Here’s the thing: You’re Going to Pay Your Oregon Taxes Anyway.
So here’s how to get up to 10% back and fund something worth funding.
Every year, the Oregon Department of Revenue runs a five-day online auction. Oregon residents and businesses bid on state income tax credits at a discount. The minimum bid is 90 cents on the dollar.
That means a $50,000 Oregon tax credit costs you $45,000.
The $5,000 difference? That’s not a rounding error. That’s yours.
And the $45,000 you spent? Instead of flowing into the general fund, it flows directly into the Oregon Production Investment Fund, the cash rebate program that has been generating $1.77 back for every $1.00 invested, tracking $315 million in in-state production spending last biennium alone, and funding the Oregon film and media industry that has produced Wildwood (LAIKA), Wishful Thinking (SXSW Jury Prize, Sony Pictures Classics), My Dead Friend Zoe (95% on Rotten Tomatoes, nationwide theatrical), It’s What’s Inside (Sundance, $17M Netflix acquisition), and dozens of other productions that put Oregon crews to work and Oregon locations in front of global audiences.
This year’s auction: August 10–14, 2026.
It happens online. It’s open to any Oregon resident or business with Oregon tax liability. Credits apply to your 2026 Oregon state return with a three-year carry-forward on anything unused. The IRS has clarified that businesses purchasing these credits may also treat the purchase as a deductible business expense but talk to your accountant about what that means for you specifically.
The auction is competitive. Bid early.
We’ve spent two years writing about what Oregon’s film industry builds: the careers, the communities, the festivals, the films, the crew members who trained through the Pathways program and are now in the union. The department heads who could work anywhere and choose to stay here because there’s enough consistent work to build a life around.
That consistency is funded, in large part, by this auction.
If you have Oregon tax liability and you haven’t looked at this, look at it.
The money is leaving your account either way.
This way, you keep 10% of it and put the rest somewhere it compounds. For you. For the state. And for the story we all want to tell about Oregon.
Oregon OPIF Tax Credit Auction: oregonfilm.org/article/oregon-resident-tax-credit-auction
Oregon DOR Auction Site: oregon.gov/dor/pages/auction.aspx
This is not meant as tax advice. Please talk to your accountant or other tax professional.
