Georgia film tax incentive

What Georgia actually pays

A credit you can sell to a company that owes tax in the state. You rarely get face value — expect a broker discount — so model the net, not the headline.

New to the mechanics? Tax credit vs rebate vs grant, Selling a transferable credit and What counts as qualified spend.

What qualifies

Project must be a Feature Film, Television Film/MOW, Series (per season/episode), Pilot, Commercial Advertisement, Music Video, or Interactive Entertainment project certified by GDEcD, and produced in whole or in part (at least one day of qualified production activity) in Georgia. Must meet $500,000 minimum base investment in qualified GA expenditures (single project or aggregate across projects in a tax year). Must be intended for Multimarket Commercial Distribution. Development-phase expenses do not qualify; project must have entered preproduction. Ineligible: news, sports, talk shows, instructional/corporate/industrial content, website development, place-based media, and projects primarily post-production in nature. Loan-out and 1099 payments require GA withholding to qualify.

• Pilot
• Animation
• Commercial
• Miniseries
• Music Video
• Scripted TV
• Feature Film
• Streaming / SVOD
• Video Game / Interactive

Uplifts

Rate bumps that stack on the base program, up to its published ceiling. Uplifts are the most commonly missed money in any program, because qualifying for one is usually a location or scheduling decision made long before anyone is thinking about submittal.

• Georgia Entertainment Promotion (GEP) Uplift (+10%)

  Applies to the whole qualified base; production must carry the GEP logo.

  Minimum spend: $500K

  +10%

Other state programs

Separate incentives Georgia runs alongside the headline program. Each has its own base, rules and application — the rates here are the programs' own, not additions to the rate above.

• Georgia Entertainment Postproduction Tax Credit

  20% of qualified Georgia postproduction spend, plus 10% if the project's production spend was incurred in Georgia, plus 5% if the post work is done in a tier 1 or tier 2 county. Requires at least $500K of qualified Georgia postproduction spend in the tax year.

  Minimum spend: $500K

  20%–35%

• Interactive Entertainment (Video Game) Tax Credit

  +10% GEP uplift for embedding the Georgia logo (15 sec aggregate in units sold + up to 3-sec online adjacency)

  Minimum spend: $250,000 minimum aggregate GA payroll (QIEPC); company gross income must be under $100M

  20%–30%

• State Hotel-Motel Fee ($5/night) – extended stay exemption after 30 consecutive days

  Minimum spend: 31 consecutive days (flat $5.00/night fee)

City, county & regional programs

Local incentives that can stack on top of the state program — but each defines its own qualified spend, caps and residency rules, so their rates can't simply be added to the state percentage. Worth a call before you count on one.

Best case here: Georgia 20% + Savannah up to 10% ≈ 30% combined — each on its own definition of qualified spend.

• Savannah Entertainment Production Incentive

  10% rebate on qualified Chatham County spend, administered by the Savannah Economic Development Authority. Main production office must be in Chatham County and at least 50% of shooting days within 60 miles of Savannah City Hall. Crew bonus if 50% of crew are Georgia residents living within 60 miles: $10,000 (Tier 1 feature), $25,000 (Tier 2 feature or series).

  Minimum spend: $500,000 qualified Chatham County spend (Tier 1 feature/pilot, $1M+ budget); $1,000,000 (Tier 2 feature/pilot, $4M+ budget); $1,000,000 per series (episodic, 5+ episodes, $5M+ budget)

  10%

How to apply

1) Apply to GDEcD for Base Tax Credit certification electronically (project must be Fully Funded — 75% of budget documented). Window: not earlier than 120 days before Principal Photography start (180 days if budget over $100M) and no later than 7 days after PP start. 2) Elect GEP uplift at time of completed application if pursuing the extra 10%. 3) Register with GDOR (Georgia Tax Center) for loan-out withholding and income tax accounts. 4) File Georgia Expenditures Report within 90 days of last GA spend. 5) Request the mandatory Film Tax Credit Audit through GDOR (required for all projects since 1/1/2023). Certified credits may then be claimed or sold/transferred to a Georgia taxpayer.

Common questions

What is the Georgia film tax incentive rate?

Georgia offers 20% on qualified in-state spend through the Entertainment Industry Investment Act. It is a transferable credit. A credit you can sell to a company that owes tax in the state. You rarely get face value — expect a broker discount — so model the net, not the headline.

What is the minimum spend for the Georgia film incentive?

$500,000 qualified GA spend (per project or aggregate across projects in a tax year). Falling under the minimum is a total loss of the benefit, not a partial one — it is worth confirming the threshold before locking a budget.

What uplifts are available in Georgia?

Georgia offers 1 uplift on its headline program: Georgia Entertainment Promotion (GEP) Uplift (+10%). Uplifts are usually decided by scheduling and location choices made months before submittal.

Are there city or county film incentives in Georgia?

Yes — Savannah Entertainment Production Incentive. Local programs generally stack on top of the state incentive but define their own qualified spend, caps and rules, so their rates can't simply be added to the state percentage.

Is the Georgia film incentive transferable or refundable?

Transferable — the credit can be sold, typically below face value, so model the net rather than the headline rate.

Verify before you budget. These figures come from our own incentives database and each shows when it was last reviewed — but programs change between funding cycles and legislative sessions. Confirm with the film office, or ask us, before a number goes into a budget.