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Georgia Qualified Interactive Entertainment Credit - up to $1.5 million a year

$1,500,000

Georgia Department of Revenue

The games and interactive media version of the film credit, administered by the Department of Revenue: a Georgia business location, $250,000 of Georgia payroll, gross income under $100 million and at least $250,000 of qualified production spending.

The catch: This one has a hard ceiling that the film credit does not: $12.5 million across every claimant in the state per taxable year, and $1.5 million per company. A state-wide cap on a credit means the answer can be no for reasons that have nothing to do with your production. Certification runs the opposite way round from film - Revenue certifies first, then the company applies to the Department of Economic Development for project certification.

about 960 minStanding

Georgia Jobs Tax Credit - $750 to $3,500 per new job, per year, for five years

$3,500

Georgia Department of Revenue

A credit for each net new full-time job created in an eligible industry, worth more in poorer counties: Tier 1 counties (ranked 1 to 71) pay $3,500 a job for two or more jobs, Tier 2 $2,500 for ten or more, Tier 3 $1,250 for fifteen or more, Tier 4 $750 for twenty-five or more. Five years per job, plus $500 a job in a county belonging to a Joint Development Authority.

The catch: Three catches, and the first one costs the whole credit. It "must be claimed within one year instead of the normal three-year statute of limitation period", so discovering it late is the same as never finding it. Second, it is capped against liability - 100 per cent of your Georgia income tax in Tier 1 and 2, but only 50 per cent in Tier 3 and 4 - and only Tier 1 and less developed census tracts may take it against withholding, so a low-tax business in a Tier 4 county may not be able to use it. Third, the industry list excludes retail outside the 40 least developed counties, and you must make health insurance available to the people in the new jobs.

about 960 minStanding

Georgia Rural Zone credits - jobs, purchase and rehabilitation, inside a designated downtown

Georgia Department of Community Affairs

Three stacking credits for investing in a designated Rural Zone downtown: $2,000 per new full-time-equivalent job per year for up to five years, an investment credit of 25 per cent of a property's purchase price capped at $125,000, and a rehabilitation credit of 30 per cent of qualified rehabilitation costs capped at $150,000. The Department of Community Affairs designates up to ten zones a year.

The catch: Two rules decide whether any of this is worth anything to you. Nothing is claimable without the job creation element - buy and renovate a building and hire nobody, and the investment and rehabilitation credits are not available. And the whole programme "cannot be used in conjunction with any other state tax credit program", so a business inside a zone that also qualifies for the ordinary Jobs Tax Credit has to choose one, and the better choice depends on how many jobs and how much building. The address is the gate: designations change annually and each lasts five years.

about 600 minStanding

Georgia Film Tax Credit - 20 per cent, plus 10 per cent for the promotional logo

Georgia Department of Revenue

The largest production incentive in the United States: 20 per cent of a production's base investment in Georgia, plus another 10 per cent for including a qualified Georgia promotion, on a minimum spend of $500,000 in Georgia qualified expenditures. It can be claimed against 100 per cent of the production company's income tax, then against withholding, or sold to a Georgia taxpayer.

The catch: Two bodies, two approvals, and one of them comes first: the Department of Economic Development certifies the project and the Department of Revenue certifies the amount, and a production that starts spending before certification is gambling. Since 1 January 2023 every certified production must apply for and receive a mandatory audit - paid for by the production - before the credit can be claimed or used in any way. The credit is transferable, which is how most productions realise it, and a transferred credit sells at a discount that nobody publishes.

about 960 minStanding

Georgia Research Tax Credit - 10 per cent of increased research spending

Georgia Department of Revenue

A credit worth 10 per cent of research expense above a base amount, for research conducted in Georgia by a business in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, processing, telecommunications, tourism, broadcasting or research and development. Any excess can be used against withholding.

The catch: It is bolted to the federal credit: you only get it for a year in which you claim and are allowed the research credit under section 41 of the Internal Revenue Code, so a business that does not do the federal claim cannot do this one. It is also last in the queue - capped at 50 per cent of your Georgia net income tax liability after every other credit has already been applied - which means stacking other credits first can leave nothing for it.

about 480 minStanding

Georgia Quality Jobs Tax Credit - for jobs paying above the county average

Georgia Department of Revenue

A larger credit than the ordinary jobs credit for employers creating at least 50 new jobs that pay at or above 110 per cent of the average wage in the county where they sit. Claimable in years one through five for the first year's jobs, with newly created jobs added through year seven and each carrying its own five years.

The catch: The 50-job threshold is the gate almost nobody clears - this is a credit for a plant opening, not for a growing small business, although the threshold is reduced in rural counties for taxpayers first qualifying from 2020 onwards. A "new quality job" excludes any job that already existed in Georgia, whoever the employer was, so moving work across town does not count. Like the jobs credit, it must be claimed within one year rather than the usual three.

about 960 minStanding