CREC083000 - Claims: CT600 details

The following seven boxes on the CT600 must all be completed to make a valid claim to a Creatives Expenditure Credit and/or a Creative Industries Tax Relief. The numbers refer to CT600 Version 3.

Full guidance on how to complete the entirety of the CT600 is available in the Company Tax Return guide (GOV.UK).

Guidance on how to calculate the Creatives Expenditure Credit is available at CREC060000.
Guidance on the expenditure credit redemption steps is available at CREC070000.


  • 540 Creatives tax credit

This should be the total amount of any creatives tax credits that the company is claiming for the period. It is the amount before any set offs or surrenders, not the final payable amount.

It can also include any amounts of pre-Step 1(s1179CC) restrictions that the company wishes to use for the period: any Step 2 restrictions brought forward from previous accounting periods, or Step 2/4 amounts surrendered from other group companies. A company may do this even if it is not claiming the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) or the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC) itself for this period. If the company includes a surrendered amount, the surrendering company must include the details in their computation.

Therefore, for claims to AVEC/VGEC, the amount in 540 should be the amount remaining after Step 5 of the credit amount calculation (s1179CA) for all productions combined, plus any pre-Step 1 restriction amounts.

If the company is also claiming any of the Creative Industries Tax Reliefs, the total amount of any tax credits should be added to this as well.


  • 545 Amount claimed (“Total of Research and Development credit and creative tax credit”)

This is the amount of any creatives credits plus any R&D credits.


  • 570 Amount payable (“Surplus Research and Development credits or creative tax credit payable”)

This is the figure in box 545 minus the figure in 525. 0 should be entered if the result is negative.


  • 665 Creatives qualifying expenditure and/or additional deduction (formerly “Creative enhanced expenditure”)

This is the total amount of the company’s ‘qualifying expenditure for the period.’ It is the amount remaining after Step 4 of the credit amount calculation (s1179CA). If the company is claiming multiple Creatives Expenditure Credits, the amounts should be added together to give the total for this box. If the company is also claiming any of the Creative Industries Tax Reliefs, the total amount of any additional deductions should be added to this as well.


  • 670 Enhanced expenditure (“Research and Development and creative enhanced expenditure”)

This is the sum of box 665 and any R&D enhanced expenditure amounts that the company is also claiming.


  • 885 Payable creatives tax credit

This is the final amount of tax credit payable in relation to all Creative Industries Tax Reliefs and Expenditure Credits, after all other surrenders or discharges.

For AVEC and VGEC, it is the amount remaining at Step 6 of s1179CC, the credit redemption steps.

Payments will be made to the bank details supplied on the CT600 in boxes 920-940.