Revised Film Tax Credit Forms & New FAQs

Hawaii's 15-20% Motion Picture, Digital Media, & Film Production Income Tax Credit (Act 88) has been in effect for over a year now. Since it took effect, the Hawaii Film Office has gotten many specific questions about the credit: how to claim it, what counts as a "qualified production cost," who can claim it, etc. We recently compiled the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) and posted them (15-20% Tax Credit FAQs) on the Tax Incentive Section of the HFO site.

We also revised the Production Registration Form (PRF) and Hawaii Production Report (HPR). Major changes include:

• A detailed preliminary budget is no longer required to be attached and submitted with the PRF. Only the aggregate budget figures (total, Hawaii, Oahu, neighbor islands, etc.) need to be reported on the PRF itself. (A detailed expenditure report is still required with the HPR.)
• A detailed list of costs paid by Act 221-raised funds is no longer required with the PRF (but is still required with the HPR).
• A "production entity" in charge of managing physical and/or post-production must be listed in addition to a "filing entity" (the production and filing entity may be one in the same).
• A list of Hawaii vendors must now be submitted with the HPR.
• The expenditure report submitted with the HPR must reflect a certain level of detail as illustrated in one of two Excel templates posted on the Tax Incentive Section of the HFO site: one for film & tv productions, and one for commercials & music videos. You may fill them out directly, or you may use your own budget formats as long as the detail provided is equivalent to the detail found in these templates.

We have also revised the Instructions for Claiming the 15-20% Tax Credit. Please review these new and revised documents by clicking the individual links above, or by visiting Tax Incentive Section of the Hawaii Film Office site.

*PLEASE DISCARD ANY OLD FORMS AND USE THESE REVISED ONES*

>> HawaiiFilmOffice.com: Tax Incentive Section