Rockland County Tax Credit for Film Production and Post-Production.

New York allocates $420 million per year in tax credits to encourage companies to produce film projects.

Production companies may be eligible to receive a fully refundable credit of 35 percent of qualified production costs and post-production costs incurred in Rockland County, NY. Companies and productions of the following are candidates for the Film Tax Credit Program

• Film Production
• Post-Production
• Visual Effects & Animation
• Commercials

Film Production Credit

Qualified production costs are for tangible property or services used or performed within New York State directly and predominantly in the production of a qualified film. Qualified costs generally include most below-the-line items associated with production such as set construction, crew, camera equipment, grip equipment, props, etc. Post-production costs such as film editing, sound design and effects, and visual effects may be qualified production costs for purposes of the film production credit.

Post Production Credit

Post production costs associated with the production of original content for a qualified film that are incurred at a qualified post-production facility in New York State are eligible.

Application Process

Applicants complete and submit the Project Summary Form online. All other documents which comprise a complete application (see Chart of Application Materials for the Film Tax Credit) are submitted through the secure file transfer system. See Application Instructions document.  It is highly recommended that applications be submitted at least 10 business days prior to the start of principal photography.

When submitting an application for either the Film Production Credit or Post-Production Credit, all materials as indicated in the chart below must be submitted in order for the application to be deemed complete. Refer to the Chart of Application Materials for the Tax Credit when completing an initial and final application.

Online Application Form

For the Film Production Credit, applications must be submitted prior to the start of principal and ongoing photography. Applications for the Post-Production Credit should be filed prior to the start of principal photography on the qualified film, but generally NO LATER than the last day of principal photography, or, in the case of a television series, no later than the last day of principal photography on the first episode of the series. When an initial application is deemed complete, the Program Office will notify an applicant that the project is eligible to submit a final application.

The overwhelming success of the New York State Film Production Tax Credit has brought record breaking numbers of film and television productions and tax credit applications into the State. To help address the influx of final applications, Empire State Development (ESD) is offering an optional, voluntary program for third party review of final applications. This voluntary initiative is effective January 1, 2015 for the Film Production Tax Credit and effective July 25, 2016 for the Post-Production Tax Credit Program. This procedure enables productions that choose to participate to have their final applications reviewed by pre-qualified CPA firms according to agreed-upon procedures (AUPs) established and published by ESD. The reviews and reports prepared by the pre-qualified CPA firms must be submitted as a supplement to a production’ s final application.Eligibility in Film Production

Eligibility

The Program is limited to feature films, television series, relocated television series, television pilots and films for television.

Eligibility requirements vary based on the type of film production company and the budget.

If the film has a production budget over $15 million or is being produced by a company in which more than 5 percent of the beneficial ownership is owned directly or indirectly by a publicly traded entity:

• At least 10% of the total principal photography shooting days must be at a qualified production facility (QPF) in New York State

Pilots are exempted from the 10 percent principal photography day requirement. Pilots must shoot a minimum of one day of principal photography day at a QPF, and at least 75 percent of the total of all expenses related to work (excluding post-production) done at all facilities utilized by the Pilot must be related to work done at the QPF.

Productions with budgets of $15 million or less produced by companies that are independently owned must shoot at least one day of principal photography at a QPF.

If a non-qualified production facility (in NYS or out of State) is used by the Production Company, at least 75 percent of the total of all expenses related to work (excluding post-production) done at all facilities anywhere must be related to work done at the QPF.

If a production has met the 75 percent test for qualified production facility expenditures, it may also qualify for credit based upon qualified expenditures outside the qualified facility that are related to pre-production, location production and post-production if:

1. The production spends less than $3 million on all costs related to work done at a qualified production facility, then a minimum of 75 percent of the principal photography days shot on location must be in New York State. This threshold requirement applies to location days only. Principal shoot days at a facility must not be included in the calculation of the 75 percent; OR
2. The production spends $3 million or more on all expenses related to work done at a qualified production facility, then there is no 75 percent threshold for principal photography on location in NYS. All qualified expenditures related to pre-production, location production and post-production in NYS are eligible for calculating the credit.

Eligibility in Post-Production

Post production costs associated with the production of original content for a qualified film that are incurred at a qualified post-production facility in New York State are eligible.

A qualified post-production facility is any company located in NYS and engaged in providing post-production services to film and television.

A film production company can qualify for the post-production credit if it meets either one or both of the following thresholds:

1. Visual Effects and Animation – The qualified VFX/Animation costs incurred at a qualified post-production facility in NYS must EITHER meet or exceed:
   • 20 percent of the total VFX/Animation costs paid or incurred for VFX/Animation for the qualified film at any post-production facility anywhere; OR
   • $3 million
2. Post-Production – The qualified post-production costs incurred at qualified facilities in NYS, (excluding cost for VFX/Animation), must meet or exceed 75 percent of the total qualified post-production costs paid or incurred in the post-production of the film at any post-production facilities.

   NOTE: A film production company filming a substantial portion of its project in NYS can include post-production costs incurred in NYS in the calculation for the film production credit. The post-production credit is available to film production companies that film a substantial portion of a project outside NYS but are seeking to contract some or all of the post-production work to a facility in NYS. A Film production company cannot claim the film production credit and the post-production credit for the same qualified post production costs.

Fully Animated Production/Post Production – A company engaged in the production of a fully animated film is eligible for the Post Production Credit if the qualified production and post-production costs meet the VFX/Animation threshold of 20 percent; expenses in the Producer, Director and Deliverable Elements categories are also qualified if they  meet the Post Production 75 percent threshold.

For more information please visit NYLovesFilm