What to do.

            Spend in excess of $50,000 in Connecticut for pre-production, production or post-production expenses on a qualified production and receive tax credits up to 30% of qualified Connecticut spending for goods, services and labor.  No annual cap and no per-production cap.

How to do it.

First, an eligible production company submits a pre-application no later than 90 days after the first qualified production expense is incurred in Connecticut. Receive an eligibility certificate certifying that the production  is a state-certified qualified production.

Second, the eligible production company applies for a tax credit certificate no later than 90 days after the last qualified production expense is incurred in Connecticut.

What you get.

A non-refundable transferable tax credit certificate is issued to the state-certified qualified production. The tax credit may be sold and applied against the corporation business tax. It may be carried forward for 3 years.

Credits are rolling

Reselling film-tax credits is a fast-growing industry

By ALEXANDER SOULE

With movie productions having spent roughly $300 million in Connecticut since the enactment of a 2006 law establishing credits on taxes for up to 30 percent of movie expenses generated in the state, brokers are rapidly proliferating to resell those tax credits to corporations.

By selling rights to their tax credits at a discount, cash-strapped production companies and their investors generate immediate revenue up front. By buying them, deep-pocketed corporations are able to reduce their tax bill dollar for dollar ­ at a discount.

“I must admit ­ I didn’t think it would have this kind of an impact,” said Morris Banks, an attorney with Pullman & Comley L.L.C.’s Hartford office who focuses on tax credit programs. “You can get a tax credit on the front end … Add to that the excitement of being involved in a movie production, and it is an opportunity that a lot of people want to take advantage of.”

Publicly, Fairfield County commercial entities of all ilk have been touting themselves as “film friendly” locales for movie shoots, from idyllic Happy Acres Farm in Sherman to Greenwich’s posh Delamar Hotel.