Status check before you budget Korea
KOFIC runs this rebate as an annual grant with a small budget, and it runs out. The 2025 program opened in January 2025 with KRW 896 million. KOFIC's April 14, 2025 notice says the second evaluation round committed the rest of the money (KRW 420,125,000 in that round, remaining budget zero), closed applications for the year, and said new applications would open with the 2026 notice. When we checked KOFIC's business notice board on September 14, 2026, the newest location incentive posting was still that 2025 notice, with no 2026 call. Plan the numbers below as the most recent published terms and confirm with KOFIC's international team before you count the money in a finance plan.
How the rebate works
The applicant is a Korean company registered as a film or video producer under the Film and Video Promotion Act. For a foreign title it signs a production services agreement, provides the services in Korea and manages the Korean spend. The foreign producer's Korean branch or a company it invested in can't apply. For an official co-production, the Korean co-producer applies, and each country's equity has to meet the statutory minimums (20% each with two countries, 10% each with three or more).
Eligible projects are features of 70 minutes or more, documentaries and series produced more than 80% with foreign money for foreign titles. Reality, entertainment, commercials, sports and educational content are excluded. The shoot in Korea has to finish within the calendar year you apply.
KOFIC pays 25% of spend on Korean personnel (directors, writers, crew) and Korean companies (production companies, post houses, virtual studios). Costs count from three months before the Korean shoot starts until the audit report date, and they have to be paid through the applicant's registered account by corporate card, transfer or electronic tax invoice. Only amounts in an independent accountant's cost verification report count.
Worked example
A US limited series shoots 12 days in Seoul and Busan. The Korean service company's audited spend on local crew, locations, equipment and a virtual production stage comes to KRW 1.0 billion.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Recognized Korean spend | KRW 1,000,000,000 |
| 25% of spend | KRW 250,000,000 |
| Foreign production cap | KRW 300,000,000 |
| Rebate | KRW 250,000,000 |
At KRW 1.6 billion of spend, 25% would be KRW 400 million, but the foreign production cap holds it at KRW 300 million, an effective rate of 18.75%. Above KRW 1.2 billion of Korean spend, every extra won earns nothing from this program.
Timeline and paperwork
- Pre-application on KoBiz before production in Korea is complete. Intake is rolling with a cutoff on the 10th of each month, decided in order of receipt until the budget is gone.
- KOFIC's evaluation committee looks at use of Korean infrastructure, Korean crew participation and the project's completeness, then sets a provisional amount and signs a notarized agreement.
- An interim settlement is possible within two months of wrapping the Korean shoot.
- Final application within two months of finishing production in Korea, with the audited Korean budget, payroll records, daily production reports, the foreign producer's remittance records and a copy of the work.
- Credit line: "With the support of the KOFIC Location Incentive".
Watch-outs
The lead actor limit catches people: lead cast fees can't exceed 30% of the total personnel cost claimed. A cost line that already got other Korean public support can't be claimed again. If the shoot slips more than three months from the plan filed with KOFIC, KOFIC can cancel the agreement to reuse the money. And if you file only after wrapping the Korean shoot, while post continues in Korea, the rate is 15% instead of 25%.
If you budget in Storiara, the Funding page can match a Korean location against its bundled incentives list and apply an estimate to the budget's Net Total. That estimate assumes qualifying spend is 60% of the gross total and ignores per-project caps, so on a Korean shoot replace it with 25% of your Korean service budget, capped at KRW 300 million.
Korea next to Japan
Japan pays half of eligible costs with a JPY 1.5 billion cap but screens for JPY 800 million of Japan spend and a large Japanese partner. Korea's cash rebate is far smaller and easier to reach at 5 shoot days and KRW 400 million. Because KOFIC pays cash after audit, the cash-flow timing issues in film rebates vs tax credits apply: you carry the Korean spend until the final settlement. If you are structuring a treaty co-production, read the co-production treaty entry, and check the qualified spend definition against the payment rules above. The incentives hub lists the rest of Asia.