*An audit by a New Mexico licensed CPA is only required for credits over $5,000,000.

All non-resident actors being paid via W-2 or loan-out must withhold 5.9%.

TV Bonus: a 5% bump for TV pilots intended for series production in New Mexico or for TV series intended for commercial distribution, with an order for at least six episodes in a single season and a New Mexico budget of at least $50,000 per episode.

Uplift Zone Bonus: a 10% bump on qualified production expenditures incurred 60 or more miles outside the Santa Fe and Albuquerque City Halls.

Qualified Production Facility Bonus: a 5% bump on productions that are made in a “qualified production facility,” as deemed by the state based on dimensions, set characteristics, and usage. A list of qualified production facilities is available on the film office’s website.

The TV Bonus and Qualified Production Facility Bonus cannot be stacked.

Productions must submit the Film Production Registration form and the Film Production Tax Credit Agreement form to the New Mexico Film Office 30 days prior to the beginning of principal photography.

Commercials must submit required forms and include proof of media buy(s). 

Standalone post-productions must submit all forms prior to beginning services in New Mexico.

*Annual funding is set to increase by $10,000,000 each fiscal year until reaching $160,000,000 in FY 2028

FY27: $150,000,000
FY28 onward: $160,000,000

*An audit by a New Mexico licensed CPA is only required for credits over $5,000,000.

†The Nonresident Below-the-Line Crew Credit (NRCE), still widely called the nonresident crew exemption, works as follows: The credit equals 15% of the wages a production pays to below-the-line crew who are not New Mexico residents, for services rendered in New Mexico. It covers off-camera BTL crew only, and it excludes producers, directors, writers, cast, production assistants, and personal services businesses.

The amount of nonresident BTL wages that can qualify is capped at 15% of the production's total New Mexico below-the-line crew wage budget, which includes both resident and nonresident BTL wages. The credit is then 15% of those qualifying wages. For example, on a production with a $1,000,000 total New Mexico BTL wage budget, up to $150,000 of nonresident BTL wages can qualify (15% of $1,000,000), and the credit is 15% of that, or $22,500.

The number of nonresident BTL positions the credit can cover is also capped by the production's final New Mexico budget: up to 5 positions for budgets up to $2,750,000, up to 10 for budgets above $2,750,000 and up to $7,500,000, up to 15 for budgets above $7,500,000 and up to $11,000,000, and one additional position for every $10,000,000 above $11,000,000, with a total not to exceed 20. A television pilot ordered to series and intended for New Mexico production adds 5 positions.

The Film Crew Advancement Program (FCAP) is a separate on-the-job training program, not part of the tax credit. Qualifying productions can be reimbursed up to 50% of an approved New Mexico resident trainee's wages for hours physically worked, up to 1,040 hours per trainee. Contact the Film Office for details.

The credit for the services of nonresident performing artists is capped at $5,000,000 per production. The cap applies to the credit, not to the expenditures incurred, and it does not apply to background artists or to resident performing artists cast in industry standard feature roles. For a New Mexico film partner, an additional $10,000,000 per production applies to payments for the services of nonresident performing artists, directors, producers, screenwriters, and editors, subject to a $40,000,000 annual aggregate across all of the partner's productions in a fiscal year. A production that qualifies under both caps can receive up to $15,000,000 in credit for a single production.

For payments made to a personal services business (super loan-out) for the services of non-resident performing artist, the loan-out will qualify if the gross receipts tax (the state base rate is 4.875%, and combined state and local rates run from about 5% to roughly 9% depending on the New Mexico location where the service is sourced) is paid by the personal services business on the portion of those payments qualifying for the tax credit and the film production company deducts and remits, or causes to be deducted and remitted, personal income tax at the maximum rate in New Mexico (currently 5.9%). Employer taxes DO NOT qualify: FUTA, SUTA and FICA

Film Production Partners of New Mexico do not affect the annual cap.

There is a separate grant program called the Senator John Pinto Memorial Fund. $100,000 is available annually and awarded to Native American companies and filmmakers for all types of productions. The program offers grants of up to $5,000.