New York
State
and New York City
now offer Film Production Tax Credit programs, which combined can
provide qualifying film and television productions a fully-refundable
tax credit equal to up to 35% of production expenditures.
The incentive
applies to production costs incurred in New
York State
and/or New York City. Eligible
productions include:
-
Feature
Films
-
Episodic
television series
-
Television
pilots
-
Television
movies and miniseries
The New York
State Film Production Credit program provides a refundable 30% tax
credit for qualified feature films, episodic television, pilots, and
television movies/miniseries. Legislation increasing the NY State credit
from 10% to 30% of qualified costs was signed into law by Governor David
Patterson on April 23, 2008.
The Made In
New York (New York City)
program provides an additional 5% credit and was first signed into law
by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on
January 3, 2005. $30 million per year have been allocated to
the City program.
The incentive
applies to qualified production costs for work incurred in New York State
and/or City, and productions must qualify by being based in New York State
and/or City. New York City consists of
the five boroughs of Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan.
The two
programs (State and City) are similar and have similar qualifying
thresholds. Projects and
costs incurred anywhere in the State of
New York
will be eligible for the State’s 30% credit.
Projects that shoot inside the five boroughs of the NY City may
also be eligible for the City’s 5 % credit.
WHO IS
ELIGIBLE? WHAT COSTS ARE
ELIGIBLE?
For a feature
film or television project to be eligible for the New York State
credit, the production must shoot on a set, on a stage, at a qualified
production facility in New
York
State. These productions
will qualify for up to a 30% state tax credit for the work done at the
facility. If the facility is within New York City,
these productions will also qualify for the additional 5% tax credit
from the New York City program.
(Note: If a production also shoots at any non qualified
production facility in addition to the qualified production facility,
then at least 75% of the total facility related costs must be spent at
the qualified facility).
For location
work, post-production, and costs of other work done in New York outside the facility to be eligible, either 1) at
least 75% of any days shot on location outside the facility must be in New York State, or 2) the production must spend at
least $3 million on work incurred at the qualified facility.
If the facility is in New York City
and 75% of location days are done within New York
City, or if more than $3 million is spent at the NY City
qualified facility, the production will also qualify for the additional
5% tax credit from the New York
City
program
“Qualified
productions”
are feature length films, television films, television pilots or
television series. Certain categories of
productions are excluded from the program, including
but not limited to documentaries, news or current affairs programs,
interview or talk shows, instructional videos, sport shows or events,
daytime soap operas, reality programs, commercials, music videos.
“Qualified
production costs” are costs for tangible property or services used or performed within New York directly and
predominantly in the production (including post production) of a
qualified film. Qualified production costs generally include most
below-the-line items including costs of technical and crew production,
expenditures for facilities, props, makeup, wardrobe, set construction,
background talent, etc., and generally exclude costs of stories and
scripts, and wages for writers, directors, producers and performers
(other than extras without spoken lines).
“Qualified film production
facilities”
are facilities in the State of
New York in which television shows and films are
or are intended to be regularly produced, and which contain at least one
sound stage of at least 7,000 SF.
For a list of
film production facilities considered qualified for the New York State program,
click
here.
HOW IS THE
CREDIT RECEIVED?
The State of
New York
has allocated to the program $350 million for calendar year 2009. The
state program is scheduled to sunset in 2013. The City of New York has allocated $30 million per year
through 2011. These credits
will be offered on a first come, first serve basis.
The
New York State
30% refundable credit is applied to the applicant’s New York State
tax return for the year in which the production was completed.
If the amount of the credit earned exceeds any NY State tax owed
by the applicant, the overage will be refunded as follows:
·
Projects claiming less than $1 million in credit will receive
the full value of the credit for the tax year that the production was
completed
·
Projects claiming between $1 million and $5 million in credit
will receive half of the credit for the tax year that the production is
completed and half of the credit the next tax year
·
Projects with credit over $5 million will receive the credit
in three equal installments.
The
New York City 5% refundable credit is applied to
the applicant’s New York City
tax return for the year in which the production was completed.
If the amount of the credit earned exceeds any NYC tax owed by
the applicant, 50% of the overage will be refunded to the applicant in
the year it is earned and the balance of such credit will be carried
over to the tax return for the following tax year.
To apply for
the credit, a production company must first submit an Initial
Application which leads to conditional approval of the project.
The same application forms may be used to apply for both the
State and the City credits, however, if applying for both programs,
separate copies with original signature pages must be delivered to both
the New York State Office For Motion Picture and Television Development
(for the State credit) and the Mayor’s Office of Film Theatre and
Broadcasting (for the City credit).
Applications
must be submitted at least 10 business days prior to the start of
principal and ongoing photography, but not more than 180 days (90 days
for New York City) prior to the start of principal and ongoing
photography.
The New York
State Film Production Credit program is administered by the New York
State Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development.
The
New York City credit is administered by the City
of New York
Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting.
To contact the MOFTB, please go to
www.nyc.gov/film.
