Indiana Film Tax Credit

How the Indiana Film and Media Tax Credit Works

Indiana's Film and Media Tax Credit is a newly enhanced program administered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) that became transferable effective January 1, 2026. The program offers a base credit of 20% of qualified Indiana production expenditures, with bonus credit opportunities that can push the total to 30% for productions meeting specific Indiana workforce and branding criteria. The credit is available through July 1, 2031, giving productions a five-year planning window.

Indiana's film incentive underwent significant legislative expansion with the passage of Senate Bill 306 in 2025, which took effect January 1, 2026. The key changes introduced by SB 306 include: making the credit transferable for the first time (with a one-time transfer limit per certificate), expanding eligible production types, increasing program caps, and extending the program sunset to July 2031. These changes position Indiana as a more competitive incentive state for productions that previously bypassed it due to the non-transferable credit structure.

The credit is transferable but not refundable. Productions that cannot use the credit against their own Indiana tax liability can assign the certificate to a single Indiana taxpayer. The assignee cannot further transfer the credit. Productions should work with a credit broker familiar with the Indiana market to confirm transfer pricing before relying on the credit as a cash-equivalent source of production financing.

Indiana Film Tax Credit Rates

The base credit rate is 20% on all qualified Indiana production expenditures. Two performance bonus tiers are available:

• Indiana workforce bonus: 5% additional credit for productions that demonstrate meaningful hiring of Indiana residents in both above-the-line and below-the-line roles, specifically for pre-production and post-production services performed by Indiana workers

• Indiana branding bonus: 5% additional credit for productions that incorporate IEDC-approved Indiana brand promotion in the completed project credits or content

Qualifying for both bonuses brings the maximum combined rate to 30%. The workforce bonus is designed to incentivize productions to hire Indiana-based crew and service vendors across the full production cycle. The branding bonus creates an additional pathway for productions that are willing to include Indiana destination marketing in their finished content.

Program Caps

The Indiana Film and Media Tax Credit operates under:

• Per-project cap: $250,000

• Annual statewide cap: $2,000,000 (revised upward from prior levels by SB 306)

The per-project cap means that even a very large production with millions in Indiana expenditures can receive a maximum of $250,000 in total credit. The annual statewide cap means that up to 8 productions (at the maximum $250,000 each) can be fully accommodated per year. Productions should apply early in each calendar year to ensure availability within the annual allocation.

These caps reflect Indiana's position as an emerging production incentive state. The program is designed to attract productions at the margin, where the prospect of up to $250,000 in credit provides a decisive push toward choosing Indiana over a neighboring state without an active incentive. For lower-budget independent productions where $250,000 represents 10-20% or more of the total budget, the credit is highly meaningful.

Eligible Production Types

Indiana's Film and Media Tax Credit covers:

• Feature films (narrative and documentary)

• Television series and pilots

• Commercials

• Music videos

• Animation

• Interactive media and video games

• Digital content intended for commercial distribution

The IEDC reviews each application individually and may consider content types outside the standard categories if the project demonstrates strong Indiana economic impact and alignment with the program's goals.

Qualified Indiana Expenditures

Qualified production expenditures are costs incurred in Indiana that are directly related to the production. Eligible categories include:

• Wages paid to Indiana residents performing production services in-state

• Wages paid to non-Indiana residents for production work performed in Indiana

• Equipment rentals from Indiana-based companies

• Location fees paid to Indiana property owners

• Set construction materials from Indiana vendors

• Catering and craft services from Indiana businesses

• Lodging for cast and crew while working in Indiana

• Vehicle and transportation costs from Indiana vendors

• Post-production services performed at Indiana facilities

• Wardrobe and props sourced from Indiana suppliers

Story rights, music rights, marketing and distribution costs, and expenditures clearly incurred outside Indiana are excluded from the qualified spend calculation. Development expenses incurred before the production receives IEDC certification are also excluded.

How to Apply for the Indiana Film Tax Credit

Step 1: Pre-Application Contact

Contact the IEDC before submitting a formal application to discuss your project and confirm current fund availability. The IEDC can advise on which bonus criteria your production is likely to qualify for and what documentation to prepare. Given the $2 million annual cap, early contact is important to confirm that funds are available before investing significant time in the formal application process.

Step 2: Application Submission

Applications are submitted through the IndianaCreates.com portal. The application requires:

• Production budget with Indiana expenditure breakdown

• Shooting schedule with Indiana location dates

• List of key personnel and their Indiana residency status

• Evidence of project financing

• Distribution or exhibition plan

• Economic impact analysis for Indiana

The IEDC evaluates applications based on financial viability, economic impact to Indiana, and the production's ability to complete within two years of approval. Stronger economic impact projections and demonstrated Indiana workforce commitment improve a production's standing in the review process.

Step 3: Certification Letter

If approved, the IEDC issues a certification letter that locks in the credit rate and the approved credit amount. Principal photography in Indiana may proceed after receipt of the certification letter. Expenditures incurred before the certification letter is issued do not qualify for the credit.

Step 4: Production and Documentation

During production, maintain detailed records of all qualifying Indiana expenditures, organized by vendor residency, crew residency, and expense category. Productions claiming the workforce bonus should document Indiana resident hiring across departments throughout the production cycle.

Step 5: Final Cost Report

After production wraps, submit the final cost report to the IEDC. Projects at or near the $250,000 project cap may require CPA attestation of the expenditure report. The IEDC reviews the documentation and issues the transferable tax credit certificate based on certified qualified expenditures.

Step 6: Credit Transfer

Productions that need to convert the credit to cash must identify an Indiana taxpayer buyer. The credit can be transferred once; the buyer cannot re-transfer it. Credit brokers familiar with the Indiana market can facilitate the transfer. Transfer pricing in Indiana is typically in the range of 80 to 90 cents on the dollar, given the program's relatively recent transferability and the smaller credit amounts compared to larger incentive states.

Indiana Film Locations

Indiana's location portfolio is more varied than many productions realize:

Indianapolis

Indianapolis is the state capital and largest city, with a compact downtown core, the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the northwest side, the canal walk, Monument Circle, and White River State Park. The city's infrastructure supports productions of moderate to significant scale, and Indianapolis has served as a filming location for studio features and commercial productions.

Historic Small Towns

Indiana has a remarkable density of well-preserved historic small towns throughout the state. Columbus, Indiana is internationally recognized for its modernist architecture, including works by I.M. Pei, Eero Saarinen, and Richard Meier, concentrated in a town of 50,000 people. Madison on the Ohio River preserves a 19th-century commercial district. Connersville, Decatur, and dozens of other towns offer authentic Midwestern vernacular architecture for period and contemporary productions.

Indiana Dunes and Lake Michigan Shoreline

The Indiana Dunes National Park along Lake Michigan's southern shore offers sand dunes, beach environments, and lakeside terrain within an hour of Chicago. The visual character of the dunes, with their combination of sand, forest, and freshwater shoreline, creates a production environment that differs substantially from anything available in the Chicago market itself.

Southern Indiana and Hoosier National Forest

Southern Indiana's Hoosier National Forest covers more than 200,000 acres with limestone canyon landscapes, sandstone bluffs, hardwood forests, and the Ohio River valley. Brown County in south-central Indiana is a long-established artists' colony with a visually distinctive landscape of rolling wooded hills. The region has attracted productions seeking authentic rural American settings with a distinct topographic character.

Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana

Fort Wayne is Indiana's second-largest city and has an established commercial production community. The surrounding northern Indiana countryside, with its flat agricultural landscape, Amish country around Shipshewana and Middlebury, and the many lakes of the northern tier, offers a specific rural Midwestern visual character.

Indiana Film Production Infrastructure

Indiana's production services community is centered in Indianapolis with secondary markets in Fort Wayne and Evansville:

• IATSE Local 631 provides union below-the-line crew in Indianapolis and statewide

• Equipment rental companies in Indianapolis serve productions of varying scales

• Production soundstages and studio facilities in Indianapolis support controlled environment shoots

• SAG-AFTRA talent pool in Indianapolis and the Indianapolis region

• Post-production facilities offering editorial and audio services in Indianapolis

• The IEDC maintains a production resource directory at IndianaCreates.com

Indiana's proximity to Chicago (3 hours by car) means productions can draw on Chicago's deep crew base for positions that cannot be filled by Indiana-resident workers, while still meeting the majority of their expenditure requirements through Indiana vendors and facilities.

How Indiana Compares to Neighboring States

Indiana vs. Ohio

Ohio's Motion Picture Tax Credit offers a 30% credit with a higher annual cap and no per-project cap, making it more attractive for larger productions. For productions specifically driven to Indiana by location or script requirements, Indiana's 20-30% credit with the $250,000 project cap still provides meaningful supplemental financing. Ohio and Indiana share similar Midwestern production cost structures, though Ohio has a more established film production ecosystem in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus.

Indiana vs. Illinois

Illinois offers a 30% transferable tax credit through the Illinois Film Production Tax Credit with a higher per-project capacity than Indiana. Chicago's deep crew base and urban infrastructure give Illinois an advantage for large productions. Indiana's lower crew costs and location diversity in its natural environments give it a distinct appeal for productions where location rather than urban infrastructure drives the choice.

Indiana vs. Michigan

Michigan does not currently operate an active statewide film incentive program at the same scale as Indiana's. For productions choosing between Midwestern states with active incentive programs, Indiana's transferable credit, even with the $250,000 project cap, provides a financial advantage over states without active programs.

Understanding Indiana's Program Scale

Indiana's program, with its $250,000 project cap and $2 million annual statewide cap, is designed for independent productions and emerging filmmakers rather than large studio features. A production with a $1 million Indiana spend and a 20% credit earns $200,000, which is within the project cap and represents a meaningful financial contribution to a modest budget. A production with $5 million in Indiana spend is still capped at $250,000.

This program design reflects Indiana's incremental approach to building its film production incentive infrastructure. The SB 306 changes effective January 2026 represent the state's commitment to growing the program over time while managing the state budget exposure. Productions that can work within the program's scale can access a genuine financial incentive in a state with compelling locations and competitive production costs.

Managing Indiana Production Budgets with Saturation

Indiana's two bonus tiers, workforce and branding, require specific documentation to claim. The workforce bonus requires evidence of Indiana resident hiring across departments, while the branding bonus requires IEDC approval of the specific Indiana branding elements included in the production.

Saturation's cloud-based production budgeting software tracks crew residency status and expense categorization from the point of hire, making it straightforward to compile the workforce documentation the IEDC requires for the bonus calculation. The platform's real-time budget tracking allows productions to monitor their Indiana-qualified expenditures against the $250,000 project cap as the shoot progresses, avoiding surprises at the final cost report stage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Indiana credit refundable?

No. Indiana's Film and Media Tax Credit is transferable but not refundable. Productions that cannot apply the credit against their own Indiana tax liability must transfer the certificate to an Indiana taxpayer. Unlike refundable credit states where productions receive the excess as a cash payment, Indiana requires an active credit transfer transaction to convert the credit to cash.

How many times can the credit be transferred?

The credit certificate may be transferred once. The recipient of the transfer cannot further transfer the credit. This one-transfer limitation is a key consideration for productions and credit buyers who need to understand the credit's liquidity before committing to a purchase.

What is the program sunset date?

The Indiana Film and Media Tax Credit is authorized through July 1, 2031. Productions that want to receive credit for work done in Indiana must complete their qualifying expenditures and receive IEDC certification before the program sunsets.

Does Indiana require a CPA audit?

CPA attestation may be required for projects at or near the $250,000 project cap. The IEDC makes this determination on a project-by-project basis. Productions should budget for potential CPA documentation costs when planning their Indiana incentive application.

Can a commercial production qualify?

Yes. Indiana's program covers commercials and other forms of branded content. Commercial productions must meet the same application requirements and documentation standards as longer-form productions. Given the lower production costs of many commercial shoots, even the $250,000 project cap can represent a significant portion of a commercial production's total budget.

Contact the Indiana Economic Development Corporation

The IEDC administers the Indiana Film and Media Tax Credit and is the primary contact for productions considering Indiana. The IndianaCreates.com portal provides the application, program guidelines, production resources, and contact information. The IEDC Film and Media Tax Credit program team can be reached at 317.232.8800 or fmtc@iedc.in.gov. Productions should contact the IEDC early in development to discuss program eligibility, current fund availability, and the specific documentation required for the bonus credit tiers.