Written by Tom Deehan on Sep 27, 2016. Posted in General Interest

Ukrainian Government signs 25% cash rebate into law

The proposed legislation, ‘State Support of the Film Industry’ has finally been approved by Ukraine’s Government officials after being submitted in February of this year. The legislation brings with it a 25% cash rebate incentive that will allow Ukraine to compete with neighbouring production hubs like Poland, Romania and Georgia.

The cash rebate will apply to feature films, television series, music videos and commercials. As one of the few countries within Europe to now offer an incentive for commercials productions, Ukraine will likely attract a great deal of attention from the industry.

Victoria Yarmoshchuk, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Motion Picture Association explains: “for the Ukrainian film industry, the new law on cinema, which, among other things, introduces the system of cash rebates for foreign producers of film and television, is a huge step forward, because now Ukraine has become competitive on the global coproduction market.”

Ukraine’s incentive will operate on a total of 0.2% of the state budget and domestic productions needs to pass a cultural test to qualify. The incentive actually increases for domestic projects, as TV shows and feature films can receive up to 50% and 80% of their budget respectively.

The confirmation of this cash rebate is another story in a long list of incentive-related announcements coming out of the Black Sea region. Georgia’s 25% cash rebate is now up and running after being announced late last year, while Romania is currently debating the implementation of a 30% tax relief.

Ukraine offers a wide range of location types, having recently doubled for London in Colm McCarthy’s The Girl with All the Gifts (pictured). 23/32 Films also shot their latest commercial for JOYA ice cream at the Khotyn Fortress in Western Ukraine.