# Vermont Film Incentives

Source: https://storiara.com/incentives/us/vermont
Last updated: 2026-09-14
Author: Charles Hirschhorn, Storiara

> Vermont does not offer a film or television production incentive. Its income tax statutes (32 V.S.A. chapter 151) contain no production credit, and the sales tax exemptions in 32 V.S.A. 9741 cover films bought for paid exhibition, not production purchases. Productions shooting in Vermont pay the 6% sales and use tax on taxable purchases and rentals, and most compare New York, Massachusetts, or New Hampshire before booking.

Vermont gets scouted for covered bridges, dairy farms, and fall color, and then the budget comes back without any state money in it. There is no Vermont film [tax credit](https://storiara.com/glossary/tax-credit), no rebate, and no grant program for productions. We checked the two places a program would sit in statute. The income tax credits in 32 V.S.A. chapter 151 cover things like affordable housing, downtown and village centers, research and development, and recently deployed veterans, and nothing for film or TV production. The list of sales tax exemptions in 32 V.S.A. 9741 has one film item, number 28, which exempts films acquired to charge admission to see them. That helps a cinema, not a production.

## What Vermont costs a production

The Vermont Department of Taxes lists the sales tax at 6% on retail sales of tangible personal property unless the law exempts it, with use tax charged to the buyer at the same rate. With no production exemption, taxable rentals and purchases carry that 6%.

Take a $1,000,000 feature that spends $620,000 in Vermont. Of that, $300,000 is taxable: expendables, set dressing and props bought locally, and taxable equipment rentals. The rest is payroll and non-taxable items.

- Sales and use tax: $300,000 x 6% = $18,000
- State incentive: $0

For comparison, a program paying 25% on the same $620,000 of [qualified spend](https://storiara.com/glossary/qualified-spend) would return $155,000. With a gap that size, price a split shoot: a small Vermont unit for establishing shots and the bridges nobody can fake, and everything else across a state line.

A $5,000,000 production with $1,400,000 of taxable Vermont purchases would pay $84,000 in sales and use tax and receive no incentive.

Lodging is taxed separately under Vermont's meals and rooms tax. Check the Department of Taxes for the current rate before you set the hotel line in the location account.

## Planning a shoot that has to be in Vermont

When the location can't be moved, plan for the missing rebate:

- Split the schedule. Shoot exteriors that must be in Vermont with a lean unit and stage interiors in a neighboring state whose program pays on its own spend. Most programs set a minimum you have to hit inside that state, so check the neighbor's page before you split.
- Keep the Vermont crew call small and hire locally where you can, so fewer out-of-state crew are on hotel and per diem.
- Keep every Vermont receipt coded to its own location sub-account. If a neighboring state's audit asks where money was spent, you want Vermont costs separated cleanly from the state that's paying you.

## Where Vermont productions go instead

[New York](https://storiara.com/incentives/us/new-york) and [Massachusetts](https://storiara.com/incentives/us/massachusetts) both border Vermont. [New Hampshire](https://storiara.com/incentives/us/new-hampshire) shares the Connecticut River and a lot of the same landscape, so check its page for current status. Across the northern border, [Canada](https://storiara.com/incentives/canada) runs federal and provincial programs. Model a split shoot with the [incentive calculator](https://storiara.com/tools/incentive-calculator), read [how film tax credits work](https://storiara.com/blog/how-film-tax-credits-work) if the paperwork is new, and compare every state on the [incentives hub](https://storiara.com/incentives).

Storiara's Funding page lists Vermont with no state program when it matches incentives to your locations, so a Vermont shoot's [budget](https://storiara.com/feature/budgeting) won't show an incentive offset.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Vermont have a film tax credit?

No. None of the income tax credits in Vermont's tax code (32 V.S.A. chapter 151) is for film or TV production, and the state has no production rebate or grant.

### Is there a sales tax exemption for filming in Vermont?

Not for production. The only film-related item in Vermont's sales tax exemptions (32 V.S.A. 9741(28)) covers films acquired to charge admission to see them. Production rentals and purchases pay the 6% sales and use tax.

### What sales tax rate applies to a production in Vermont?

The Vermont Department of Taxes lists the sales tax rate as 6%, and use tax is charged to the buyer at the same rate.

### Which nearby states offer film incentives?

New York and Massachusetts both run production programs, and each has its own page on the incentives hub with current rates. New Hampshire is also worth checking before you decide.

## Sources

- [Sales and Use Tax, Vermont Department of Taxes](https://tax.vermont.gov/business/sales-and-use-tax)
- [32 V.S.A. 9741, Sales not covered (Vermont Statutes)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/32/233/09741)
- [32 V.S.A. Chapter 151, Income Taxes (Vermont Statutes)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/chapter/32/151)