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IRC Section 181 - Financing Investments in Film and Television Productions: Pros and Cons

A live 110-minute CPE webinar with interactive Q&A

This program is included with the Strafford CPE Pass. Click for more information.
This program is included with the Strafford CPE+ Pass. Click for more information.
This program is included with the Strafford All-Access Pass. Click for more information.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

1:00pm-2:50pm EST, 10:00am-11:50am PST

Early Registration Discount Deadline, Friday, January 3, 2025

or call 1-800-926-7926
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This webinar will discuss the pros and cons of investing in film production and deducting production costs under IRC Section 181. Our panel of investment advisers will offer recommendations for structuring the investment, identify investment risks, provide examples of potential tax savings, and offer advice for withstanding IRS scrutiny.

Description

Incurring substantial production costs upfront with a revenue stream that follows much later, the film and television industry have perhaps one of accounting's most incongruous mismatches for pairing revenue recognition and expense deductions. IRC Section 181 allows "any qualified film or television production and any qualified live theatrical production" to expense its cost as incurred rather than postponing the deduction until the release date or the date revenue is earned. The deduction is capped at $15 million ($20 million in certain economically depressed areas).

An additional incentive was added by the 2017 Tax Act. Film productions are now eligible for bonus depreciation. Film financing can provide significant initial tax deductions for savvy investors when appropriately structured. There are also many issues that investors and their advisers must consider. Among these are assessing taxpayer eligibility, passive loss criteria, unrealistic film valuations, and, last but certainly not least, potential IRS challenges.

Listen as our panel of film investment experts explains the tax ramifications of Section 181, along with the benefits of the caveats of investing in film productions.

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Outline

  1. Investing in film and TV productions: introduction
  2. IRC Section 181
  3. Structuring the investment
  4. Passive vs. active participation
  5. Caveats
  6. State considerations
  7. Examples
  8. Withstanding IRS challenges

Benefits

The panel will cover these and other critical issues:

  • Structuring the investment and entity choice
  • Qualifying for immediate expensing of production costs under Section 181
  • Key considerations to withstand IRS scrutiny
  • Scenarios pointing out the benefits and caveats of film production investments

Faculty

Levychin, Richard
Richard Levychin, CPA, CGMA
Partner
Galleros Robinson

Mr. Levychin is the Partner-in-Charge of the firm’s Private Sector Practice Group which focuses primarily on...  |  Read More

Ibrahim Mohammed
Ibrahim Mohammed
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 |  Read More
Sonkin, Alex
Alex Sonkin
Founder & Facilitator
VFO Hub

DueDiligenceProject is the leading & largest CPA Community conducting independent peer-review for sophisticated tax...  |  Read More

Attend on January 22

Early Discount (through 01/03/25)

CPE credit processing is available for an additional fee of $39.
CPE processing must be ordered prior to the event. See NASBA details.

Cannot Attend January 22?

Early Discount (through 01/03/25)

CPE credit is not available on downloads.

CPE On-Demand

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