Spain supercharges tax rebate scheme to become ‘most attractive’ location in Europe

House Of The Dragon

Spain is claiming to be the “most competitive and attractive”destination in Europe for international TV and film productions after supercharging its tax rebate system.

The country’s new scheme, introduced 1 January, means producers can now secure tax rebates on shows with budgets of up €10m ($10.55m) per episode, with tax relief for movies being doubled to €20m.

The Spanish Congress has also moved to remove the €100,000 deductions limit previously in place for a show’s creative team.

The changes, which are subject to clearance from the European Union, are the latest initiative from Spain as it looks to secure more international production spend.

Numerous Spanish regions already offer their own tax rebate schemes, which have helped to secure shows such as HBO’s House Of The Dragon and Netflix’s The Witcher.

Late last year, the Basque province of Bizkaia introduced a tax incentive that promised ‘up to 70%’ off relevant production costs, with no upper cap.

The moves have helped local production revenues to soar over the past five years, rising to €263m in 2021, according to the ProFilm producers association. That is double the average spend between 2016 and 2019.

Carlos Rosado, president of Spain’s Film Commission, said the newly introduced scheme would make his country “the most competitive and attractive destination in Europe for audiovisual production.”