HB 655: Income tax; postproduction expenditures; renew a tax credit

Georgia previously offered a tax credit for postproduction expenditures (work like editing, sound mixing, visual effects, and animation done after filming) but that credit expired for taxable years starting in 2023. This bill restarts the credit for postproduction companies for taxable years beginning January 1, 2026 through 2030, and raises the yearly statewide cap on the credit from $10 million to $60 million. The bill also creates a new 5 percent bonus credit for postproduction companies that spend at least $250,000 in counties with fewer than 100,000 residents where at least 10 percent of the population lives in poverty, based on lists the commissioner of community affairs would publish each year. It broadens what counts as a 'qualified production' to include special venue projects and widens the definition of qualified expenditures to cover visual effects work done inside or outside Georgia in connection with a qualified production. The changes would take effect July 1, 2025 and apply to tax years starting on or after January 1, 2026.

• Renews the postproduction tax credit under Georgia's income tax code (O.C.G.A. § 48-7-40.26A) for taxable years 2026 through 2030, after it had expired for years starting in 2023.
• Raises the statewide annual cap on total postproduction tax credits from $10 million to $60 million per year.
• Creates a new 5 percent bonus credit for postproduction companies that spend $250,000 or more in small, high-poverty rural counties identified annually by the commissioner of community affairs.
• Expands the definition of 'qualified production' to include special venue projects and broadens qualified expenditures to cover visual effects services and work connected to productions shot inside or outside Georgia.
• Requires postproduction companies to keep reporting full-time employee counts to the Department of Revenue annually by June 30, with the department reporting that data to House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees.

Postproduction companies working on film, video, and digital projects in Georgia, including those doing editing, sound mixing, visual effects, and animation. It also affects small, high-poverty rural counties that could see targeted investment, the Department of Revenue, and the commissioner of community affairs, who must publish qualifying county lists.

Postproduction companies would again be able to claim state tax credits for editing, effects, and related work performed in Georgia, with a much larger $60 million yearly pool available. The rural bonus credit could steer some production spending toward smaller, poorer counties that might otherwise see little of Georgia's film industry activity.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 48-7-40.26A(b)(5)-(6) to redefine qualified postproduction expenditures and productions, adding visual effects services and special venue projects.
• Section 1 adds new subsection (c.2) creating a 5 percent bonus credit for spending $250,000 or more in designated small, high-poverty counties, with an annual county list published by the commissioner of community affairs by December 31.
• Section 1 rewrites subsection (d) to set the aggregate annual cap at $60 million per year for taxable years 2026 through 2030, replacing the prior expired $10 million caps and 2023 cutoff.
• Section 1 revises subsection (f) to require annual reporting of full-time employee data through 2030, with reports due each June 30 to legislative finance committees.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as July 1, 2025, applicable to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.
• Section 3 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-28House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-27House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-26House Hopper (House)

• Scott Hilton (R, HD-48)Primary sponsor
• James Burchett (R, HD-176)
• David Clark (R, HD-100)
• Kasey Carpenter (R, HD-4)
• Steven Sainz (R, HD-180)
• Spencer Frye (D, HD-122)

• film tax credits
• postproduction industry
• Georgia income tax
• rural economic development
• entertainment industry