As we have already written in our previous newsletter, on 15 November 2016 the proposal for the modification of the Motion Picture Act was submitted to the Hungarian Parliament. On 6 December 2016, the Hungarian Parliament passed the bill that introduces changes to the Hungarian film legislation. One of the most important changes is that the Hungarian National Film Fund’s collection account can receive supports in the 4th quarter of 2016 without limitation, i.e. the amount of supports received until 31 December 2016 can exceed the HUF 14 billion threshold. A further change regarding the collection account is that its available budget will be regulated by a government decree from 2017. According to the government decree published on 16 December 2016, the available budget for 2017 will be HUF 33 billion (approx. USD 111.3 million) instead of the originally proposed HUF 25 billion. As a result, the recently experienced shortcomings in the tax rebate financing will most likely disappear.
The rules of eligible foreign cast and crew costs will also change, the 50% limitation has been enacted with a grandfathering regime not to have an effect on shows registered in 2016.
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