Insights & News Archive

MMP join the UKIE Hub Crawl

MMP Tax have joined The Hub Crawl 2018 organised by UKIE. This is a series of free events, located all around the UK, that bring games businesses together to hear and share the latest thinking on business growth

Each event features a series of short, informative sessions from industry experts including MMP Tax, in key areas such as finance, marketing and technology and this will be followed by a games panel featuring companies from the local area. MMP were asked to present at the events in Cardiff, Nottingham and Glasgow.

The content will change at each event and MMP will be presenting various aspects of the Video Games Tax Relief scheme matching the content to the experience and expectations of local companies at the different games hubs.

25 February 2018

Response to the Budget November 2017

Against a backdrop of tough macro-economic environment conditions, MMP Tax is pleased by the announcements made today by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, expressing the continuation of critical support for innovation, research and development.

The Chancellor stated that he was listening to the voice of business, and that he had reviewed, with business, the R&D tax credit regime and had concluded that in his opinion, it is globally competitive.

He went on to say, ”to make the UK even more attractive for R&D we have accepted industry calls for a reduction in administrative burdens around the scheme and will shortly bring forward measures to deliver them”.

The large company scheme, named Research and Development Expenditure Credits, (“RDEC”), (the corporate tax incentive scheme designed to encourage UK investment in large R&D projects); is given a further increase in generosity from 11% of eligible expenditure to 12% of eligible expenditure incurred from January 2018, a change warmly welcomed by MMP.

There was no mention of the EU science funding programme, Horizon 2020, the €80bn (£71bn), or how this might be replaced or supported by the UK post Brexit.

There was no mention either of any changes to the Patent Box regime, Video Games Tax Relief (“VGTR”) or Animation Tax Reliefs (“ATR”) in this budget. Whilst unquestionably helping all types of businesses, the continued reduction of Corporation Tax means that the incentives provided to encourage small companies developing video games and animation as well as smaller R&:D projects; are, by virtue of the way the tax reliefs are calculated, become less generous than they were at introduction.

David Marshall, Director at MMP Tax Limited, commented: “Investment in our countries technology sector has proven to be critical for sustained economic growth and the development of intellectual property crucial to our position on the world stage. We welcome the governments’ continued support and enhancement to them”. “Anecdotally, many companies continue to claim these reliefs incorrectly which HMRC will no doubt tighten their grip on, alongside reducing the administrative burden”.

22 November 2017

MMP announces EU extension of VGTR scheme to 2023

MMP is pleased with the news that Video Games Tax Relief has been successfully re-notified to the European Commission. VGTR is a notifiable state aid under EU rules, under the prevention of inter-state competition within the EU. The re-notification extends the State aid clearance of the relief from April 2018 through to April 2023.

One potential positive aspect of leaving the EU is that the tax incentive rules may no longer be bound by EU legislation. Therefore it may be possible for the government to offer more generous technology tax incentives in the future, which MMP would encourage.

Tax incentives are very much a part of the developed world’s tax landscape. These are not EU directives and as such are not impacted by the UK’s status in the EU. Indeed, Australia, the US and Canada introduced tax incentives for research and development long before the UK

07 November 2017

MMP Tax. Category winner at TIGA Games Industry awards

TIGA announced MMP Tax as category winner as ‘best tax firm’ for assisting members in claiming Video Games Tax Relief, Animation Tax Relief and R&D Tax Relief

TIGA’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Richard Wilson presented the award for Best Tax Team to Director of MMP, David Marshall, and Account Director at MMP, Andy Wales.

The award for best tax team recognises excellence in tax work, sound business processes and outstanding commercial results for gaming industry companies.

03 November 2017

MMP Tax finalist for TIGA Games Industry award

MMP Tax the specialist technology tax advisor; has been short-listed by TIGA, the trade body for the Video Games development community, for their award for best tax advice firm.

MMP, the specialist technology tax consultant, works with development studios, to ensure that their members gain maximum value from the schemes. MMP’s experience in assisting with the submission of eligible games to the British Film Institute’s cultural test, coupled with their long standing experience of working with HMRC on technology tax reliefs, enables quick and straightforward approval of clients’ VGTR claims

28 October 2017

MMP Tax response to the 2016 autumn statement

MMP Tax is pleased by the announcements made today by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, which expressed the continuation of support for innovation and research and development

The Chancellor stated that "We do not invest enough in research, development and innovation. As the pace of technology advances and the competition from the rest of the world increases, we must build on our strengths in science and tech innovation to ensure that the next generation of discoveries is made, developed and produced in Britain. So today I can confirm the additional investment in R&D, rising to an extra £2 billion per year by 2021".

The extra £2 billion a year of funding by the end of this Parliament is an increase of approximately 20% to total government R&D spending. This will be the greatest increase seen in any Parliament since 1979.

The government also has plans to review the tax environment for R&D in order to build on the introduction of the "above tax line" R&D tax credits to make the UK an even more competitive place to do R&D".

There were no mentions of any changes to the Patent Box scheme or the Creative Industry tax reliefs in this autumn statement.

28 November 2016

MMP Short-listed for TIGA award again

MMP Tax the specialist technology tax advisor, has been short-listed by TIGA, the trade body for the Video Games development community, for their award for best tax advice firm

MMP Tax the specialist technology tax advisor, has been short-listed by TIGA, the trade body for the Video Games development community, for their award for best tax advice firm

The extra £2 billion a year of funding by the end of this Parliament is an increase of approximately 20% to total government R&D spending. This will be the greatest increase seen in any Parliament since 1979.

The short listing recognises the contribution that MMP has made in assisting members of TIGA to claim Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR) and R&D Tax Relief (R&DTR).

MMP, the specialist technology tax consultant, works with development studios, to ensure that their members gain maximum value from the schemes. MMP's experience in assisting with the submission of eligible games to the British Film Institute's cultural test, coupled with their long standing experience of working with HMRC on technology tax reliefs, enables quick and straightforward approval of clients' VGTR claims.

Claims for tax relief or cash credits from eligible game development, require a minimum of detailed cost calculations per game, a cultural test certification from the BFI and tax computations delivered to and approved by HMRC to qualify for the reliefs. Some studios require significant other proofs in order to qualify. MMP has been working with studios since the scheme was introduced.

MMP continues to work closely with TIGA, promoting the Video Games Tax Relief regime to its members.

29 September 2016