UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FILMING INCENTIVES

Hawaii: Motion Picture, Digital Media, and Film Production Income Tax Credit

Overview

Type of incentiveTax Credit
Qualifying formats
  • - Feature film - fiction (theatrical)
  • - Feature film - documentary (theatrical)
  • - TV Film or TV series - fiction
  • - Commercials (TV, theatrical, online)
  • - Video/online gaming production
  • - Music videos
  • - Short films
Qualifying productions
  • - National productions
  • - Foreign productions
  • - Co-productions

Specifics

Benefit as a % of spend25.00
Financial cap per production15000000
Do I have to register/set up a company?Yes
Does foreign cast/crew paid in their home country/region qualify as expenditure? No
Do foreign cast/crew have to pay tax in the host country/state/region? Yes
Does travel to/from country/region qualify as expenditure? Yes
Can a production qualify for other national incentives such as cultural programmes if it qualifies for this incentive? Yes
Criteria to access the benefit
  • - Minimum percentage of the film that must be shot in the region: 0.00%
  • - Minimum spend 200000 (in local currency)
  • - Use Local cast & Crew
  • - Cultural Test
When will the benefit/incentive be received?
  • - On submission of audited accounts
  • - State approx. number of months after completion of audited accounts
Additional incentives or advantages
  • - Rece tour assistance, location finding service
  • - The credit equals 20% of qualified production costs incurred on Oahu, and 25% on the neighbour islands (Big Island, Kauai, Lanai, Maui, Molokai). Allows state and location fees as a qualified expenditure Sales Tax is not recoverable. Any person working in Hawaii, whether a resident or not, is subject to state income tax withholding in addition to the standard US Federal withholdings such as social security and their resident state income tax.

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