Alaska Film Office - Incentive Program Information

State of Alaska > Commerce > Office of Economic Development > Alaska Film Office > Bulletin Board

ALASKA'S FILM PRODUCTION INCENTIVE PROGRAM

Program Summary

The Alaska Film Production Incentive Program is an economic development initiative created to encourage growth of the film industry in Alaska. Applicants can qualify for up to 44% in a transferable tax credit on qualified production expenditures in Alaska.

What projects are eligible? Eligible projects are broadly defined as film, documentary, commercials, and video projects. We require a minimum of $100,000 of qualified expenditures in Alaska. Unlike some incentive programs, we do not have salary caps or project caps. We do not require your company to be domiciled in Alaska, nor do we have minimum requirements for principle photography days or Alaska hire. However, we provide additional incentives for Alaska hire, off-season production and productions filmed in rural locations. Below is a summary of Alaska’s Tax Credits:

Tax Credit	Value	Requirements
Base Credit	30%	Production expenditures must be made in Alaska.
Alaska Hire	+ 10%	Wages paid to Alaska residents receive an additional 10% credit.
Seasonal	+ 2%	Production expenditures made between Oct. 1 and Mar. 30 receive an added 2% credit.
Rural Location	+ 2%	Production expenditures made in a rural area also receive an added 2% credit.

Maximum Possible Credit	44%	A production with an all-Alaskan crew, filmed in rural Alaska between October and March.

Note: Alaska has no State Income Tax and no statewide Sales Tax, so our incentive program is just the tip of the iceberg of your possible Alaska savings.

How does the program work? The State of Alaska offers a film production incentive in the form of a transferable tax credit for qualifying production expenditures that you make in Alaska during a consecutive 24-month period.

Here are the steps you take to use Alaska’s incentives:

Contact the Alaska Film Office (AFO) for information and application forms.
Submit application to qualify your project for the tax credit to include estimated qualifying expenditures during a 24-month period, detailed budget, distribution plan and a script or synopsis of your project.
Receive approval letter that qualifies your project after AFO determines that your application meets program requirements.
Submit final application after production is complete and after a CPA licensed by the State of Alaska has audited your Alaska expenditures.
Receive tax credit from the Alaska Department of Revenue (DOR) after the AFO has verified that your project meets the requirements under which it was approved (rough assembly or comparable material required). NO ADDITIONAL REVIW is required by DOR.
Sell your tax credit to any company that has a corporate tax liability in the State of Alaska.

More information:

The Alaska Film Production Incentive Program is based on legislation passed in 2008.
The enabling legislation is available on the Alaska Legislature's website.

Regulations were written and received final approval in June 2009.
View the full text of the regulations here (pdf file)
View the full text of the applicable Alaska Statutes here (pdf file)

"Rural" has a specific meaning in this program.
Here is a list of Alaska Communities and their "rural" status (it also has information on local taxes - pdf file)

Forms:

The First Form you'll need is the Pre-Qualification Form:
Here is the Pre-qualification Form (pdf file)

Once your Production is complete you'll want these forms:
Tax Credit Application Form (pdf file)
Producer's Certification Form (pdf file)

Questions?

Contact the Alaska Film Office:
Call (907) 269-8491 or e-mail AlaskaFilm@alaska.gov

State of Alaska > Commerce > Office of Economic Development > Alaska Film Office > Bulletin Board