Puerto Rico film tax incentive

What Puerto Rico 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

Min $50K PR spend ($25K short/doc). No principal-photography requirement (pre-prod/partial qualifies). Non-resident talent qualifies at 20% with mandatory 20% withholding. Resident producer fees capped at 10% of PR budget. Credits >$1M require independent economic-impact study; <$1M require 5-yr income projection.

• Feature Film
• Scripted TV
• Pilot
• Miniseries
• Documentary
• Animation
• Streaming / SVOD

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.

• Domestic Producer / Key Crew Uplift (+15%)

  Additional 15% of PR Production Expenditures paid to Domestic Persons (excl. Foreign Persons) on features, episodic series or documentaries run by a Domestic Producer (controls IP, financing, ≥30% of producer profits) with a domestic director/DP/editor/production designer/post supervisor/line producer. Narrow-eligibility. Max $4M/project; total domestic credits ≤55%.

  Minimum spend: $50K PR Production Expenditures ($25K documentaries) — same as PR00

  +15%

Other state programs

Separate incentives Puerto Rico 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.

• Excise Tax (Arbitrios) Exemption on Articles Used in Film Production

  Minimum spend: N/A

• Room Tax Exemption for Film Production Cast/Crew

  Minimum spend: N/A

  9%

How to apply

Apply online via PR Single Business Portal (ogpe.pr.gov/freedom) before end of principal photography. Filing fee = 1% of PR budget (max $250K), 50% due within 30 working days of decree. CPA Agreed-Upon-Procedures audit report due 90 days after wrap. Not first-come; evaluated on economic impact.

Common questions

What is the Puerto Rico film tax incentive rate?

Puerto Rico offers 40% on qualified in-state spend through the Act 60, Chapter 9. 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 Puerto Rico film incentive?

$50K PR Production Expenditures per project; $25K for short films and documentaries; $100K aggregated for commercial campaigns or bundled post-production (§2091.01(a)(1)). 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 Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico offers 1 uplift on its headline program: Domestic Producer / Key Crew Uplift (+15%). Uplifts are usually decided by scheduling and location choices made months before submittal.

Is the Puerto Rico 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.