The Budget includes big tax breaks for the gaming industry.
The Government says gaming is a low emissions, high wage business, but the move also follows lobbying from the industry itself about tax breaks across the Tasman giving the industry an advantage in Australia.
The plan is to give a 20% tax rebate for game development which meets the minimum expenditure threshold of $250,000 a year. This rebate will be able to reach a total of up to $3 million per year per studio, and it will be backdated to 1 April.
The plan was announced by the Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications Ginny Anderson, and the Minister for Economic Development, Barbara Edmonds.
“We know from looking at advanced economies like Germany, South Korea, Japan and Singapore that the best investments you can make in the future of your economy are in science, skills and infrastructure,” Anderson says.
She says the gaming sector contributed $7 billion towards New Zealand’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021 and says the industry has been growing at twice the rate of overall growth since 2016.
In addition to the gaming rebate, the Government is investing $27 million in a digital skills package to help grow the tech sector workforce, by helping to cover the cost of new employees. It will also integrate with school learning programmes.
The total allocation for the tax rebates is $160 million over four years. The allocation for the extra training is $26.6 million over four years.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.