§ 24-B — Television writers' and directors' fees and salaries credit

* § 24-b. Television writers' and directors' fees and salaries credit.\n(a)(1) A taxpayer which is a qualified film production company, or a\nqualified independent film production company, or which is a sole\nproprietor of or a member of a partnership which is a qualified film\nproduction company or a qualified independent film production company,\nand which is subject to tax under articles nine-A or twenty-two of this\nchapter, shall be allowed a credit against such tax, pursuant to the\nprovisions referenced in subdivision (c) of this section, to be computed\nas hereinafter provided.\n (2) The amount of the credit shall be the product (or pro rata share\nof the product, in the case of a member of a partnership) of thirty\npercent and the qualified television writers' and directors' fees and\nsalaries costs paid or incurred in the production of a qualified film,\nprovided that: (i) the credit amount shall not exceed fifty thousand\ndollars for qualified television writers' and directors' fees and\nsalaries claimed for such expenses incurred for the employment of any\none specific writer or director for the production of a single\ntelevision pilot or a single episode of a television series, and (ii)\nthe credit amount shall not exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars\nfor qualified television writers' and directors' fees and salaries\nclaimed for such expenses incurred for the employment of any one\nspecific writer or director. In addition, under no circumstances shall\nthe credit amount include fees or salaries for more than one director\nper episode. The credit shall be allowed for the taxable year in which\nthe production of such qualified film is completed.\n (3) No qualified television writers' and directors' fees and salaries\nused by a taxpayer either as the basis for the allowance of the credit\nprovided for pursuant to this section or used in the calculation of the\ncredit provided pursuant to this section shall be used by such taxpayer\nto claim any other credit allowed pursuant to this chapter.\n (b) Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall\nhave the following meanings:\n (1) "Qualified film production company" is a corporation, partnership,\nlimited partnership, or other entity or individual whose project is\nconditionally eligible to receive a tax credit under section twenty-four\nof this article which or who is principally engaged in the production of\na qualified film and controls the qualified film during production.\n (2) "Qualified independent film production company" is a corporation,\npartnership, limited partnership, or other entity or individual whose\nproject is conditionally eligible to receive a tax credit under section\ntwenty-four of this article, that or who (i) is principally engaged in\nthe production of a qualified film with a maximum budget of fifteen\nmillion dollars, (ii) controls the qualified film during production, and\n(iii) either is not a publicly traded entity, or no more than five\npercent of the beneficial ownership of which is owned, directly or\nindirectly, by a publicly traded entity.\n (3) "Qualified film" means a television film, television pilot and/or\neach episode of a television series, regardless of the medium by means\nof which the film, pilot or episode is created or conveyed.\n (4) "Qualified television writers' and directors' fees and salaries"\nmeans salaries or fees paid to a writer or director who receives an\non-air credit, provided that in each case, such writer or director is a\nminority group member, as defined in subdivision eight of section three\nhundred ten of the executive law, or a woman, and provided, further,\nthat salaries or fees paid to any writer or director who is a profit\nparticipant in the qualified film shall not be eligible. Such fees shall\nnot include relocation fees or hotel costs and per diems. In addition,\nsuch fees shall not include salaries or fees paid to writers or\ndirectors for work done on episodes of television series that were\ndeemed conditionally eligible for the tax credit under section\ntwenty-four of this article prior to the tax year for which the credit\nis first available.\n (5) "Writer" means a person who is engaged by a qualified film\nproduction company or a qualified independent film production company to\nwrite television scripts, outlines, rewrites, stories, or teleplays for\ntelevision series and who reports to work regularly in a writers room\nlocated in the state. For the purposes of this definition, "writer"\nshall not include showrunners or executive producers.\n (6) "Writers room" means a room or physical location in the state\nwhere writers employed by a qualified film production company or\nqualified independent film production company write television scripts,\noutlines, rewrites, stories, or teleplays for television series utilized\nin a qualified film. A writers room is located in the state only if it\nis in use in the state at least eighty percent of the time it is in\nexistence.\n (7) "Director" means an individual employed or retained to direct the\nproduction, as the word "direct" is commonly used in the motion picture\nindustry, who would be classified as a director under the basic\nagreement in place between the Association of Motion Picture and\nTelevision Producers and the Director's Guild of America and who must\nmeet the minimum criteria for work on qualified productions in New York\nstate as established by the commissioner of economic development by\nregulation.\n (8) "Profit participant" is an individual who has negotiated for a\npercentage of profits generated by a qualified film. Profit\nparticipation does not include monies contractually required by\ncollectively bargained agreements for reuse of a qualified film on\ndifferent platforms over time.\n (c) Cross-references. For application of the credit provided for in\nthis section, see the following provisions of this chapter:\n (1) article 9-A: section 210-B: subdivision 54.\n (2) article 22: section 606: subsection (v).\n (d) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter, (1) employees and\nofficers of the department of economic development and the department\nshall be allowed and are directed to share and exchange information\nregarding the credits applied for, allowed, or claimed pursuant to this\nsection and taxpayers who are applying for credits or who are claiming\ncredits, including information contained in or derived from credit claim\nforms submitted to the department and applications for certification\nsubmitted to the department of economic development, and (2) the\ncommissioner and the commissioner of the department of economic\ndevelopment may release the names and addresses of any taxpayer claiming\nthis credit and the amount of the credit earned by the taxpayer.\nProvided, however, if a taxpayer claims this credit because it is a\nmember of a limited liability company or a partner in a partnership,\nonly the amount of credit earned by the entity and not the amount of\ncredit claimed by the taxpayer may be released.\n (e) Maximum amount of credits. (1) The aggregate amount of tax credits\nallowed under this section, subdivision fifty-four of section two\nhundred ten-B and subsection (v) of section six hundred six of this\nchapter in any calendar year shall be five million dollars. Such\naggregate amount of credits shall be allocated by the department of\neconomic development among taxpayers in order of priority based upon the\ndate of filing an application for allocation of television writers' and\ndirectors' fees and salaries credit with such department. If the total\namount of allocated credits applied for in any particular year exceeds\nthe aggregate amount of tax credits allowed for such year under this\nsection, such excess shall be treated as having been applied for on the\nfirst day of the subsequent year.\n (2) The commissioner of economic development, after consulting with\nthe commissioner, shall promulgate regulations to establish procedures\nfor the allocation of tax credits as required by subdivision (a) of this\nsection. Such rules and regulations shall include provisions describing\nthe application process, the due dates for such applications, the\nstandards which shall be used to evaluate the applications, the\ndocumentation that will be provided to taxpayers to substantiate to the\ndepartment the amount of tax credits allocated to such taxpayers, and\nsuch other provisions as deemed necessary and appropriate.\nNotwithstanding any other provisions to the contrary in the state\nadministrative procedure act, such rules and regulations may be adopted\non an emergency basis.\n (f) The department of economic development shall submit to the\ngovernor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker of the\nassembly, an annual report to be submitted on February first of each\nyear evaluating the effectiveness of the television writers' and\ndirectors' fees and salaries tax credit provided by this section in\nstimulating the growth of diversity in the film industry in the state.\nSuch report shall include, but need not be limited to, the number of\nqualified film production companies and/or qualified independent film\nproduction companies which received a television writers' and directors'\nfees and salaries credit, the credit amounts claimed by each qualified\nfilm production company and/or qualified independent film production\ncompany, as well as the impact on employment and the economy of the\nstate. Such report shall be based on data available from the application\nfiled with the department of economic development for allocation of\ntelevision writers' and directors' fees and salaries credits.\nNotwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the information\ncontained in the report shall be public information. The report may also\ninclude any recommendations of changes in the calculation or\nadministration of the credit, and any other recommendation of the\ncommissioner of the department of economic development regarding\ncontinuing modification, repeal of such act, and such other information\nregarding the act as the commissioner of the department of economic\ndevelopment may feel useful and appropriate.\n * NB Effective on the first of January next succeeding the date the\ndepartment of economic development provides notice to the legislative\nbill drafting commission of a determination pursuant to § 6 sb 2 (b) of\nchapter 683 of 2019\n