HB1476: HB1476 Income tax; credits for postproduction expenditures; revise amount of credit

Georgia currently gives postproduction companies (studios that handle editing, sound, visual effects and similar work after filming) a tax credit worth 20 percent of qualified postproduction expenses once they spend at least $500,000 in a year, with add-ons of 10 percent for in-state production spending and 5 percent for spending in lower-income tier 1 or tier 2 counties. This bill raises the base credit to 30 percent. The bill also rewrites the rules on stacking this credit with other film-related tax breaks. It removes an old blanket ban that kept a company from claiming the postproduction credit if it also claimed the main production credit (O.C.G.A. § 48-7-40.26), instead allowing both as long as the same expenses are not double counted, and it narrows when a company can claim this credit alongside other listed film incentive credits by requiring that any Georgia resident employees counted have been permanently excluded from those other credits. The change would take effect July 1, 2026, applying to tax years starting on or after January 1, 2026.

• Raises the base postproduction expenditure tax credit from 20 percent to 30 percent of qualified postproduction expenses for companies spending at least $500,000 in a taxable year.
• Keeps the existing add-on credits: 10 percent more if related production expenditures were incurred in Georgia, and 5 percent more if incurred in a tier 1 or tier 2 county.
• Removes the old rule that automatically blocked a postproduction company from claiming this credit if it also claimed the main production tax credit under O.C.G.A. § 48-7-40.26, replacing it with a rule allowing both for different, non-overlapping expenditures.
• Tightens the rule for claiming this credit alongside other film incentive credits (O.C.G.A. §§ 48-7-40, 48-7-40.1, 48-7-40.17, 48-7-40.18) by requiring the resident employees counted to be permanently excluded from those other credits.
• Caps the total credit a postproduction company can claim in a year at the company's total in-state employee payroll for that year.
• Sets an effective date of July 1, 2026, applying to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.

Postproduction companies operating in Georgia (editing, visual effects, sound, and similar film and TV finishing work), their affiliated entities, and by extension Georgia film industry workers whose payroll counts toward the credit cap. The Georgia Department of Revenue would administer the revised credit rules.

A higher credit percentage could make Georgia postproduction work more financially attractive to studios, potentially affecting hiring and investment in the state's film and TV finishing sector. The revised stacking rules also change how much companies can claim when combining this credit with other state film incentives.

• Section 1 amends subsection (c) of O.C.G.A. § 48-7-40.26A to raise the base postproduction credit from 20 percent to 30 percent of qualified postproduction expenditures.
• Section 1 keeps the $500,000 minimum annual qualified postproduction expenditure threshold for eligibility.
• Section 1 keeps the annual cap tying the credit amount to the company's total Georgia payroll for that tax year.
• Section 1 amends subsection (g) to eliminate the automatic bar on claiming this credit when a company also claims the credit under O.C.G.A. § 48-7-40.26, instead permitting both if the same expenditures are not used twice.
• Section 1 adds a rule requiring permanent exclusion of counted resident employees from other listed film credits before this credit can be claimed alongside them.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as July 1, 2026, applying to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.
• Section 3 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2026-03-04House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
2. 2026-03-04House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-03House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-26House Hopper (House)

• Soo Hong (R, HD-103)Primary sponsor
• Kasey Carpenter (R, HD-004)
• Spencer Frye (D, HD-122)
• Clint Crowe (R, HD-118)
• Charles Cannon (R, HD-172)

• film tax credits
• postproduction incentives
• Georgia income tax
• entertainment industry