Tax Credits for Filmmakers - State by State

These here United States are always competing with each other to see who can give filmmakers the biggest tax break. I thought I'd gather all the official links in one place for the benefit of the interweb. Perhaps someone with more time and tax knowledge can put together a program that lets you plug in the variables of your production and recommend which state has the optimum package.

Continue to the list of film incentives by state...Alabama
Alabamafilm.org - sales and use tax exemptions depending on size of budget

Alaska
Alaska Film Program - no sales or income tax in Alaska

American Samoa
IRS on American Samoa's taxes - no sales tax

Arizona
New Film Incentives - %10-20 income tax credit, use exemptions

Arkansas
Arkansas Dept. of Economic Development - refund of state sales and use tax

California
filmcafirst.com

Colorado
Colorado Film Commission incentives - Hotel Tax refund

Connecticut
CCT: Connecticut Digital Media & Motion Picture Tax Credit - 30% for budgets over $50,000

Delaware
Delaware Film Office - Incentives - No sales tax, other tax exemptions.

District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.)
film.dc.gov

Florida
filminflorida.com - %15 cash reimbursement

Georgia
filmgeorgia.org - Use and sales tax exemptions.

Guam
No incentives I could find, but here are some tax forms.

Hawaii
Hawaii Film Office (..pdf detailed explanation) - 15%-20% refundable production credit

Idaho
Idaho Film Bureau - rebate of the 5% sales tax for budgets of $200,000+

Illinois
Department of Commerce
Incentive Breakdown - %20 tax credit on Illinois salaries, %20 of production spending

Indiana
Film Indiana - fee free locations, tax credits

Iowa
Iowa Department of Economic Development - free locations

Kansas
Kansas Film Commission - 4.9% reimbursement, no tax on lodging

Kentucky
KentuckyFilmOffice - 6% sales and use refund

Louisiana
lafilm.org - Sales, Labor and Investor tax credits

Maine
filminmaine.org - Wage tax and income tax rebate, no state sales tax on qualified items, reimbursement on lodging taxes, no taxes on fuel

Maryland
Maryland Film Office - 5% sales tax exemption

Massachusetts
massfilmbureau.com - 20-25% tax credits

Michigan
MHAL - tax free lodging, 9% tax credit for films under $15M
NEW - Michigan offers an up-to-20% tax rebate to $5-10M films and slightly less to films all the way down to films that spend $200,000 in Michigan. First the double bottle deposit refund, now this! O Michigan, you profligate!

Minnesota
mnfilmandtv.org - sales tax exemption, free scouting, free office space (!)

Mississippi
Film Incentive Packet (.pdf) - 10% rebate, 10% tax credit, and various exemptions including for expendables
Official Mississippi Film Guide

Missouri
Missouri Film Commission - 50% tax credit, not to exceed $1M

Montana
Montana Dept of Commerce - 12% on Montana labor, 8% on qualified expenditures
Montana Film Office

Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York

North Carolina
North Carolina Film Office
Charlotte Regional Partners - "Production companies that spend at least $250,000 in North Carolina with respect to a motion picture or television production are eligible to receive tax credits up to 15% of in-state spending for goods, services, and labor."

[Emphasis mine, hat tip to reader Ben Silbert]

North Dakota
Northern Marianas
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Palau
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island

South Carolina
South Carolina Film Office - Incentives - State and local use and sales tax exemption for movies spending $250,000+, plus incentives for establishing a post-production facility
Charlotte Regional Partnership - 20% off labor, 30% off supplies for $1M+ movies

[Hat tip to reader Ben Silbert]

South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas

Utah
$1M+ get a 15% rebate up to $500,000. Exemptions for sales, use and lodging.
film.utah.gov

Be sure also to read about Laura Pratt's experience with being denied incentives

Vermont
Virginia
Virgin Islands

Washington
Film Office: Incentives - No state income tax, sales tax exemption on rentals and service, tax exemption for 30+ day lodging

West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

And for those in the Great White North...

Alberta

British Columbia
BC Film Commission - %18 basic, %15 for visual effects or digital animation
film.bc.ca

Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Sasketchewan
Yukon

SEE ALSO: How to Avoid Pitfalls in State-Sponsored Film Incentives

TIP OF THE HAT: To Mark Litwak's list - a lot of the links were old, but they were close enough to help.

NOTE: This is a long-term project. I'm planning to work on it every so often. Keep checking back if your favorite state isn't finished - or better yet, email me the info at makingthemovie AT-SIGN gmail DOT com. -JO