2020
                                                                                                                                                                                                Massachusetts
                                                                           Form STE                                                                                                             Department of
                                                                                                                                                                                                Revenue
                                      Application for Sales Tax Exemption

For calendar year 2020 or taxable year beginning                                                                          and ending
General Information
Motion picture production company name (“Company”)                                                       Federal Identification number

Mailing address                                                                                                                      City/Town                                                                      State              Zip

Name of production                                                                                                                Expected or actual release or premiere date of this production

Type of production
 Feature film      Television series  Documentary                          Commercial/advertisement                                          Other (explain)
Designated production company representative                                                                   Telephone                                                                     E-mail address

Massachusetts qualifying period start date                                                                            Massachusetts qualifying period end date

Name of payroll service provider (if any)                                                                               Federal Identification number

Mailing address                                                                                                                      City/Town                                                                      State              Zip

Estimated Production Information
                                                                           Everywhere                                                                                       Massachusetts
                                                  Start date                                       End date                                       Start date                                       End date
Pre-production
Production
Post-production

01  Type of entity:
        Corporation  Trust     Partnership                                 Sole proprietorship  LLC
02 Is company or its payroll service provider registered for withholding of Massachusetts personal income tax on salaries paid to its employees? 
        Yes   No. If No, use our MassTaxConnect application to register for withholding and wage reporting once you have employees subject to
     Massachusetts withholding.
03 Is company (including the parent or an affiliate of the company) in default on a loan made or guaranteed by the Commonwealth (see TIR 06-01)?
        Yes   No
04 Company’s total estimated qualifying production costs everywhere during the period (see TIR 06-01). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                4
05 Company’s total estimated qualifying production costs in Massachusetts during the period (see TIR 06-01). . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                    5
06 Total wages and salaries included in line 5, excluding salaries over $1,000,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
07 Wages and salaries of $1,000,000 or over paid to an individual and included in line 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                   7
08 Cost of set construction and operation included in line 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
09 Location fees and cost of rental or purchased facilities and equipment included in line 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                   9
10 Total other Massachusetts production expenses included in line 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      10
11 Estimate of Massachusetts production expenses included in line 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .        11
12 Estimate number of principal photography days of the film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
13 Estimate number of principal photography days taking place in the Commonwealth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                    13
I declare under the pains and penalties of perjury that to the best of my knowledge, the information contained herein is accurate and complete.
Signature                                                                                                                                Date

Mail to Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Audit Division, 200 Arlington Street, Room 4300, Chelsea, MA 02150, attn. Film Credit Unit.

                                        Form STE Instructions

What is the Sales Tax Exemption?                                          General Information 
For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2006 and before        Complete the general information section of this application with the
January 1, 2023, Massachusetts allows sales tax exemptions for a          information available at the time of filing. If the working title of the pro -
qualified motion picture production company or to an accredited film      duction or any other information changes prior to filing for the actual
school student for production expenses related to a school film pro-      credit, please notify the Department. The qualifying period must be
ject. MGL ch 64H, § 6(ww). Production expenses that qualify for the       determined at the time of filing and can not change at any time after
sales tax exemption under the Act may also qualify for the production     the exemption is granted.
expense credit.
                                                                          Line 1
Who is Eligible for the Exemption?                                        Indicate the type of entity.
Production companies who expend over $50,000 in Massachusetts
production costs during a consecutive twelve-month period are eligi-      Line 2
ble if they meet certain requirements. A motion picture production        A taxpayer or its payroll company must be registered for withholding
company is a company including its subsidiaries engaged in the busi-      of Massachusetts personal income tax and must withhold from its
ness of producing motion pictures, videos, television series, or com -    payroll expenses in order for the payments to qualify as an aggregate
mercials intended for a theatrical release or for television viewing. The payroll expense for purposes of the payroll credit or to qualify as a
term “motion picture production company” shall not mean or include        Massachusetts production expense for purposes of the production ex-
any company which is more than 25 per cent owned, affiliated, or con-     pense credit. Use DOR’s MassTaxConnect to register. The Commis-
trolled, by any company or person which is in default on a loan made      sioner will require withholding whether or not the amounts paid are to
by the Commonwealth or a loan guaranteed by the Commonwealth.             “employees” or constitute “wages” as defined in MGL ch 62B, § 1.
Eligibility Requirements                                                  Line 3
For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2006 and before        A taxpayer (including an owner, parent or affiliate of the taxpayer) is
January 1, 2023, Massachusetts allows sales tax exemption for mo-         not eligible for the payroll or production expense credit or the sales
tion picture production companies who meet certain qualification re-      tax exemption if it is in default on a loan made by the Commonwealth
quirements and for accredited film school students for production         or a loan guaranteed by the Commonwealth.
expenses related to a school film project. Production companies who       Line 4
incur at least $50,000 of production costs in the Commonwealth and        Enter the total overall estimated costs for the production. This should
whose Massachusetts production expenses exceed 50 percent of the          include both Massachusetts and non-Massachusetts costs.
total production costs or the Massachusetts shoot days are at least 50
percent of the total shoot days are eligible for the sales tax exemption. Line 5
                                                                          Enter the total Massachusetts costs for the production. This should in-
Additional Requirements                                                   clude only costs directly attributable to Massachusetts.
Note: The following requirements must be submitted electronically in
a standard database spreadsheet format.                                   Note: Line 5 must be at least 50 per cent of line 4 to qualify for the
                                                                          exemption. If line 5 is not 50 per cent of line 4, the production may
Submit with this application a detailed listing of prospective employ-    still qualify if line 13 is 50 per cent of line 12.
ees and their estimated wages.
This list should include the prospective employees name, social se-       Line 6
curity numbers, estimated gross wages for the production and              Enter the total Massachusetts qualifying payroll amount. Only actual
weather they are hired by the production through a loan-out.              payments to employees may be used to determine the qualifying
                                                                            aggregate payroll, and only in the instance in which the payment
What is a Qualifying Period?                                              constitutes Massachusetts source income to the recipient. Qualify-
The $50,000 qualification period serves as the “determination” period     ing aggregate payroll may also include fringe benefits to employees
in that the taxpayer must incur in the Commonwealth at least $50,000      to the extent such benefits constitute Massachusetts source income.
of total production expenses during the consecutive twelve month          Do not include payroll for salaries of “high salary employees”, where
period to be eligible for sales tax exemption. In some cases, the tax -   the employee’s salary is $1,000,000 or more.
payer may be able to choose between one or more possible $50,000
qualification periods. However, only one $50,000 qualification period     Line 7
is allowed for each motion picture. A taxpayer may choose to have a       Enter the Massachusetts wages and salaries of “high salary employ-
$50,000 qualification period that is less than 12 months, but may not     ees”, where the employee’s salary is $1,000,000 or more.
subsequently reopen or extend this qualification period in order to       Line 8
claim more qualifying expenses. In addition, the $50,000 qualification    Enter the cost of set construction and other qualified production costs
period must be the same for the payroll credit, the production expense    included in line 5.
credit and the sales tax exemption. Consequently, the choice of the
$50,000 qualification period (including choosing a period shorter than    Line 9
12 months) may have a bearing on the application of the production        Enter location fees and cost of rental or purchased facilities and
expense credit and the sales tax exemption. Note that once a sales        equipment included in line 5.
tax exemption application is filed the date of the approval letter from
the Department of Revenue is considered the first date of sales tax       Line 10
exemption use by the production company and will start the 12 month       Enter the total other Massachusetts production expenses.
qualification period unless the production company has already started
the qualification period with qualifying payroll or production expenses.

Line 11
Enter the estimate of all Massachusetts production expenses included
in line 5. This should be the total of lines 7 through 10.
Note: The total of lines 6 and 11 should equal line 5.
Line 12
Enter the total number of principal photography days on this
  production.
Line 13
Enter the total number of principal photography days taking place in
Massachusetts.