Ontario Film & Media Grants in 2026 — Tax Credits Up to 40%

How Ontario's four credits fit together

OFTTC and OPSTC never combine, OIDMTC stands entirely apart, and OCASE stacks onto whichever film or TV credit a production already holds.

Here's what you need to know about Ontario's four screen-industry tax credits: they aren't four competing options for the same production, they're keyed to what you're making and who controls it. OFTTC and OPSTC are mutually exclusive alternatives for film and television, split by ownership. OIDMTC lives in a separate world entirely, for interactive digital media, and can't be claimed alongside either. OCASE is different again: it's an add-on, layered on top of whichever base credit your production already uses. Picking correctly the first time matters, because that choice isn't reversible for that production.

OFTTC or OPSTC: the ownership test decides it

The Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit (OFTTC) (35% of eligible Ontario labour, 40% on the first $240,000 for first-time producers, plus a 10% regional bonus for shoots substantially outside the GTA) is for Canadian-controlled corporations that hold copyright in the production. The Ontario Production Services Tax Credit (OPSTC) (21.5% on all qualifying Ontario production expenditures, including labour, service contracts and tangible property) has no Canadian-content or ownership requirement at all, and was built for foreign studios and service productions. A production can't claim both: if your company controls the production and holds copyright, OFTTC is the answer; if you're servicing someone else's production, it's OPSTC.

OFTTC's 10% regional bonus rewards productions that shoot outside Toronto, but the qualifying bar is exact, not approximate. Ontario Creates requires at least 85% of a production's total Ontario location days to fall outside the Greater Toronto Area before the bonus applies to that production's OFTTC claim. A production splitting its shoot between downtown Toronto and, say, Sudbury or Ottawa needs to track location days by municipality from day one; falling to 84% outside the GTA forfeits the entire bonus, not just the shortfall. The bonus stacks onto OFTTC's base rate rather than replacing it: 35% base plus 10% regional becomes 45% on eligible Ontario labour, and 40% plus 10% becomes 50% for a first-time producer's first $240,000. OPSTC carries no equivalent regional bonus; the incentive to shoot outside Toronto exists only inside the OFTTC and CPTC world, not for foreign service productions.

OCASE layers on top, it doesn't replace anything

OCASE (18% of eligible Ontario labour on animation and visual-effects work, no cap) is built to sit on top of OFTTC or OPSTC on the same production, not instead of them. Since March 2024, Ontario Creates no longer requires a production to also hold OFTTC or OPSTC certification to claim OCASE, so a pure VFX or animation shop working on someone else's production, a Toronto post-production house finishing a US streaming series, for example, can claim it independently. Ontario Creates confirms OCASE and OPSTC stack routinely on the same production; producers pairing it with OFTTC should confirm the combination with their entertainment accountant.

OIDMTC lives in its own world

OIDMTC (40% of eligible Ontario labour, 35% for fee-for-service work, no overall cap on the credit itself though marketing and distribution costs are capped at $100,000 per product) is Ontario's richest single rate, and OIDMTC doesn't touch the other three. OIDMTC applies to interactive digital media, not film or television, so a game studio or interactive-content developer never has to choose between OIDMTC and OFTTC or OPSTC; those credits simply don't apply to their work.

Interactive studios sometimes ask whether they can claim OCASE's 18% animation rate on top of OIDMTC's 40%, since a game or interactive product often involves heavy animation and visual-effects work. The answer, confirmed directly in GrantCompass's catalog of program stacking rules, is no: OCASE's own eligibility explicitly excludes OIDMTC-certified products, treating interactive digital media as a different category entirely from the film and television productions OCASE was built to layer onto. The animation and VFX labour inside an interactive product is already eligible labour under OIDMTC itself, claimed at the full 40% (or 35% fee-for-service) rate, not a lower add-on rate. OCASE only stacks onto OFTTC- or OPSTC-certified film and television productions. A studio building both a game and a linked TV tie-in runs two separate claims, OIDMTC for the game, OFTTC or OPSTC plus OCASE for the show, never one combined claim.

Interactive and new-media artists based in Ontario can also browse Ontario arts-council funding alongside these tax credits.

In short: the Stack Floor, OFTTC or OPSTC plus its federal partner, is guaranteed before any juried fund gets involved; OIDMTC stands alone at 40%, and OCASE adds up to 18% more once animation or VFX work qualifies, on OFTTC or OPSTC productions only.

Who's who: three realistic Ontario productions

A first-time CanCon producer, a foreign service shoot, and an indie game studio each land on a different Ontario screen credit.

In short: whichever type of production you're running, Ontario's credit system already has a matching lane, and each layers with a federal partner credit plus whichever of Telefilm, the Canada Media Fund, or Ontario Creates' IP Fund fits the production's stage.

How to apply, in six steps

Ontario Creates and CAVCO applications run in parallel from day one of principal photography, never one after the other.

Ontario permanent establishment means a corporation has a fixed place of business, an office, studio, or production facility, actually operating in the province, not just a mailing address. All four credits require it, but the ownership test above it differs sharply. OFTTC and OIDMTC both require Canadian control, more than 50% Canadian voting shares, and OFTTC adds a second test: the producer must have been an Ontario resident at the end of both calendar years before principal photography started. OPSTC drops the Canadian-control requirement entirely, foreign-owned corporations qualify, but raises the bar elsewhere: the production budget must exceed $1,000,000 and Ontario labour must reach at least 25% of total qualifying Ontario expenditures, or the eligible expenditure base gets capped at four times actual Ontario labour spend. Register provincially and obtain a CRA business number before applying to either Ontario Creates or CAVCO.

1. Pick your credit first. OFTTC needs Canadian control and copyright ownership; OPSTC has no ownership test at all; OIDMTC applies only to interactive digital media; OCASE layers onto whichever of the first two you're already claiming.
2. Incorporate with a permanent Ontario establishment. Canadian control is required for OFTTC and OIDMTC, not for OPSTC.
3. Apply for CAVCO Part A certification before principal photography starts, if you're stacking the federal CPTC. You need 6 of the 10 Canadian-content points; applying late risks losing the entire federal credit.
4. Submit to Ontario Creates for your Certificate of Eligibility as early as day one of principal photography. There's no application deadline for the credit itself, but certification takes time.
5. Apply to Telefilm, the Canada Media Fund, and Ontario Creates' IP Fund in parallel if you need production financing beyond the tax credit itself, not after.
6. File your certified credit with your corporate tax return (T2SCH560 federal, CT8 Ontario) once the production wraps.

Ontario Creates and CAVCO certification aren't sequential, they're submitted together. A production stacking OFTTC with the federal CPTC files its OFTTC application to Ontario Creates alongside its CAVCO Part A application, both confirming the same 6-of-10 Canadian-content points, as early as the first day of principal photography, rather than waiting for one certificate before starting the other. Ontario Creates then issues a Certificate of Eligibility, or a Letter of Confirmation for productions still in progress, that must be in hand before you file your T2 return; CAVCO's certification confirms the content points on its own separate track. Treat the two applications as one coordinated package, not two separate errands: most entertainment accountants file both in the same week production starts, precisely so neither certificate becomes the bottleneck holding up the other.

Each of Ontario's four credits charges an administration fee to Ontario Creates, calculated as 0.15% of the expenditures being claimed, but the floors and ceilings vary by credit. OFTTC and OCASE both run a minimum $500 fee up to a maximum $10,000. OIDMTC's minimum is higher, $1,000, still capped at $10,000. OPSTC's fee runs highest of the four: minimum $5,000, maximum $15,000, reflecting the larger foreign-service productions the credit typically serves. None of these fees are refundable if Ontario Creates declines the application, so budget for them regardless of outcome. Processing isn't instant either: OCASE certificates typically take 8 to 12 weeks once Ontario Creates has a complete application, and the other three credits run on comparable timelines. Pay the fee by Interac e-Transfer alongside your application, not after Ontario Creates requests it.

In short: pick your credit first, incorporate with a permanent Ontario establishment, apply to Ontario Creates and CAVCO in the same week production starts, and file the certified credit with your T2 once the production wraps.

What's changed for 2026

CPTC rose to 25%, OCASE dropped its certification prerequisite, and the Canada Media Fund is restructuring its Distributor Program.

The federal CPTC sits at 25% of qualifying Canadian labour, following Budget 2025's increase from its earlier rate, and it's the credit every OFTTC production pairs with.

OCASE's March 2024 change is still catching some Ontario shops off guard. Since then, OCASE no longer requires a production to also hold OFTTC or OPSTC certification, which opened the credit to companies that only do animation or VFX work for productions they don't otherwise qualify on.

Ontario Creates' IP Fund runs two intakes a year. The spring 2026 window closed April 21; the next deadline is September 22, 2026.

The Canada Media Fund confirms it invested $346 million in FY 2025-26 across the Broadcaster Envelope and its selective programs, with a bigger restructuring previewed for 2026-27: the Distributor Program, currently CMF's juried funding stream for independent Canadian distributors, moves to an Envelope model, a formula-based allocation similar to the Broadcaster Envelope rather than a competitive application process.

In short: the federal rate moved, OCASE's certification gate came down, Ontario Creates kept its twice-yearly IP Fund cadence, and the Canada Media Fund is restructuring how it distributes money to indie distributors.

FAQ

Nine verified answers cover stacking, eligibility, and documentation for Ontario's four screen tax credits and their federal partners.