Nevada Film Tax Credits: Rates, Bonuses, and Eligible Spending

The Nevada film tax credit is a transferable state tax credit worth 15 to 25 percent of qualified in-state spending on film, television, and other media productions, capped at $10 million in total credits each fiscal year and $6 million per project.¹² Because the credit is transferable, production companies that don’t owe Nevada tax can sell the certificate to a business that does. The program is administered by the Nevada Film Office under the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED).

How Much Money Is Available

The state authorizes $10 million in transferable film credits each fiscal year, and every approved production competes for a share of that pool.¹ No single production can receive more than $6 million in credits, and unused credits from one fiscal year do not roll over.² The math favors mid-budget productions that can demonstrate heavy local hiring and spending, and the modest pool means early applications matter.

Which Productions Qualify

The statute covers a wide range of media formats:²

Feature films, direct-to-video movies, and made-for-television movies
Television pilots, series episodes, reality shows, and talk shows
Visual effects and digital animation sequences
National or regional commercials and infomercials
Music videos and documentary films or series
Video games, mobile applications, and other visual media

Several categories are excluded outright: news and weather programs, corporate or industrial videos, telethons or fundraising productions not intended for national distribution, political ads, sporting events and sportscasts, and galas, pageants, and awards shows.² The sporting-event exclusion has a carve-out worth noting: a scripted production featuring athletes or built around a sports theme still qualifies as long as it isn’t an actual event or sportscast.

The production company applying must be a legally recognized entity authorized to do business in Nevada, and it must serve as the primary party responsible for financing and managing the project.

Spending and Workforce Thresholds

Two hard numbers gate entry to the program. The production must incur at least $500,000 in qualified direct production expenditures inside Nevada, and at least 60 percent of the total preproduction, production, and (if applicable) postproduction budget must be spent in the state.³ If all postproduction happens outside Nevada, the 60 percent test applies only to the preproduction and production phases.

Applicants must also show that at least 70 percent of the project’s funding has been secured before submitting an application.⁴ That rule keeps speculative projects from tying up credits that production-ready companies could use. Once the project starts, it must wrap within 18 months of the start of principal photography.⁵

Credit Rates and the Two Bonuses

The base rate is 15 percent of all qualified Nevada expenditures, which covers payments to Nevada vendors and wages for resident cast and crew working in-state. Non-resident above-the-line personnel (producers, directors, and principal actors) earn credits at a lower 12 percent rate, and only the first $750,000 in wages and fringe benefits per individual counts.³

Two bonus tiers can raise the effective rate to 25 percent, and each applies to all qualified costs rather than only the category that triggered it:¹

A 5 percent Nevada resident bonus, available when more than 50 percent of below-the-line crew (excluding extras) are Nevada residents.
A 5 percent rural county bonus, available when more than 50 percent of filming days occur in a Nevada county where qualified productions incurred less than $10 million in direct expenditures in each of the two years before the application date.⁵

The resident-crew bonus is generally more attainable because it turns on hiring decisions rather than location logistics. The rural county bonus rewards shooting outside the Las Vegas and Reno metros, which often lowers location costs as well.

What Counts as an Eligible Expenditure

Qualified direct production expenditures are purchases, rentals, or leases of tangible property or services from a Nevada business during the production period. A Nevada business, for this purpose, is an entity with a physical location and at least one full-time employee in the state that is licensed to operate there.³ Eligible categories include:²

Set construction and operation
Wardrobe, makeup, photography, sound, and lighting
Filming, processing, and editing
Facility, equipment, and vehicle rentals
Food and lodging
Post-production services including editing, sound mixing, and visual effects
Payroll for Nevada residents and other personnel working in-state
Fees paid to a Nevada-resident producer

Some costs are specifically excluded: marketing and distribution, financing costs, depreciation, profit distributions, the cost of the required CPA audit, and payments to affiliates above fair market value.² Reimbursed expenses and spending already claimed on a prior credit application also don’t count. First-time applicants often budget aggressively against the credit only to find a chunk of projected spending is ineligible.

Pass-through purchases have their own rule. If a Nevada vendor buys equipment from an out-of-state supplier and immediately resells or rents it to your production, the spending can still qualify, but only if the vendor regularly deals in that type of property and no more than 50 percent of your total property purchases come through this arrangement.³

How to Apply

Applications go through the Nevada Film Office. You request application materials by contacting the office directly.⁵ A complete package includes:

A complete production script and detailed line-item budget
Proof that at least 70 percent of funding has been secured
A breakdown of projected Nevada expenditures, identifying specific local vendors and services
Estimated headcounts for resident and non-resident employees
The shooting schedule and planned filming locations within Nevada

The GOED Board of Directors reviews applications at public meetings and decides whether the project meets statutory requirements and warrants a credit reservation. Approved projects move forward under a preliminary agreement that sets the terms for eventual credit issuance. Getting on the board’s agenda takes planning, so start the process well before your production timeline demands it.

Audit and Deadlines After the Shoot

Once production wraps, the company must submit a CPA audit conducted by an auditor approved by Film Nevada. The audit verifies every expenditure and labor hour against program requirements, including the $500,000 minimum and the 60 percent in-state spending test. All audit documentation must be submitted within 270 days of completing the production.⁵

Missing that window can jeopardize the entire credit, so engage an approved CPA before principal photography wraps. Remember that the audit fee itself is not a qualified expenditure and needs its own budget line.²

After GOED reviews and accepts the audit, it issues the final tax credit certificate. Before issuance, the production company must file an irrevocable declaration specifying which eligible taxes the credits will offset.⁶

Using or Selling the Credit

The certificate offsets specific Nevada taxes. Under NRS 360.759, the eligible taxes are:²

Modified Business Tax and Commerce Tax (NRS chapters 363A and 363B)
Gaming license fees (NRS 463.370)
Insurance Premium Tax (NRS chapter 680B)

A production company can apply the credit against any combination of these. Most out-of-state producers don’t owe Nevada gaming fees or insurance premiums, which is why transferability matters. Selling the certificate to a Nevada casino operator, insurer, or other business with substantial state tax liability lets the production company convert the credit into cash.

To transfer a credit, the current holder must give written notice to Film Nevada on a prescribed form before the transaction closes.⁶ Both parties go through an administrative process to validate the dollar amount, and the Nevada Department of Taxation, the Gaming Control Board, and other state offices are notified so their records stay accurate.

Credits expire four years after issuance.² Market pricing for transferable credits typically runs below face value, since the buyer needs a discount to justify transaction costs and timing risk. Credits sold closer to expiration tend to trade at steeper discounts.

Federal Tax Consequences of Selling

Selling a Nevada credit is a taxable federal event. The original recipient has no cost basis in the credit because the state awarded it for free, so the entire sale price is recognized as gain. Under IRS Chief Counsel guidance, that gain is a capital gain for nonrefundable state tax credits, since the credit is treated as a capital asset under IRC Section 1221.

For the buyer, cost basis equals the purchase price. If a buyer pays less than face value and then applies the credit against a full tax liability, the difference between the price paid and the face amount used is additional gain the buyer must recognize. These federal consequences can significantly reduce the net benefit of a credit sale, so both sides should model the after-tax economics before agreeing on price.

1
Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The Questions You Want Answered About Transferable Tax Credits
2
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 360 – General Provisions
3
Nevada Film Office. Transferable Tax Credits for Film and Other Productions – Program FAQs
4
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 360.759 – Eligibility; Application; Taxes to Which Credit May Be Applied
5
Film Nevada. Nevada Film Tax Incentives
6
Cornell Law Institute. Nevada Administrative Code 360.845 – Issuance of Transferable Tax Credits; Notice of Transfer