Form IT-667: New York Empire State Independent Film Production Credit (Tax Year 2025) Explained

Form IT-667 is how eligible film production companies claim the Empire State Independent Film Production Credit on their New York State tax return. This credit was created specifically for lower-budget, independent film productions that don’t qualify for the standard Empire State Film Production Credit, giving smaller productions a way to offset New York tax liability while still filming and hiring within the state.

The credit isn’t something you calculate from scratch on the form itself. Before you ever touch IT-667, you need a certificate from Empire State Development (ESD), the state agency that administers the film credit program. ESD reviews the production’s budget, confirms it meets the independent film thresholds, verifies qualified production costs incurred in New York, and issues a certificate showing the credit amount allocated to your project. Form IT-667 is essentially the tax-side mechanism for transferring that certified credit onto your actual New York tax return.

Who Needs This Form

This form applies to independent film production companies — meaning smaller-scale productions, often with budgets below the thresholds set for the standard film credit program, that have already gone through the ESD certification process. If you’re a production company, LLC, partnership, or corporation that received a certificate of tax credit for an independent film project shot in New York, you’ll need IT-667 to actually claim that credit when you file.

It’s not a form for individuals working freelance on a film, nor for productions that never applied through ESD. Without the ESD certificate, there’s nothing to report on this form — the state won’t allow the credit without that prior approval step.

When It’s Used

You’d file Form IT-667 with your New York State tax return for the year in which the credit was certified or allocated to your production, based on the tax year specified on your ESD certificate. Since credits are sometimes allocated across multiple years depending on production timelines and program allocations, it’s worth double-checking the certificate for which tax year applies before filing.

Like many New York business tax credits, this one can potentially flow through to partners, shareholders, or members if the production entity is a pass-through business. In that case, each partner or shareholder may need to complete their own portion of IT-667 to claim their share of the credit on their individual or corporate return.

How to Fill It Out

The form itself is a fillable PDF (AcroForm), meaning you can type directly into the fields on your computer rather than printing it blank and writing by hand. That said, accuracy matters here — you’ll need to transfer specific figures directly from your ESD certificate, including the certificate number, the tax year of allocation, and the exact credit amount authorized.

Typical sections ask for:

• Identifying information for the production company or pass-through entity
• The ESD certificate number and date of issuance
• The total credit amount certified
• Any allocation among partners, members, or shareholders if applicable
• Calculation of the credit to carry to your main tax return (such as Form CT-3, IT-201, or the relevant partnership return)

Once completed, IT-667 doesn’t stand alone — it attaches to your primary New York tax filing. The credit amount calculated on IT-667 gets carried over to the appropriate line on your income tax or corporation tax form, so keep both documents together when preparing your return.

Because this credit involves a state agency approval before any tax form comes into play, timing matters. Applying to ESD, waiting for review, and receiving certification can take time, so production companies planning to use this credit should start that process well before tax season rather than scrambling at filing time.

New York offers several targeted business credits like this one, each with its own qualification rules and paperwork. If your production company or business is looking into other New York credits, it’s worth comparing how they work — for instance, the Semiconductor Research and Development Credit on Form IT-668 follows a similar certification-then-claim structure, and businesses investing in physical security upgrades might also look at the Commercial Security Credit under Form IT-663. Both illustrate how New York often pairs an agency certification step with a dedicated tax form for claiming the benefit.

Given the technical nature of film production accounting and the coordination required with ESD, many production companies work with a tax professional experienced in entertainment industry credits when preparing IT-667. Mistakes in transferring certificate figures or misapplying the credit to the wrong tax year can delay processing or trigger follow-up questions from the Department of Taxation and Finance.