Two new pieces of film tax credits can change New York City’s film industry forever.
While Georgia, North Carolina and Illinois are boosting their film industry with tax incentives. New York City is planning on increasing their film tax credits.
According to Media Services, new legislation was introduced in the New York Senate on January 26 which would amend the production incentives program.
The new production incentives program would provide incentives and tax to writers and increase the annual cap in New York City.
Here is the breakdown of new legislation:
New York – SB 2518
- Including writers’ salaries and fees within production costs eligible for the Empire State Film Production Credit (excludes fees based on deferred, leveraged, profit participation costs, or fees exceeding those otherwise permitted).
- Defining “writer” as one employed or retained to write or revise scripts, screenplays, teleplays, dialogue, sketches, routines or narrations.
- Setting a $50,000 maximum per writer, per qualified film, provided the writer is subject to taxation by New York State.
- Limiting tax credits for production costs for writers’ fees and salaries to $5 million annually.
- Including a new section regarding diversity in hiring for writers. Where more than three writers are hired or retained for services on an eligible production, credits for writer costs will only be granted if at least one writer is from a minority group member or is a woman.
New York – SB 1297
SB 1297, introduced in the Senate on January 9, proposes to amend the annual cap to provide for an annual increase of the aggregate annual amount of the Empire State Film Production Credits taken based upon inflation, beginning in tax year 2017. The adjustment would be done annually on January 1. The amount of the production credits will not be less than $420 million annually.
