GP PRODUCTIONS reports on the new Panama cash rebate incentive for film, television, digital production

25% of your production costs reimbursed up front: this is the brand new Panamanian cash rebate, the most promising Film and TV incentive in Central America. The decree-law No.90/2019 has been published, followed by a further decree regulating the production incentive covering foreign productions travel costs and other services associated with all the preproduction and production expenses:

The Panama Film Commission is a Panamanian government agency whose mission is to promote the attraction of foreign investments via the country’s film and audiovisual industry. PFC manages film and television the new cash rebate scheme underwritten by the Ministry of Commerce of Panama.

The objective of the fund is to promote Panama as an all-year round film production destination and one of the best place in Central America to make international film and television projects.
The gateway to the cash incentive is a co-production with a Panamanian company registered with the Panama Film Commission.
The cash rebate is a 25 % reimbursement of Panamanian production expenditures, including Panamanian development costs and post-production costs.
This rebate is paid once presented all receipts of payments done in the country with a total over the 500k USD requirement.
The total amount to be reimbursed is determined by the Ministry of Economy and Finances of Panama through an audit presented by the local production service company serving the foreign company.

It is available for feature movies, television fiction and animation projects spending in Panama a minimum amount of $500,000.00 USD.

It is available for feature movies, television fiction and animation projects spending in Portugal a minimum amount of €500,000.00(about $600K)
And
to documentaries and post-production work starting at €250,000.00(about $300k).

The cash rebates is capped at $5M per project.

Eligible costs: all production-related expenses are a priori eligible. From crew and studio hire to hotels, accounting, etc.
In the case of the feature movies, eligible expenditures should fall within the following budget lines:
Above-the-line: copyright and royalties; producer fees; director fees; main actors.
Bellow-the-line: technical team; artistic team; social charges; travel, stays and transportation; scenography; technical means; image and sound supports; image laboratory; film editing; miscellaneous production expenditure; insurance and miscellaneous; production overhead.

Crew and companies should be subject to tax liability in Panama to qualify as eligible costs. Companies that provide the service must be Panamanian and registered with the Panamanian tax office. Crew should have Panamanian tax residence and fiscal ID number.
Foreign cast and crew expenses which is paid outside Panama, and do not pay Panamanian labor taxes are not eligible for the cash rebate. We recommend working with a local experienced production service company such as GP Productions to ensure security and maximize the film incentive to your favor.

For more general information about Panama, you can access here.