Recognition of film costs

What is this for: verification of documents proving the cost of Spanish films and determining the investment of the producer to know the financial needs of the production company and to determine the amounts of public aid provided.

Applicants: each of the production companies holding the film subject to the cost study, registered in the First Section of the ICAA Register of Companies.

Initiating the process: by request of the interested party. When the film has been made by several production companies, the request for cost recognition will be presented individually for each of them but there will be a single audit report.

When to apply:

• For feature films: six months from the date of notification of the film’s certificate of nationality.
• For short films: two months from the date of notification of the film’s certificate of nationality, unless short-term aid is used, in which case the deadlines for the call must also be taken into account.

Where to apply: on the website of the State Secretariat of Culture . The auditor's special report must be electronically signed by the auditor. For short films that choose to present documentation to ICAA, the original documentation must be presented to the auxiliary registry of the State Secretariat of Culture.

Who decides: General Directorate of the Institute of Cinematography and Audio-visual Arts.

How long does it take: eight months after presenting the application.

Appeals: Applicant can appeal directly to the Ministry and also through the Courts

Regulations:

• Law 55/2007 of 28 December on Cinema (BOE 29-12-2007)
• Law 38/2003 of 17 November on Subsidies (BOE 18-11-2003)
• Royal Decree 1084/2015 of 4 December, which develops Law 55/2007 of 28 December on Cinema (BOE 05-12-2015)
• Order ECD/2784/2015 of 18 December (BOE 23-12-2015), which regulates the cost of a film and the investment of the producerSalto de línea

Documentation to present:

Application of cost recognition: as of 1 March 2016, the form must be accessed on the website of the Ministry of Education, Culture & Sport.

1. Feature films:

• Declaration of the cost of the film, broken down by chapters and headings, per the model form obtained on the website of the Institute of Cinematography and Audio-visual Arts.
• Special report of an auditor, electronically signed by the auditor, to review and verify the cost of the film, in accordance with the provisions of article 6 of order ECD/2784/2015, of 18 December and performed by auditors enrolled in the Official Register of Auditors.

When the film has been made by several production companies, there will be a single audit report.

2. Short films: the interested party may choose between the contribution of the special report of the auditor or the presentation of the following original documentation in the auxiliary registry of the State Secretariat of Culture

• Declaration of the cost of the film, broken down by chapters and headings, per the model form obtained on the website of the Institute of Cinematography and Audio-visual Arts.
• For staff costs:
  • Labour contracts formalised by the production company with the writers, actors and other artists, executive producer, creative staff and other technical staff with salaries, as well as documents that include overtime and other salary and extra salary payments, in accordance with the applicable labour regulations, and the remuneration that has corresponded, as well as the payrolls related to these contracts, with express indication of the general Social Security regime or the integrated regime for Artists, and the identity documents of the persons to whom they refer. Subsistence allowances will only be recognised as staff costs when they are included in the payroll.
  • Commercial contracts formalised between the production company and freelance personnel, including, where applicable, the executive producer, authors, actors or other artists or those on whose participation the film is based, as well as invoices related to such contracts.
  • Contracts relating to the acquisition of the rights that are necessary for the realisation of the film, as well as invoices related to those contracts.
• Proof of payment to the Public Treasury of the amounts withheld on account of the income tax of contracted persons’ contracts, in accordance with the legally established retention rates, as well as, if applicable, proof of payment of the Social Security contributions corresponding to these contracts.
• Invoices and other documents of equivalent probative value valid in legal commercial traffic or with administrative efficiency and, where applicable, contracts evidencing the costs of services, supplies and any other provisions not directly contracted by the production company, as well as proof of having made the declaration of the invoices before the Public Treasury in the cases that so require according to its specific regulations.
• Tickets, invoices and other documents of equivalent probative value valid in commercial legal traffic or with administrative efficiency, justification of travel and travel related expenses.
• Certificate issued by the financial institution accrediting all the financial interests and negotiation expenses generated by the loans formalised to finance the film. Additionally, in the case of a loan not having been granted by a financial or credit institution, a public document of formalisation of the loan as well as the three binding offers.
• List of expenses invoiced through subcontracting, identification of contractors, clarification of a link (or none) with the film production company and declarations for each of them regarding absence of any of the causes of prohibition to subcontract established by the Article 29 of Law 38/2003 of 17 November on Subsidies.
• Declaration on subsidies received and contributions made by the Administration or an entity or company under public ownership, as well as those made as co-producer or associate producer, or through any other financial contribution, by the subjects required to comply with the provisions of article 5.3 of Law 7/2010 of 31 March on Audio-visual Communication, in relation to the anticipated financing of the production of European works, justifying documentary and expressly their amount. Any amendment to the terms of the declaration shall be communicated in writing to ICAA within 10 days after the date on which it was made.Salto de línea