Ross Robertson
International Tax Partner
Intellectual Property Rights
The protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is a key aspect of innovation and technology. As well as traditional protection methods such as patents, trademarks, copyrights and design rights, you should consider using corporate structures to protect your IP.
These might include:
- The use of limited liability companies to protect IPR
- Separation of IPR from trading companies
- Setting up new group companies to protect IPR (within or outside current group structures)
- Splitting an existing group to separate trading group companies from IPR protection companies.
We can advise and assist on all the tax aspects of managing IPR.
Creative Sector tax credits
The creative industry plays an increasingly significant role in the UK economy. As a result the government has introduced eight targeted tax credits designed to encourage development and production activities in the UK. These can result in a cash refund of up to 20% of eligible expenditure.
The tax credits are:
- Film Tax Relief (FTR),
- Animation Tax Relief (ATR),
- High-end Television Tax Relief (HTR),
- Children’s Television Tax Relief (CTR),
- Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR),
- Theatre Tax Relief (TTR),
- Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR), and
- Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR).
Our experienced team can help you at every step of the claim process, including determining whether your production, game or exhibition qualifies for the relevant tax credits. We can also help with obtaining BFI cultural accreditation where necessary, identifying qualifying expenditure and the interaction of the Creative Sector tax credits and other forms of state sector financing.