Audiovisual production: the accountant's role on the tax credit

Quick answer. In an audiovisual production company, the accountant secures the film and audiovisual tax credit (CGI art. 220 sexies), manages the timing of CNC approval, ensures payroll compliance for intermittent workers (schedules 8 and 10), and correctly capitalises works on the balance sheet. Their value lies in connecting tax, financing and social compliance, not in mere bookkeeping. Key marker: total public aid must not exceed 50% of the work's budget (60% for difficult or low-budget works).

A production company starting a project does not first have a data-entry problem. It has an intertwined problem of financing, timing and social compliance. The tax credit funds part of the budget, but it depends on an approval to be filed at the right moment; the payroll consists of short contracts under a specific social regime; and each work must be capitalised on the balance sheet under its own rules. A mistake on any of these three axes cannot always be undone: it is paid in tax-credit repayment or in a social adjustment. That is precisely where the support of a firm experienced with the sector makes the difference.

A production company combines features a generalist firm rarely encounters. Three characteristics shape the entire accounting.

• Revenue driven by works with long cycles. Funding blends contributions, pre-sales, CNC subsidies and tax credits. Income does not arrive at the pace of standard service invoicing.
• A payroll dominated by short contracts. The fixed-term contract of customary use is the norm, governed by a social regime distinct from ordinary law.
• A capitalised production-cost logic. Each work is recorded as an asset and amortised based on its revenue, far removed from a service company's income statement.

In the files we support, friction points always recur in the same places: a poorly calibrated tax credit, a CNC approval filed too late, or non-compliant intermittent payroll. These are the three areas where a specialised chartered accountant avoids costly corrections, because they anticipate them rather than discover them.

The film and audiovisual tax credit (CGI art. 220 sexies) is often a production's first funding lever. Its scale depends on the nature of the work.

The credit applies within per-minute caps, which vary by format and genre. The detail of the rates, eligible bases and conditions is covered in our dedicated article on the audiovisual and film tax credit, rates and conditions.

The firm's role is not limited to applying a rate. It involves assessing upstream the eligibility of expenses, quantifying the expected credit and integrating it into the financing plan presented to partners and funders. For executive productions of foreign works filmed in France, the international tax credit (C2I, CGI art. 220 quaterdecies) follows its own regime, to be examined case by case.

Hayot Expertise tip. Quantify the tax credit before finalising your financing plan, not after. An overstated credit in the budget creates a cash gap you will discover at the worst possible time, once expenses are committed.

The logic of a tax credit on an intangible asset is not specific to film: video game studios fall under a comparable mechanism, which we detail in our comparison video game tax credit (CIJV) or research tax credit for a studio.

The tax credit is conditional on approval from the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC). The sequence governs everything, and it is the most poorly anticipated point.

1. Provisional approval. Requested before completion, it opens the right to claim eligible expenses from the date of request. Until it is filed, committed expenses do not count.
2. Documentary follow-up during production. Supporting evidence for eligible expenses builds up over time, not in one block at the end.
3. Final approval. It comes after completion and definitively validates the credit claimed.

The underestimated risk is simple: without final approval, the tax credit already claimed must be repaid. A company that has used the credit in cash flow then finds itself repaying a sum it believed was secured.

In practice, the firm secures the sequence: filing the provisional request before eligible expenses start, documentary follow-up during production, then assembling the final file. It is as much a matter of timing as of figures.

Technicians (schedule 8) and artists (schedule 10) under the unemployment insurance rules follow distinct rules from ordinary law. This is an area where configuring a standard payroll leads straight to adjustment.

• Opening rights. It requires 507 hours over 12 months. For artists, one fee (cachet) equals 12 hours, which entirely changes the threshold calculation.
• Occasional employer. An employer who is not a live performance operator goes through the GUSO for declarations and contributions.
• Live performance operator licence. Beyond 6 performances per year, the licence becomes mandatory, and payment must occur within 15 days.

Added to this are the specific Audiens contributions (pension and welfare) and Congés Spectacles. For the latter scheme, the call rate stands at 15.5% of gross pay for the period from 1/4/2025 to 31/3/2026. Payroll poorly configured on these points exposes the company to adjustments from the URSSAF and the funds, which is why a firm experienced with this regime matters. Setting up these payslips falls under our payroll and social management service.

Since 1/1/2020, the accounting of works follows the French general chart of accounts (PCG). A work in progress is recorded as an intangible asset in progress (account 231). Amortisation is calculated based on the ratio of actual revenue to forecast revenue, and the capitalised cost is taken net of CNC subsidies and aid (market practice, to be confirmed case by case).

Approximate treatment distorts the company's result and complicates the relationship with funders, who read the balance sheet to gauge the catalogue's value. It is also a matter of consistency: the tax-credit base, the capitalised production cost and the financing plan must tell the same story. When they diverge, an administrative review has an easy entry point.

The real value of a specialised chartered accountant lies not in reporting figures, but in three trade-offs: setting the CNC approval timeline before committing expenses, securing the tax-credit base against the 50% public-aid cap, and ensuring reliable intermittent payroll where every fee counts. These are areas where a mistake is paid in tax-credit repayment or social adjustment, rarely reversible after the fact.

We supported a company producing a 52-minute documentary. The audiovisual tax credit applied at 25%, within the EUR 1,450/min cap. The first reflex was to check the eligibility of expenses, quantify the expected credit, then confirm that total public aid stayed below 50% of the budget. The point that would have derailed the file was not the calculation: it was the timeline. The provisional approval request was scheduled before the first euro was committed, and the final file assembled at completion. Without this timing discipline, part of the credit would have been repayable, even though the figures were correct. That is the recurring lesson of these files: a tax credit is lost more often on a date than on a rate.

A few configurations call for specific treatment that must be identified from the outset.

• Executive production of a foreign work. The international tax credit (C2I, CGI art. 220 quaterdecies) replaces the national credit, with its own eligibility conditions.
• Co-productions. How expenses and aid are split between co-producers determines compliance with the public-aid cap. A poorly structured arrangement can push the whole above the limit.
• Difficult or low-budget works. The public-aid cap rises to 60%, but eligibility for that category must be justified, not assumed.

• Check the rate and per-minute cap actually applicable to your type of work before quantifying the credit.
• Continuously monitor cumulative public aid against the 50% (or 60%) cap.
• Never commit eligible expenses before filing the provisional approval.
• Watch for crossing the 6-performance threshold that triggers the live performance operator licence requirement.
• Document the amortisation of each work so it withstands review by a funder or the authorities.