Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 481A

Relief for investment in digital games

Section 481A provides a corporation tax credit for digital games development companies that incur qualifying expenditure on the design, production and testing of eligible digital games, at a rate of 32 per cent of the lowest of eligible expenditure, 80 per cent of qualifying expenditure, or €25,000,000.

• The credit is available to companies resident in Ireland or the EEA that carry on a trade of developing digital games commercially for public release, provided the company is not an undertaking in difficulty and has been trading for at least 12 months before claiming. The digital game must pass a cultural test administered by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and must not be produced solely or mainly for advertising or gambling purposes.
• A two-stage certification process applies: the company may apply for an interim certificate before or during development, allowing interim claims as expenditure is incurred, and must apply for a final certificate once the game is completed. From Finance Act 2025, a company that has released a game may also apply for a post-release extension of an interim certificate, enabling further interim claims on expenditure incurred in developing post-release digital content such as expansion packs or downloadable content for incorporation into the original game.
• Qualifying expenditure covers costs directly incurred by the company on design, production and testing — including employee costs, capital items, equipment rental, consumables, software and intellectual property rights, and sub-contractor payments up to €2,000,000 — but excludes expenditure on designing the initial concept, debugging or maintaining a completed game, expenditure met by grants or other State assistance, and expenditure for which relief has already been claimed under the R&D credit or the film relief. Eligible expenditure is the portion of qualifying expenditure incurred in Ireland or the EEA, and the total qualifying expenditure on a completed game must be at least €100,000.
• Claims for expenditure incurred in accounting periods commencing on or after 1 January 2024 are made in the corporation tax return for the period in which the expenditure arises, and the company specifies whether the credit is to be treated as an overpayment of tax or paid directly by Revenue. Revenue must pay or offset the credit within 48 months of a valid claim. Where a claim is later found to be unauthorised, the company, its directors, or persons controlling more than 15 per cent of its ordinary share capital may be charged to tax under Case IV of Schedule D on an amount equal to four times (for a company) or one hundred fortieths (for an individual) of the disallowed credit, with interest running from the date the amount was originally paid or offset.