Digital Games Tax Offset - Important things to know
- Serge Zebian
- Jan 2
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 14
🎮 Hey Studios, have you thought about your FY24 DGTO Strategy?
The Digital Games Tax Offset (DGTO) offers a 30% refundable tax offset on Qualifying Australian Development Expenditure (QADE), designed to support growth in the Aussie digital games industry.
Here are the basics:
Eligibility: The applicant must be the company (tax resident or permanent establishment in Australia) primarily responsible for undertaking the activities necessary for the development of the game in Australia. The project must qualify as a “game”.
Benefit: 30% for eligible companies that spend a minimum of $500k (per certificate) on QADE.
Certificates:
Completion Certificate: For a single game completed within the income year, covering costs over multiple years.
Porting Certificate: For a single game ported to new platforms within the income year, covering multi-year costs.
Ongoing Development Certificate: For one or more games with ongoing development of previously released games, covering costs within the specific income year.
Refundable Nature: If the tax offset exceeds your company's tax liabilities, the excess amount is refunded by the ATO.
No Deadlines on Certificates: This was a common misunderstanding and confused me as well, but the DGTO office has updated the forms now to NOT REFLECT a deadline. Inside the application, you can select the relevant year in which your certificate is due.
Important Timing Consideration: The relevant income year for which the DGTO can be claimed by the applicant company for a Completion Certificate is the income year in which the game was released to the general public (other than for testing purposes). So, if you are looking to trigger your completion certificate to include in your FY24 tax return, June 2024 is the last month of release. A release in July 2024 will mean you have to wait until your FY25 tax return.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need guidance on navigating this program. You can also reach out directly to the DGTO team at DigitalGames@arts.gov.au; the team is great and highly engaged with the industry, so credit to them.
