*The minimum spend is $1,000,000 if the majority of principal photography shooting days occur in Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, or Suffolk county or any of the five New York City boroughs (with the exception of a television pilot)

The minimum spend is $250,000 if the majority of principal photography shooting days occur in any other county outside of Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, or Suffolk county or any of the five New York City boroughs. (with the exception of a television pilot)

Features must have a runtime of at least 75 minutes.

For any NY spend outside the qualified production facility to qualify, at least 75% of the budget must take place in New York OR the production must spend at least $3,000,000 at the qualified production facility. If shooting at more than one production facility, at least 75% of the total expenses related to work, excluding post-production, done at all facilities must be related to work done at the qualified production facility.

Music Scoring: a 10% bump for spending on music scoring provided five musicians are hired to perform work in New York State.

Production Plus Program: a 5% to 10% bump for production companies (and their affiliates) that submit two or more initial applications.

     • If the initial applications total at least $20,000,000 in qualified production 
       costs in New York State, the company may receive an additional 5% credit on 
       qualified spend for the projects. 
     • If the initial applications total at least $100,000,000 in qualified production 
       costs in New York State, the company may receive an additional 10% credit on 
       qualified spend for the projects.

This bonus is intended to incentivize slate production in the state. Initial applications for feature films submitted before December 31, 2028.

Upstate Bonus: a 10% bump on qualified labor expenses incurred in certain upstate counties, including: Albany, Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Chemung, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Dutchess, Erie, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Genesee, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Orange, Orleans, Oswego, Otsego, Putnam, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Schuyler, Seneca, St. Lawrence, Steuben, Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins, Ulster, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates. Productions must have a qualified spend of at least $500,000 in order to qualify.

Effective until 2036, there is a maximum of $5,000,000 per year that can be allocated for the Upstate Bonus. 

Upstate productions in counties specified above shall include qualifying above-the-line salaries incurred in those counties as eligible for the 10% additional credit. 

In addition, if the production company shoots more than 50% of principal photography days in the specified counties, all other qualified costs incurred in those counties are eligible for the 10% additional credit.

Applicants must begin principal photography within 180 days from the submission of the initial application.

The online application can be found in the Application Materials section of New York’s website.

A qualified independent production company is defined as a company that is not publicly traded and is not majority owned (51% or more) by a company publicly traded on a US stock exchange.

$20,000,000 of the $100,000,000 for qualified independent production companies is set aside for projects with budgets less than $10,000,000, and $80,000,000 is set aside for projects with budgets more than $10,000,000.


The following above-the-line salaries qualify for the tax credit: director, writers, actors, composers and two (2) producers (one executive producer responsible for overall creative management, one line producer responsible for overall production management). ATL salaries are limited to 40% of all other qualified production costs.

For applications filed after January 1, 2025, productions can claim their credits in the allocation year.

For applications filed prior to January 1, 2025, the previous payout timeline remains in effect: If the amount of the tax credits issued is $1,000,000 to $5,000,000, the credit will be claimed in equal installments over a two-year period. If the amount of the credits is greater than $5,000,000, the credit will be claimed in three equal installments, over a three-year period.

A written anti-harassment form and diversity plans are now required.