New York state budget increases film and TV tax incentives

New York state governor Kathy Hochul announced on May 3 that the state's film and tv tax credits has been expanded.

The amount allocated to the program has been nearly doubled, going from $420 million per year to $700 m.

The base credit has been raised back to 30%, having been lowered to 25% in 2020. 

Another revision is the amount of time it takes from a project's completion to receiving the credit. New York dispenses money from funds tied to a specific "allocation year".

Previously, producers were required to make the claim in the year folowing their allocation year. Now they can claim within the same allocation year (as of writing, this does not apply retroactively).

There are brand new changes to New York state's credits as well, in the hopes of luring productions away from nearby US states. New York credit will now also apply to above-the-line costs, including the salaries of writers, directors, "specific producers," actors, and composers.

The credit will be $500,000 per individual and 40% of a production’s qualified production costs. 

Other details of the program include: extension for five years, including above-the-line wages in the existing 10% "upstate" bump on labor costs, adding production costs that are used and consumed upstate for productions which shoot 50% or more of their principal photography upstate, incentivising the relocation of series by allowing, for the first season in NY after relocation, as eligible qualified relocation costs, up to $6 m, and shortening the time a relocating talk/variety series must be in production before gaining eligibility, from five years to two years.

These changes take place on April 1, 2024.