The parliamentary groups have already shown their hands for the Draft Law on Cinema. The amendments to the articles are on the table. The parties that make up the Government, the PSOE and Sumar, have paid special attention to the support for co-official languages —out of conviction and, incidentally, as a nod to Junts to attract them towards a 'yes'—. For its part, the Catalan party proposes a profound fiscal reform of the audiovisual sector's management model.
The bulk of its amendments focus on a reform of the fiscal treatment of the audiovisual sector, with changes to Corporate Tax, VAT, and financing mechanisms.
Deductions: modifications to Corporate Tax
The party led by Carles Puigdemont has registered an amendment so that film exhibition is expressly recognized as an area eligible for tax incentives, in the same way as production.
In line with this, it proposes an increase in deduction percentages for investments in Spanish productions to 40% on the first million, and 30% on the remainder. For independent producers, it proposes 50% on the first 200,000 euros, 40% up to one million, and 30% thereafter.
It also proposes raising the limit of joint deduction with other aid to 80% when it comes to productions filmed entirely in co-official languages other than Castilian Spanish or in municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants.
Similarly, Junts wants to establish a 25% deduction for the production costs of live performing arts and musical shows; regulate the participation of investor taxpayers in the financing of productions, improving the legal certainty of financing contracts and allowing them to apply a deduction of up to 25% or 50% of their full tax liability; and include fiction, animation, or documentary series in Corporate Tax deductions.
Reduced VAT and fees
The amendments are not limited to Corporate Tax. Junts also proposes changes in the taxation of the art market and certain cultural activities, specifically, to reduce the VAT to 10% applicable to deliveries and imports of works of art, collectors' items, and antiques.
They also demand reduced VAT at 10% for entry to zoos and aquariums; and the repeal of the export tax on goods of Spanish Historical Heritage.
Other fiscal mechanisms and Social Security
Another of the amendments provides for modifying the payment in kind of tax debts so that contemporary works of art made by living artists are accepted as payment of taxes.
Junts also proposes changes in the contribution of certain self-employed workers in the cultural field in order to help professionals. To this end, they propose a reduced contribution to Social Security for artists with net annual income below 4,000 euros, setting a fee of around 90 euros per month for the year 2026.
Finally, it urges the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) to create a mechanism for advance loans on the future refund of the international tax incentive to improve the liquidity of productions.
With this package of amendments, Junts seeks to strengthen tax incentives for the audiovisual sector, alleviate the burden on certain cultural professionals, and expand the financing tools provided for in the Cinema Bill, a norm that remains pending the committee's report. Puigdemont anticipated that this is one of the laws that has his endorsement for negotiation, and this is the price.