The primary focus of Contrarian is the provision of tax, advisory and SPV services to production companies, lenders and financiers and their specific projects seeking to access Australia’s various Federal and State government incentives e.g.  the Producer, Location and PDV Offsets and their regional/provincial equivalents. Since its inception, Contrarian has extensive experience in setting up & submitting project claims across a mix of US studio, local Australian and international feature co-productions and television series and mini-series.

 

Our services are typically required by international productions, commercial marketplace lenders and completion guarantors, with the real value add being our understanding of the nuances involved in the various corporate set ups and unique risk mitigation strategies for producers/financiers to maximise their claims.

 

The Contrarian Group provides the following tax, advisory and SPV services to producers, lenders and financiers and their specific productions in Australia:

• SPV Entity set up and structure
• Film/ TV Project incentive planning & advice
• Provisional Application advice, facilitation & lodgement
• Sponsorship of international Cast/Crew working on the project
• Enter into local union (MEAA) cast and crew agreement(s)
• Initial incentives estimate based on breakdown of budget
• Formal professional opinions in favour of the financier/lender and/or completion guarantor detailing the predicted qualifying spend, face value of the applicable incentive and its resulting cash value, income tax integrity of the production/ deal structure and the impact of any direct and indirect taxes
• Offset/Rebate financing and cashflow
• Production accounting/payroll and cost reporting
• Final application advice, facilitation & lodgement to achieve certification with the relevant government authorities
• Third party audit and law firm selection & facilitation (Contrarian are not an audit or law firm)
• Applicant tax return (where applicable) to claim the incentive and receipt of the proceeds on behalf of the lender and applicant

Each deal or arrangement is unique and the above services can be tailored to your specific requirements