Assembly Bill A6857A

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 6857--A

                       2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                              April 5, 2011
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  ENGLEBRIGHT -- read once and referred to the
  Committee on Ways and Means --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,
  ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

AN  ACT  to  amend  the  tax  law,  in relation to the empire state film
  production credit

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Section 31 of the tax law, as added by section 12 of part Q
of chapter 57 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
  S 31. Empire state film post production credit. (a) Allowance of cred-
it.  (1)  A  taxpayer  which is a qualified film production company, and
which is subject to tax under article nine-A or twenty-two of this chap-
ter, unless eligible for the credit under section  twenty-four  of  this
article  with  respect  to the qualified film, shall be allowed a credit
against such tax, pursuant to the provisions referenced  in  subdivision
(c) of this section to be computed as provided in this subdivision.
  (2)  The  amount of the credit shall be the product (or pro rata share
of the product, in the case of a member of a partnership) of [ten] THIR-
TY  percent  and  the  qualified  post  production  costs  paid  in  the
production of a qualified film at a qualified post production facility.
  (3)  A  taxpayer  shall  not be eligible for the credit established by
this section unless the qualified post production costs at  a  qualified
post  production  facility  meet  or  exceed seventy-five percent of the
[total post production costs] QUALIFIED EXPENDITURES WITH RESPECT TO ANY
ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING SUBSETS:
  (I) PICTURE AND SOUND POST PRODUCTION COSTS, AS  HEREINAFTER  DEFINED;
(II) MUSIC, AS HEREINAFTER DEFINED; AND (III) VISUAL EFFECTS, AS HEREIN-
AFTER DEFINED; AS EACH MAY BE paid or incurred in the post production of
the qualified film at any post production facility. The credit shall [be
allowed]  ONLY  BE  ALLOWED  AS  TO  THE SUBSET OR SUBSETS FOR WHICH THE

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD10413-04-1

              

A. 6857--A                          2

SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT THRESHOLD HAS BEEN MET  for  the  taxable  year  in
which the production of such qualified film is completed.
  (4)  No  qualified  post production costs used by a taxpayer either as
the basis for the allowance  of  the  credit  provided  for  under  this
section or used in the calculation of the credit provided for under this
section shall be used by such taxpayer to claim any other credit allowed
pursuant to this chapter.
  (b)  Definitions.  As  used  in this section the following terms shall
have the following meanings:
  (1) "Qualified film production company"  and  "qualified  film"  shall
have  the  same meaning as are ascribed to such terms by section twenty-
four of this article.
  (2) "Post production costs" means ANY EXPENDITURE IN PICTURE AND SOUND
POST PRODUCTION,  MUSIC,  OR  VISUAL  EFFECTS,  AS  HEREIN  DEFINED,  IN
CONNECTION  WITH THE production of original content for a qualified film
employing traditional, emerging and  new  workflow  techniques  used  in
post-production [for picture, sound and music editorial, rerecording and
mixing, visual effects, graphic design, original scoring, animation, and
musical  composition; but]. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS PARAGRAPH, "PICTURE AND
SOUND POST PRODUCTION" SHALL INCLUDE COSTS INCURRED IN PICTURE AND SOUND
EDITORIAL, ASSEMBLY, RECORDING, RERECORDING, MIXING, TRANSFERS,  RELATED
EQUIPMENT AND FACILITY FEES, SCREENING, COLOR GRADING, COLOR CORRECTION,
SCANNING,  FILM  CLEANING,  CONFORMING, AND LABORATORY SERVICES; "MUSIC"
SHALL INCLUDE COSTS INCURRED IN ORIGINAL SCORING, MUSIC  EDITORIAL,  AND
RELATED  EQUIPMENT  AND  FACILITY  FEES;  "VISUAL EFFECTS" SHALL INCLUDE
COSTS INCURRED  IN  GRAPHIC  DESIGN,  COMPOSITING,  TRACKING,  REMOVALS,
ANIMATION,  DATA  ARCHIVING,  RENTALS;  HOWEVER, THE FOREGOING shall not
include the editing of previously produced content for a qualified film.
  (3) "Post production facility" means  a  building  and/or  complex  of
buildings  and  their improvements on which film are intended to be post
produced.
  (4) "Qualified post  production  facility"  means  a  post  production
facility located in the state, engaged in finishing a qualified film.
  (c)  Notwithstanding  any  other provision of law to the contrary, the
aggregate amount of tax credits available under this section  shall  not
exceed  the amounts allowed pursuant to subdivision (e) of section seven
of part P of chapter sixty of the laws of two thousand four and shall be
allocated in the same manner as  provided  for  in  subdivision  (a)  of
section  seven  of  part  P of chapter sixty of the laws of two thousand
four.
  (d) Cross-references. For application of the credit  provided  for  in
this section, see the following provisions of this chapter:
  (1) article 9-A: section 210: subdivision 41.
  (2) article 22: section 606: subsection (qq).
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.