Free Tool

Canadian Film Tax Credit Calculator.

Stack the federal CPTC with the BC, Ontario, or Quebec provincial credit. See your effective production cost in seconds. No signup, no email gate. Built by Matista Creative because the math is the same on every budget meeting and the spreadsheets keep getting lost.

All-in budget including above-the-line, below-the-line, post, and contingency.
45%
Below-the-line crew and above-the-line residents. Typical: 40 to 55 percent on a Canadian feature.
Provincial credit rates and bonuses vary. BC, ON, QC have the largest production-services credits.
BC adds a 6% Regional bonus + 6% Distant Location bonus for shoots outside metro Vancouver.
CPTC is for Canadian-content productions (10/10 CAVCO points). PSTC is for service-production tracks where the IP may not be Canadian-owned.
Calculator math is the same across formats; format affects eligibility and audit nuance.

After credits, you fund roughly $1,300,000 of a $2,000,000 budget.

Estimated total tax credits: $700,000 (35.0% effective rate against gross budget).

Federal CPTC / PSTC $225,00025.0% labor
Provincial labor / services $252,00028.0% labor
Regional / Distant bonuses $00%
Estimated total credits $477,00023.85% of budget
Plan, not promise. Numbers are estimates based on published credit rates. Actual claims require certified audit (CAVCO or provincial agency), qualifying labor verification, and audited cost reports. Many credits are refundable; some are stacked against federal taxable income. Use this for budgeting conversations, not for closing capital.

When you're ready

Plan the actual claim.

Matista Creative builds the financing letter, qualifies the labor schedule, and walks the tax-credit stack into your budget on a free 30-minute strategy call. Written punch list within 48 hours. No card, no obligation.

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How the math works.

Federal layer: CPTC vs PSTC

The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC) is 25% of qualified Canadian labour expenditure, capped at 60% of net production cost. CPTC requires CAVCO certification with at least 6 of 10 points for content Canadian-ness.

The Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) is 16% of qualified Canadian labour expenditure (no cap), for foreign service productions where Canadian content rules are not met. PSTC stacks with provincial service credits without the CAVCO requirement.

Provincial layer: BC, Ontario, Quebec are the top three

British Columbia

BC Film + TV Tax Credit (PSTC): 28% of qualified BC labour. Regional bonus +6% outside metro Vancouver. Distant Location +6% in qualifying remote regions. Stack with federal CPTC for Canadian content or PSTC for service work.

Ontario

Ontario PSTC: 21.5% of qualified Ontario labour for service productions. OFTTC: 35% (40% for first-time producers) of qualified Ontario labour for Canadian-content productions, with a regional 10% bonus outside the GTA.

Quebec

QPSTC: 20% of qualified Quebec spend (broader base than just labour), with bonuses for VFX/animation, regional, and minority co-production. CRC tax credit: 35% of qualified Quebec labour for Canadian-content productions.

Other provinces

Alberta (FTFV): 22 to 30%. Manitoba (MFTTC): up to 30% of all-spend or 45% of labour. Saskatchewan: variable production grants. Maritimes: NS 25%, NL 25%, NB and PEI offer smaller credits or grants. Always verify with the provincial agency the month you apply.

Why "stacked"

Federal and provincial credits are not mutually exclusive. A BC feature usually claims CPTC (federal) and BC PSTC (provincial), then adds Regional + Distant bonuses if eligible. The combined effective rate on qualifying labour can exceed 50% of labour spend, which translates to ~25 to 35% of total budget depending on labour-to-total ratio.

What this calculator does and does not do

It estimates the federal + provincial labour credit using a simplified labour-percent-of-budget model. It does not compute: CAVCO eligibility (you need to run the 10-point grid), refundability versus tax-offset behaviour for non-refundable portions, withholding for non-resident labour, GST/HST/PST treatment of credits, financing-letter discount rates for cashing credits before the audit completes, or qualified-spend treatment for tax credits like Quebec's QPSTC that include non-labour categories. For the real numbers you want a producer who has filed a few. That is the lane Matista builds in.