mechanism: over the entire period, 88% of the sums returned were by bank transfer, and only 12% by deduction of the tax due.
In 2023, the largest amount (239 million euros) concerns the international tax credit, intended for foreign productions of films or series made in France. Next come audiovisual, with 188.3 million, and French cinema, with 166.1 million. These three schemes bring together 593.4 million euros, or three quarters of the declared total.
The other sectors operate on a different scale: 75.2 million euros for video games, 56.8 million for arts and crafts, 35.8 million for live musical or humorous performances and 27.7 million for phonographic production. Theater and circus reach 2.1 million. The amounts for musical publishing and the exceptional audiovisual and cinematographic creation system are not published, due to a lack of a sufficient number of declarants.
The system was built in layers. Cinema credit was created in 2003, followed by audiovisual in 2004, arts and crafts in 2005, phonographic production in 2006, video games in 2007 and international credit in 2008. Live entertainment joined the group in 2015. Two mechanisms were established in 2020: that of theater and circus and a temporary measure intended for publishers audiovisual companies affected by the health crisis. Music publishing completes the system in 2021. Diversity, dissemination, innovation, digitization and support for new talents were added to the initial relocation objectives.
The number of reporting organizations increased from 97 in 2005 to more than 5,000 in 2023, an average increase of 25% per year. Most credits are subject to provisional and then final approval from the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images, the National Music Center or the General Directorate of Artistic Creation. The basis – salaries, expenses, depreciation, repetitions, post-production, digitization, rentals or transport depending on the sector – directs aid towards the activities retained by the legislator. The company can have its debt returned when it exceeds the tax due, but must reimburse the sums received if final approval is refused.
Crafts, a mass device
Art professions constitute the most diffuse case. In 2023, 2,997 structures declared nearly 57 million euros, an average of nearly 19,000 euros and a median of 14,000 euros. Since 2009, more than 65% of annual declarations have come from companies whose main activity is in the arts and crafts. The system covers 206 activity codes; However, half of the reporting companies are concentrated in seven codes linked in particular to wood, jewelry and stone. The others work with metal, ceramics, leather, glass or textiles, or are involved in instrumental craftsmanship and design.
The craft credit finances not the general activity of the workshop, but the design of unique or small series works and, since 2017, the restoration of heritage. In particular, the salaries and expenses of employees directly affected, certain depreciation, costs linked to designs and models and the services of stylists or style offices are included in the base. Service activities are in principle excluded, except in particular when an eligible company is involved in heritage restoration.
The credit rate is 10%, increased to 15% for companies labeled “Living Heritage Company”, up to a limit of 30,000 euros per year. In particular, companies whose craftsmen represent at least 30% of the payroll, certain exhaustively listed industrial companies and holders of the EPV label can benefit from this. Unlike cinema, no prior approval is required, but the company must justify the allocation of employees and equipment; the remuneration of a non-employee manager is excluded.
