In August 2018, the AMC cable television network released “Lodge 49,” a series about the quirky lives of people living in a Southern California beach community during the Great Recession. In reality, most of the series was filmed in Georgia, even though it looks like Long Beach. This was accomplished through what is known as “movie magic,” but a tax accountant in Atlanta will tell you why the producers of “Lodge 49” chose the Peach State to film their project. Film production companies can get a 20% transferable tax credit if the filming is completed in the state. An additional 10% can be obtained if a special logo of the state tax advantage program is displayed in the final product’s credits. It is no surprise that blockbuster movies such as “Spawn” and “Spider-Man 3” chose Georgia as a filming location; after all, the potential of mitigating the tax bill by up to 30% makes perfect financial sense.
As with anything involving tax credits and deductions, film projects need to be certified by the Georgia Department of Revenue to claim the credit above. Of course, this is when your tax accountant in Atlanta handles the paperwork.
What an Atlanta Tax Accountant Can Do For You
All business accounting processes should be done by a registered tax accountant with taxation and tax help in mind. Taxation is essentially an inescapable matter of business compliance and strategic tax planning takes this next level to make the most of deductions and tax credits. Still, there are more aspects of running a company or being self-employed that should prompt you to retain the services of a professional tax accountant in Atlanta.
To illustrate the need for accounting services, let’s stay in the film and television entertainment industry for now. Let’s say a camera operator living and working in California notices that all the good productions are being filmed in Georgia, so he applies for a project that requires relocation.
Qualified expenditures include materials, services, and labor. The credit applies equally to Georgia residents and non-residents. There is a salary cap of $500,000 per person, per production, when the employee is paid by “salary,” which is defined as being properly paid by W2. If the production company pays an individual for services as a loan out, as a personal services contract or a 1099 individual meets the criteria for a loan out, in 2021 5.75% Georgia income tax must be withheld and remitted by the production company.
The intelligent thing to do for this California taxpayer would be to retain the services of a tax accountant in Atlanta in order to properly claim the credit instead of becoming a delinquent tax filer who may end up being on the hook for even more taxes and penalties.
In Georgia, a CPA is a professional duly licensed by the State Board of Accountancy to provide the services of a financial controller. This means that clients can access value-added services such as financial audits, remote bookkeeping, software integration, CFO advisory, and other strategic financial management. Even though taxation is a given for entrepreneurs, business owners, and self-employed professionals, not all accounting firms extend their services to providing tax advice and filing. This is slowly changing as some up-and-coming companies start to offer tax planning and accounting software integration for businesses.
Learn More About the Services of Tax Accountants in Atlanta
At Fusion CPA, we take pride in providing strategic services that are conducive to business success. If you need to learn more about what we can do for your business endeavors, please feel free to get in touch with our team at your earliest convenience. We also invite you to read our blogs to become familiar with the nexus between accounting and successful business management.
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This blog article is not intended to be the rendering of legal, accounting, tax advice or other professional services. Articles are based on current or proposed tax rules at the time they are written and older posts are not updated for tax rule changes. We expressly disclaim all liability in regard to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this blog as well as the use or interpretation of this information. Information provided on this website is not all-inclusive and such information should not be relied upon as being all-inclusive.