As a company that exploits cinema films, you must pay a film tax to the German Federal Film Board (FFA). The film levy finances all measures of the German Federal Film Board.

The amount of the film tax depends on your net sales subject to the tax. The percentage of the film levy is determined by the FFA on the basis of the reported net sales of the previous year.

The following regulations apply to video program providers:

• If you
  • have achieved a maximum net turnover of EUR 500,000 in the previous year with films over 58 minutes subject to the levy and a share of cinema films in turnover of at least 2 percent, you are not obliged to pay the film levy, but are legally obliged to report your turnover,
  • if you have achieved a share of theatrical film sales of less than 2 percent in the previous year with taxable films over 58 minutes, you are only obliged to report your theatrical film share annually.
• If you generated net sales of up to EUR 20 million in the previous year with films subject to the cinema tax, you must pay 1.8 percent of your monthly net sales from theatrical films as film tax.
• If you generated net sales of more than EUR 20 million in the previous year with films subject to the film tax, you must pay 2.5 percent of your monthly net sales from films as film tax.
• You do not have to pay the film tax for films that last a maximum of 58 minutes. You also do not have to report sales from these films on a monthly basis.

The following regulations apply to video-on-demand (VoD) providers:

• If you generated a maximum net turnover of EUR 500,000 in the previous year with theatrical films subject to the levy, you do not have to pay the film levy. You must nevertheless report your sales to the FFA.
• If you generated net sales of up to EUR 20 million in the previous year with theatrical films subject to the levy, you must pay 1.8 percent of your monthly net sales from theatrical films as film tax.
• If you generated net sales of more than EUR 20 million with films subject to the film tax in the previous year, you must pay 2.5 percent of your monthly net sales from films as film tax.

To calculate the film tax, you must report the net turnover from films subject to the film tax to the FFA each month. In doing so, you must:

• take into account all exploitation types (SVoD, AVoD, TVoD, EST),
• determine the percentage of theatrical films, if applicable, and
• report to the FFA in a total turnover subject to levy.