[PIGMI] Activision Blizzard lobbying for new R&D tax changes

Tue Mar 8 17:20:19 PST 2011

Thanks Anthony. That makes it clearer. That is positive for this
industry. Hopefully, if it comes to pass, some of it will land on the
west coast. In any case perhaps some of us will be in a position to
take advantage of it.

On Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 9:01 AM, Anthony Sweet <anthony at rockethands.com> wrote:
> Oh, hello late night emailer.
> This:
>
> To my figuring, the percentages doesn't work out as cleanly as the Canadian
> scheme (45% of 30% income tax vs. 20% of direct expediture)
>
> is incorrect!
> We really are talking about a simpler 45% of expenditure vs. 20% of
> expenditure.
> When the pundits talk about their "15c in the $1", they're talking about the
> enhanced benefit, ie. 45% claimed against the 30% income tax rate means that
> your company is receiving a benefit of an additional 15c per $1 over the 30%
> tax rate.
> Coupled with actual refundable credits for small enterprises, that's
> significantly more generous than many other R&D schemes!
>
> --
> Anthony Sweet - RocketHands Pty Ltd
>
> w: www.rockethands.com
> e: anthony at rockethands.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 08/03/2011, at 10:15 PM, Anthony Sweet wrote:
>>
>> > I can't imagine why they'd bother unless they thought Canda was drying
>> > up?
>
> The proposed credit scheme by the Australian senate is somewhat more
> generous than the Canadian R&D credit scheme. Given then that the AUD is
> almost equal to CAD, it comes down to where can they can get the better tax
> credit bang for buck.
>
> Australia: Completely refundable 45% tax credit for companies with turn-over
> less than $20 million. Not aware of any talk about the expenditure cap (if
> it would exist). Based on provided information, this means for a tax credit
> tested against very generous turn-over threshold with an unlimited
> expenditure cap. (Sounds too good to be true? Can theoretically mean an
> Australian company with minimal turn-over could claim $100mil on R&D
> expenditure and walk away with ~$10mil cash in hand. Definitely facts
> missing from this article - I haven't researched any further though.)
> No mention in the article on whether this applies to foreign-owned
> companies, but that doesn't matter if US studios are looking for
> work-for-hire contracts with R&D enabled studios.
> Canada: Non-refundable 20% tax credit against R&D expenditure directly for
> foreign companies; Canadian companies receive 35% for first $3mil in
> expenditure, 20% thereafter. Companies using the 20% threshold experience no
> expenditure cap.  No turnover testing, but the credits aren't refundable
>  for foreign companies (don't get cash back if tax credits exceed tax debt,
> they can only be used to lower your tax debt).
>
> To my figuring, the percentages doesn't work out as cleanly as the Canadian
> scheme (45% of 30% income tax vs. 20% of direct expediture), but the high
> turn-over limit partnered with a full credit refund could be lucrative for
> US companies looking to engage low sales/high expense R&D machines.
>
> It sounds highly speculative to my limited knowledge of the subject, but
> definitely optimistic at least to have this topic coming up again in our
> parliament. Nice to see some silver lining!
>
> --
> Anthony Sweet - RocketHands Pty Ltd
>
> w: www.rockethands.com
> e: anthony at rockethands.com
>
>
>
>
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>
> On 08/03/2011, at 12:31 PM, Eva Tudori wrote:
>
> Thats really interesting! In answer to your question Wez, I think WoW wasn't
> mentioned as Activision developed Call of Duty and the Guitar hero games
> before their merger with Blizzard in 2007. Activision and Blizzard still
> exist as different entities and Activision doesn't have anything to do with
> WoW development.
>
> Anyway, fingers crossed this comes about!
>
> On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Wesley Lamont <pigmi at raez.net> wrote:
>>
>> Very interesting. I'm suprised they are even looking at us with the Aussie
>> Dollar so high. There must be something else I'm missing or what they are
>> requesting is going to be more viable than Canada/US development though you
>> would think they would be asking those governments for a similar agreement.
>>
>> I'm amusing  that Activision/Blizzard makes no mention of Warcraft in it's
>> list of well known games.
>>
>> WEZ!
>> On 08/03/2011, at 9:32 AM, Jetha Chan wrote:
>>
>> > My bad - didn't realise it was behind a login on the website.
>> >
>> > Try http://puu.sh/19qg for page 1 and http://puu.sh/19qh for page 2 -
>> > would've given in PDF but didn't want to embed licensing information.
>> >
>> > Jetha
>> >
>> > On 8 March 2011 09:09, Chris Kruger <chris.kruger at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > I can't imagine why they'd bother unless they thought Canda was drying
>> > up?
>> >
>> > On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 8:44 AM, Nick Lowe <nick at onetwenty.org> wrote:
>> > > Interesting!
>> > >
>> > > Um... does anyone have a link that's not behind a login?
>> > >
>> > > - Nick
>> > >
>> > > On Tue, 2011-03-08 at 08:37 +0800, Jetha Chan wrote:
>> > >> Anyone see this in the AFR today?
>> > >>
>> > >>  http://afr.com/p/business/technology/game_on_for_players_XJBsCXCaZSecRh5atAWs3O
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> "The world’s biggest game studio, Activision Blizzard, which makes
>> > >> some of the industry’s best-known games, including Guitar Hero and
>> > >> Call of Duty, says it will invest tens of millions of dollars in
>> > >> Australia in coming years.
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> But there’s a catch. It wants the Senate to pass proposed research
>> > >> and
>> > >> development tax changes."
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> Worth a read - here's hoping they're met with some success.
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