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Tom is a filmmaker, producer, and marketing specialist based in Los Angeles.
At Wrapbook, we pride ourselves on providing outstanding free resources to producers and their crews, but this post is for informational purposes only as of the date above. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. You should consult with your own legal, accounting, or tax advisors to determine how this general information may apply to your specific circumstances.
Hawaii isn't just a location; it's a cinematic paradise. From volcanic craters to rainforest waterfalls to white sand beaches, Hawaii offers filmmakers an entire world's worth of scenery.
On the Big Island, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park delivers striking terrain, from active lava fields to stark black sand coastline.
On Kauai, the Nā Pali Coast offers dramatic sea cliffs and lush valleys that have doubled for prehistoric jungles and remote islands alike.
On Oahu, Waikiki and Honolulu provide a dense, walkable backdrop that can play anywhere from a modern American city to a Pacific Rim capital.
And on Maui, the winding Road to Hana and the volcanic summit of Haleakalā round out the state's range, from rainforest to near-lunar crater.
Hawaii's cinematic range has drawn productions including the Jurassic World trilogy, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Disney's live-action Lilo & Stitch remake. More recently, Apple TV+'s Chief of War, starring and produced by Jason Momoa, filmed extensively across the islands.
Filming in Hawaii lets productions capture an authentic tropical, Pacific, or East Asia-adjacent look while remaining fully within the U.S., with no passports, customs, or international payroll compliance required.
Decades of production activity have built a deep local crew base across the islands. Supporting it all is the Hawaii Film Office, which assists productions with permitting, location scouting, and connections to each island's dedicated film commission.
Combined with the financial support of Hawaii film incentives, the state's blend of scenery and production-ready infrastructure make it a compelling home base for island- and Pacific-set stories alike.
Hawaii's love affair with the silver screen dates back decades, but it wasn't until 1997 that the state strategically crafted film incentives to attract more productions.
Act 107, Session Laws of Hawaii 1997, established the Motion Picture, Digital Media, and Film Production Income Tax Credit to encourage local production activity and build out the state's production workforce.
The credit was significantly reworked in 2022 under Act 217, which raised base credit rates, lowered minimum spending requirements, and introduced the program's first per-project cap, among other revisions designed to keep Hawaii competitive with other production destinations.
Most recently, Governor Josh Green signed SB 2580 into law as Act 185, Session Laws of Hawaii 2026, on July 6, 2026. The update raises the credit's funding caps, adds a new bonus for local hiring, formally recognizes streaming productions, extends the credit's sunset date, and eliminates a longstanding General Excise Tax obstacle for productions working with third-party payroll providers.
So what exactly does the Hawaii film tax credit look like today? Let's take a closer look.
At its core, the Hawaii film tax credit is a fully refundable tax credit of 22% to 27% on qualified production costs, with an additional 5% bonus available to productions that hire a workforce composed of at least 80% local residents.
Unlike a transferable credit that must be sold to a company with in-state tax liability, Hawaii's film tax credit is fully refundable, meaning the state pays out the full value of the credit directly to the production regardless of its Hawaii tax liability.
The base credit is 22% for productions filming in a county with a population over 700,000 (currently only the City and County of Honolulu, encompassing Oahu) and 27% for productions filming in any other county, including Hawaii Island, Kauai, Lanai, Maui, and Molokai.
If you’re planning an island-hopping production that takes place in more than one county and on more than one island, HI film tax credits allow you to prorate expenditures based upon the amounts spent in each county.
The Hawaii film tax credit has a minimum spend requirement of at least $100,000. This means that productions must spend at least $100,000 in qualified Hawaii production costs to qualify. Commercials and standalone post-production projects may bundle expenditures across more than one project to meet that threshold, provided all projects are produced under the same company.
The credit is capped at $20,000,000 per project, though productions incurring at least $60,000,000 in qualified production costs are exempt from the project cap entirely.
Total annual funding for the Hawaii film tax credit is capped at $60,000,000 and any unclaimed portion of a given year's funding now carries forward to increase the following year's cap.
The credit is currently authorized for costs incurred through January 1, 2038, giving producers a long runway to plan around the program.
Production companies engaged in production or post-production in the state of Hawaii are eligible for the Hawaii film tax credit. This encompasses a wide array of production types, including:
The following project types do not qualify for the Hawaii film tax credit:
Notably, reality television, game shows, and streaming series are all eligible for HI film tax credits.
A qualifying streaming series season is capped at eight episodes, compared to 22 episodes for a broadcast television series, with additional episodes beyond that cap treated as a separate qualified production.
So what expenditures qualify for the Hawaii film tax credit? And how much can productions expect to receive back in savings?
To understand how the credit applies to a production budget, it helps to break qualified costs into two categories: cast and crew payroll and physical production expenses.
Payroll is often the largest expense on any production budget, and Hawaii keeps its treatment refreshingly simple. Wages and salaries paid to cast, crew, and musicians all qualify for the same 22% to 27% credit, regardless of residency status or above-the-line or below-the-line role.
Compensation paid through loan-out companies can also qualify. A 4.5% Hawaii General Excise Tax withholding, plus any applicable county surcharge, is required on payments made to loan-out companies in order for those payments to qualify for the credit.
Production companies must obtain a GET withholding ID number from every loan-out working in the state and submit it when remitting withholding tax.
A wide range of production costs incurred in Hawaii can qualify for the credit. Eligible expenses generally include:
Costs incurred outside Hawaii generally do not qualify as qualified production costs for the Hawaii film tax credit.
Understanding and strategically budgeting for qualified expenditures can help your project maximize HI film tax credits.
Productions with a workforce composed of at least 80% local hires earn an additional 5% credit on all qualified production costs, not just payroll, bringing the effective credit as high as 32%. This bonus, introduced by Act 185, applies to costs incurred after December 31, 2025.
Beyond the credit itself, Hawaii now offers a notable exemption for productions working with a third-party payroll provider. As of July 6, 2026, reimbursements a production pays to a payroll company for wages, payroll taxes, and employee benefits are exempt from Hawaii's General Excise Tax.
Previously, GET applied to a payroll company's entire gross payroll invoice; it now applies only to the payroll company's service or handling fee, meaningfully reducing the cost of working with a payroll partner like Wrapbook. This exemption is separate from the loan-out withholding described above, which still applies.
To qualify for the Hawaii film tax credit, productions must satisfy several administrative and statutory requirements set by the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) and the Hawaii Film Office.
First and foremost, productions must incur at least $100,000 in qualified Hawaii production costs, as noted above.
Productions must also register with the Hawaii Film Office at least seven days before the start of principal photography, using the Pre-Production Registration Form or the Split Year Form for productions spanning more than one tax year. Registering late can jeopardize the credit entirely.
Before incurring costs, production companies must also register to do business in Hawaii by obtaining a Certificate of Authority from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and must apply for a General Excise Tax license for a one-time $20 fee. Out-of-state loan-out companies working on the production must register and obtain a Certificate of Authority as well.
Every taxpayer claiming the Hawaii film tax credit for costs incurred after December 31, 2025 must submit an independent third-party certification from a qualified CPA, in addition to a sworn statement, no later than 90 days after the end of the taxable year in which the qualified production costs were incurred. This replaces the prior system, under which only productions with more than $1,000,000 in qualified costs needed outside verification.
Productions must also provide evidence of financial or in-kind contributions, or workforce development efforts, valued at 0.1% of the production's Hawaii spend or $1,000, whichever is greater.
Each taxpayer claiming the credit must submit a fee equal to 0.2% of the tax credit claimed by the production.
Productions must include an acknowledgment in their end credits that the project filmed in Hawaii, though screen credit may be waived in favor of alternative marketing arrangements approved by DBEDT that offer equal or greater promotional value to the state.
Because total annual funding is capped, producers should contact the Hawaii Film Office early in the budgeting process to confirm current program status and available funding.
To begin applying for a Hawaii film tax credit, producers can submit the Pre-Production Registration Form or the Split Year Pre-Production Registration Form (for productions shot over two consecutive tax years) to the Hawaii State Film Office.
These forms must be submitted online by email and as a signed hard copy mailed to the State of Hawaii Film Office seven days prior to the production’s first shoot day.
After filming begins, productions must submit the Hawaii Production Report to the Hawaii State Film Office no later than 90 days following the end of each calendar year in which qualified production costs were incurred.
Required attachments to the Hawaii Production Report include:
For more information on the forms and documents needed to receive a Hawaii film tax credit, visit the State of Hawaii Film Office website.
The Hawaii Film Office, led by Chief Officer Georja Skinner, administers the state's film tax credit and serves as the primary liaison between productions and the state.
Beyond processing applications and production reports, the office assists with permitting, location scouting, and connections to local crew and vendors.
Each major island also maintains its own film office to support productions with local permitting, location scouting, and crew connections:
For productions filming across multiple islands, coordinating with both the state film office and each relevant county office early in pre-production can help keep permitting and scheduling on track.
The fully refundable tax credit, diverse landscapes, and a film-friendly environment make Hawaii an unparalleled destination for filmmakers.
For an in-depth comparison of film incentives across the United States, explore Wrapbook's state-by-state incentive breakdown. Better yet, dive into Wrapbook’s Production Incentives Center for answers to all your incentive questions. The paradise of Hawaii awaits. Aloha!
Aloha! Welcome to the tropical paradise of Hawaii, where pristine beaches and breathtaking landscapes have drawn filmmakers to the islands’ shores for generations.
The scenery, though, is only half the draw. With the help of Hawaii film tax credits, productions can stretch their budgets further in the Aloha State, and that’s exactly what we’re talking about today.
In this guide, we're breaking down everything producers need to know about the Hawaii film tax credit, including how the credit works, who qualifies, what expenditures count, and how to apply. So, grab your sunscreen and let's explore the fruitful world of Hawaii film tax credits.
Before we dive into the details of Hawaii’s film tax credit program, we invite you to take a moment to explore the wealth of information available on Wrapbook's Production Incentive Center.
The Production Incentive Center is a comprehensive resource designed to help producers research, compare, and navigate film incentive programs across the United States and its territories.
With tools like the State Incentive Map, you can quickly browse programs nationwide. Or give the Incentive Comparison Tool a spin and see how Hawaii film tax incentives stack up against production incentives in other leading destinations like Georgia, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, and California.
No matter what you're shooting or where, Wrapbook's Production Incentive Center makes it easy to evaluate your options and identify the incentive that's right for your next production.
