Montana Economic Development Industry Advancement (MEDIA) Tax Credit

Montana offers a tax credit for certain production and postproduction costs of qualifying film, television, and other media productions.

The legislature passed SB 326 on May 12, 2025. This bill made several changes to the existing law. The information on this page is not updated to reflect the new bill.

No credit is currently available for any productions filming after 2024.

Montana Department of Revenue SB326 Implementation Process

The total amount of credit allowed per calendar year is $12 million. Additionally, all $12 million of credit is allocated to these approved 2024 productions annually until all eligible productions have had their credit applications reviewed and any qualified credit issued. MCA §15-31-1010(2)(b)(i)

To follow legislative intent of fulfilling these 2024 productions that had been approved by Commerce, the Department of Revenue has elected to implement the portion of SB326 pertaining to credits prior to December 31, 2024, without regard to the five-year carryforward provisions in MCA §§ 15-31-1007(5) and 15-31-1009(4).

Specifically, both code sections include the quote, “Any unused credit may be carried forward for 5 years.” Any credit issued to the 2024 productions will necessarily begin in 2030 due to existing credit allocations, which exceeds the five-year carryforward. To grant credit to the 2024 productions, the Department of Revenue is waiving that existing statutory limitation for the approved 2024 productions.

Implementation of the 2024 credit approval will proceed much as it did prior to the bill’s passage. There are two important distinctions, however; the treatment of carryforward for 2024 credit issued and the treatment for any production approved by the Department of Commerce prior to December 31, 2024.

The old statute allowed for a carryforward of up to five years. That carryforward (all credit through 2029) has already been reserved, leaving some 2024 productions with no chance to get credit. With the passage of SB 326, the statute now states that 2024 productions approved by the Department of Commerce should be issued credit; however, it also states that the carry forward shall not be extended.

To resolve this apparent contradiction, the Department of Revenue has elected to disregard the carryforward limit and issue 2030 or 2031 credit for the 2024 productions based on their place in line. The productions can sell the credit like normal but there will be no carryforward. Whoever claims the credit must claim it on their tax return for the year it was issued (2030 or 2031).

Since the exception above applies only to 2024 productions, a production that overlaps 2024 and 2025 may only apply for 2024 credit for 2024 expenditures and cannot apply for 2025 credit. If they were to bundle the 2024 and 2025 expenditures and apply for 2025 credit, they wouldn’t get anything because credit may be claimed only for productions that occurred in years before 2025 per MCA §§ 15-31-1010(2) and (3). The Department has elected not to adjust existing Rule in cases where this might happen.

After all approved 2024 credit has been issued, applications from productions approved by Commerce will be reviewed on a first come, first serve basis according to MCA 15-31-1010(b)(ii). The first available credit will not become available until 2031.

Treatment of Productions Applying for Credit After December 31, 2024

For productions that filmed and/or were approved by the Department of Commerce after December 31, 2024, unfortunately, no credit will be approved. SB326 is clear in the distinction between productions approved before December 31, 2024, and those approved after. The Commerce certification of any 2025 productions will lapse before any additional credit becomes available to apply for.

For all other productions, per MCA §15-31-1007, production credit must be claimed for the year in which the production expenditures were incurred, or the compensation was paid. As noted above, all of the credit through 2030 and part of the 2031 credit will be claimed by the 2024 productions, so companies will be eligible to start applying for credit for expenses incurred and compensation paid in 2031.

Once the 2024 credits have been completed and the time again comes for media credit applications, the Department of Revenue will process the credits on a first come, first serve basis according to the “bucket” system detailed in MCA §15-31-1010(2)(b)(ii). Administrative Rules are being written/amended, but other than the exception noted for 2024, the implementation, including the Rules, will support the text of the bill.

Year Total Credit Reserved Total Credit Validated Total Credit Available
2024 $ – $ 12,000,000 $ –
2025 $ – $ 12,000,000 $ –
2026 $ – $ 12,000,000 $ –
2027 $ – $ 12,000,000 $ –
2028 $ – $ 12,000,000 $ –
2029 $ 4,194,382 $ 7,805,618 $ –
2030 $ 12,000,000 $ – $ –
2031 $ 5,257,450 $ – $ 6,742,550 *
  • The media credit is reserved when a company submits a complete media credit application as provided under ARM 42.4.3411 and 42.4.3412.
  • The media credit is validated when the Department has approved a media credit application and issued a media credit with a corresponding unique credit reference number.
  • The total credit available is the amount of media credit remaining to be validated for a particular year.
  • *This amount is an estimation. The remaining 2024 productions have credit reserved through 2031 for review. The exact credit available to productions filmed in 2031 will be updated when the audits of all remaining 2024 productions are completed and credit is issued to them.

Forms

Related Laws

*The Administrative Rules of Montana are still being finalized and are not updated to reflect the changes of SB 326. An update will be provided as soon as the Rule revisions are completed. (Back to list)