Ontario interactive digital media tax credit

COVID-19

As a COVID‑19 measure, for products that were not completed before March 15, 2020, and for which eligible labour expenditures were incurred in the 2020 tax year, Ontario has temporarily extended the 37‑month period during which eligible labour expenditures must be incurred by an additional 24 months.

The Ontario interactive digital media tax credit is a refundable tax credit based on qualifying expenditures incurred for eligible products and eligible digital games by a qualifying corporation during a tax year.

This credit focuses on entertainment products and educational products for children under 12. Certain products, such as search engines, real estate databases, or news and public affairs products are excluded. These do not apply to large digital game corporations (qualifying digital game corporations and specialized digital game corporations).

Film and television websites that are bought or licensed by a broadcaster and embedded in the broadcaster's website are now eligible for the Ontario interactive digital media tax credit. This applies to websites that host content related to film, television or Internet productions that, as of November 1, 2017, had not received a certificate of eligibility or a letter of ineligibility.

The following conditions apply:

The above-noted eligibility requirements do not apply to large digital game corporations.

Qualifying expenditures

The credit applies to the following situations:

For all eligible products, qualifying expenditures include Ontario salaries and wages incurred in a tax year that are directly attributable to the eligible product and paid within 60 days of the end of the tax year.

The amount of eligible remuneration expenditures that a corporation can claim is 100%. It includes amounts paid to other taxable Canadian corporations for services rendered by its employees. 

Qualifying expenditures are reduced by any government assistance reasonably related to these expenditures (some exceptions apply – see Schedule 560).

Eligible corporations

Note

You cannot claim the Ontario interactive digital media tax credit if you claim the Ontario computer animation and special effects tax credit, the Ontario film and television tax credit, or the Ontario production services tax credit for the same expenditure for any tax year.

You can get a certificate of eligibility from Ontario Creates. To be eligible for the credit, a corporation must meet certain criteria, including:

In addition, a large digital game corporation must also meet the following criteria:

Claiming the credit

Before claiming the credit, you must apply online to Ontario Creates for a certificate of eligibility. If the product or digital game is eligible, Ontario Creates will issue a certificate indicating the estimated amount of the tax credit. Only one certificate of eligibility is issued for all of the eligible products or digital games for the tax year.

Note

You have to apply for this certificate within 18 months of the end of the tax year in which development of the eligible product was completed. Specialized digital game corporations are entitled to file an annual application, rather than having to apply separately for each product they complete.

To claim the credit, file the following with your T2 Corporation Income Tax Return for the year:

If you file your return electronically, see T2 Attach-a-Doc.

If you file a paper return, send the return and required attachments to your tax centre.

On line 462 of Schedule 5, Tax Calculation Supplementary – Corporations, enter the total amount of the credit you are claiming.

The CRA will not begin to process the media tax credit claim until it receives all of the required documentation. A claim is considered to be complete when all of the above documentation is filed with the CRA.

For more information on the credit, see Schedule 560, section 93 of the Taxation Act, 2007 (Ontario), and After you file your claim for Ontario refundable media tax credits.

Forms and publications

Government partners

Page details

Date modified: