Enhanced Section 481 · Visual Effects

What Your Production Needs to Qualify for Ireland’s 40% VFX Uplift

Guide for producers  ·  30 July 2026

The headline rate is settled: 40%. The question producers are now asking is a more practical one — what does a production actually have to do to get it?

Ireland’s enhanced credit for visual effects — an uplift to Ireland’s Section 481 film and television tax credit — came into operation for applications made on or after 16 July 2026, under S.I. No. 336 of 2026. The rate itself has been widely reported. The application requirements have not, and they are more specific than most producers expect — particularly around skills development and the paperwork you need in place before Irish production commences.

This is a plain-English guide to qualifying. EGG held two of the industry seats on the VFX Ireland panel that worked with government on this measure, so we have followed it from proposal to statute.

Does your project qualify?

There are three routes in, and one of them covers productions that have not yet decided where their VFX will be done.

Route C matters more than it first appears. It means a production filming in Ireland does not have to have appointed its VFX house to begin the process — but it does have to keep that work in Ireland to hold the 40%.

The 40% applies to all your eligible spend, not just the VFX

Once a project qualifies, the enhanced rate is calculated across all eligible Irish expenditure — production, post-production and VFX — up to the €10m threshold.

This is the most commercially significant feature of the measure, and the one most often misread. The €1m is a trigger, tested against a narrow definition of relevant visual effects work. The 40% is then calculated on the broader pool of eligible expenditure.

The explanatory note to S.I. No. 336 of 2026 puts it plainly: where the certificate states that the enhanced credit may apply, and the film meets the criteria on completion, the film corporation tax credit is calculated using the higher rate up to a maximum expenditure of €10 million, with any expenditure above that calculated at the standard 32%.

What you need in place before you can apply

Two new schedules, and a signed VFX contract.

The application must be made in writing to the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport in advance of the commencement of Irish production. Alongside the standard Section 481 application, VFX enhancement applicants complete two additional tabs:

• Tab O — Schedule of Relevant Visual Effects Processes. Which of the qualifying VFX processes your project will carry out in Ireland.
• Tab P — Detailed Relevant Visual Effects Expenditure Plan. Expenditure broken down under each heading — and a copy of the VFX contract or contracts supporting those figures.

That last requirement is the one to plan around. You cannot complete a VFX enhancement application without a contracted VFX partner and a costed plan behind it. In practice, choosing your facility becomes an early financing decision rather than a late production one.

The skills development requirement is different for VFX

Your TAB F goes to Screen Ireland regardless of budget, and your certificate will not issue until they approve it.

On a standard Section 481 application, the TAB F Skills Development Plan only goes to Screen Ireland where eligible expenditure exceeds €2m. For VFX enhancement applications, TAB F must be submitted directly to Screen Ireland whatever the expenditure. Once approved, the approval letter goes to the Department — and no certificate issues until it is received. Build that into your schedule.

Senior roles

You must confirm that at least one of the following four senior VFX roles is filled by an Irish national or ordinary resident, or that a shadowing opportunity exists on one of them:

• Head of / Supervisor — Production
• Head of / Supervisor — VFX Producer
• Head of / Supervisor — 3D
• Head of / Supervisor — 2D

Where a role is being shadowed, a CV for that senior role must accompany the application.

Additional trainees

• VFX-only projects: one additional trainee, over and above the normal Section 481 requirement.
• Live action or post with VFX: two additional trainees, who can be placed on any part of the project in the State, plus open crew calls for the live action element.

Timing: what counts, and from when

Only expenditure incurred after 10 July 2026 counts toward the €1m VFX trigger and toward the enhanced amount.

If your project was already underway, VFX spend incurred before 10 July 2026 does not help you reach the €1m threshold, and is not taken into account in calculating the enhancement. Your standard Section 481 position on earlier eligible expenditure is unaffected. The regulations came into operation on 16 July 2026 in respect of applications made on or after that date.

The application itself must be made in advance of the commencement of Irish production, and the TAB F approval sits on the critical path ahead of certification. For a production planning Irish VFX, the practical lead time is longer than the paperwork suggests.

The 18 categories of qualifying VFX work

S.I. No. 336 of 2026 sets out the visual effects processes that may meet the definition of relevant visual effects work.

How the exclusions work

The test is what the work is for, not what it is called. General production and post-production, supervision and coordination, and administration are excluded from the €1m trigger — but only where they are not carried out, directly or indirectly, in support of relevant visual effects work.

So VFX supervision, editorial and coordination count, because they support the visual effects work. Your line producer, your picture edit and your production office do not. It is the same distinction that separates the narrow €1m trigger from the broader pool of eligible expenditure the 40% is then calculated on.

Common questions

Read next

• What Ireland’s 40% VFX tax incentive means for your production — how the uplift works in practice, with worked examples and how Ireland compares to the UK.
• Ireland introduces enhanced 40% tax credit for visual effects — the announcement and what changed.
• All Irish film and TV tax incentives — the 40% VFX uplift, 40% Scéal, standard 32% and the unscripted credit, side by side.