Rates & additional benefits
18% of eligible Ontario labour expenditures incurred by a qualifying corporation for eligible computer-animation and special-effects activities. Eligible activities include designing, modelling, rendering, lighting, painting, animating and compositing; promotional material for the eligible production is not eligible.
Production type & commercial eligibility
Commercials excluded. Advertising is expressly listed among production types ineligible for OCASE. Productions produced primarily for industrial, corporate or institutional purposes are also ineligible; certain curriculum-related educational content is excluded subject to the stated child-directed exception.
Qualifying expenditure
The credit is 18% of eligible Ontario labour expenditures for eligible computer-animation and special-effects activities. For work commenced on or after 2024-03-26, at least 25000 CAD in eligible Ontario labour expenditure must be incurred for each film or television production claimed.
Labor & residency
A qualifying corporation is a Canadian corporation, Canadian- or foreign-owned, with a permanent establishment in Ontario that files an Ontario corporate tax return. The claimed labour must be paid by the company for employees or freelance individuals, and eligible computer-animation/special-effects activities must be carried out in Ontario directly in support of the eligible production. Managerial, accounting and administrative labour is not eligible. ATL/BTL, individual-residency, loan-out/withholding rules and a compensation cap are not stated in the official material reviewed.
Application timing
Claims must be based on actual expenditures, not projections, and applicants apply to Ontario Creates at the end of their fiscal year. Ontario Creates issues a Certificate of Eligibility to each eligible company for its expenditures. For work commenced on or after 2024-03-26, OFTTC or OPSTC certification is not required; for earlier work, the production must also have received an OFTTC or OPSTC certificate.
Caps & funding conditions
There is no cap on eligible Ontario labour expenditures.
Audit requirements
Ontario Creates must be satisfied that managerial, accounting and administrative labour is not claimed; CRA is the final authority on amounts claimed and may investigate eligible-labour allocations. The claim is based on actual expenditures and requires the Ontario Creates certificate. No CPA-audit or screen-credit requirement is stated.
Receiving the incentive
The credit is refundable. Transferability, buy-back terms and haircuts are not stated in the official material reviewed.
Program dates
- Effective date
- Not stated
- Program end date
- Not stated
A program end date is not necessarily an application deadline.