Latvia film tax incentive

What Latvia actually pays

A cash payment back on qualified spend, usually after an audit. Like a grant in practice, though often funded from a capped pool.

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

What qualifies

Agreement with a Latvian-registered production/service company required; film wholly or partly shot in Latvia; Latvian-established persons/entities used for services; cultural/eligibility test plus economic min-spend gate. Eligible: full-length fiction features, feature documentaries, animation, TV films.

• Animation
• Documentary
• Scripted TV
• Feature Film

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.

• Riga Film Fund Co-Financing Program

  20% of eligible costs for a film shot in Latvia; 25% when the story is set in Riga or Riga is an essential part of the story (at least 20% of screen time) and the film is at least partly shot in Riga, or when a 20% project receives the maximum quality score. Eligible costs are listed categories paid to Latvian-registered providers from the application date: accommodation and premises rental in Riga, equipment rental, transport, fuel, catering, construction, security, telecommunications, utilities, props, production and artistic services, administrative services, fees to cast and extras resident in Latvia (or Latvian citizens, or EU citizens closely connected to Latvian culture), and a producer fee up to 7%. Eligible costs count only up to 80% of the total film budget. [basis: specific-spend]

  Minimum spend: Total film budget of at least EUR 700,000 excluding Latvian public co-financing, with foreign financing at least 75% of the budget and at least 50% of the budget confirmed at application.

  20%–25%

How to apply

A Latvian-registered company with an agreement with the foreign production applies to the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) during a selection round, which stays open for at least one month; when funding remains after a round closes, the agency announces the next round. The foreign producer must have at least 50% of total filming costs available. Decisions take about one month.

Common questions

What is the Latvia film tax incentive rate?

Latvia offers 30% on qualified in-state spend through the Latvia Co-Financing Program for Foreign Film Productions. It is a rebate. A cash payment back on qualified spend, usually after an audit. Like a grant in practice, though often funded from a capped pool.

What is the minimum spend for the Latvia film incentive?

Total production costs of at least EUR 711,436 for feature and animated films and EUR 142,287 for documentaries. Foreign funding must at least equal the film's eligible costs in Latvia.. 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.

Are there city or county film incentives in Latvia?

Yes — Riga Film Fund Co-Financing Program. 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 Latvia film incentive transferable or refundable?

Neither transferable nor refundable, which limits its value to productions with in-state tax liability.

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.