Taxation for Artists and Creatives

Investment in Films 

Film Relief is available to producer companies in the film and film production industry.  A company can use film relief as a credit against Corporation Tax (CT) and the amount due depends on the production costs of the qualifying film.

Film Relief is 32% of whichever is the lowest of the following:

• eligible expenditure (including the cost of international cast and crew working in the State)
• 80% of total film production costs
• €125 million 

This new maximum expenditure amount of €125 million applies to projects certified on or after 28 March 2024. The previous expenditure cap of €70 million continues to apply to projects certified before this date.

Artist's exemption

Income earned by writers, composers, visual artists, and sculptors from the sale of their works is exempt from tax in Ireland in certain circumstances.

Revenue determines that certain artistic works are original and creative works (recognised as having cultural or artistic merit). Earnings derived from these works are exempt from income tax from the year in which the claim is made. The maximum amount of income that can be exempted is €50,000.

However, an artist's exempt income is still subject to USC.

If you want to claim an Artist's Exemption you must be resident or ordinarily resident and domiciled in an EU member state or in EEA State.

Revenue can make determinations in respect of artistic works such as:

• Books or other forms of writing
• Plays
• Musical compositions
• Paintings or other similar pictures
• Sculptures

Your work must be original and creative with either cultural or artistic merit:

Cultural merit - its contemplation enhances the quality of individual or social life as a result of its intellectual, spiritual or aesthetic form and content.

Artistic merit - its combined form and content enhances or intensifies the aesthetic apprehension of those who experience or contemplate it.

Original and creative work-The term original and creative encompasses any unique work brought into existence for the first time by the use of its creator's imagination.

A nonfiction book or other piece of writing will be considered original and creative only if it’s an example of one of the following categories of literature encompassing the subjects of fiction writing, drama, music, film, dance, mime or visual arts and any related commentaries by artists:

 Examples of non-fiction work considered:

And:

• The essence of the work is the presentation of the author's own ideas or insights in relation to the subject matter and these ideas or insights are so significant that the work would be regarded as a pioneering work casting new light on its subject matter or changing the generally accepted understanding of the subject matter

or

• the publication comes fully within the terms of reference of the Heritage Council including work that in its entirety, is a work of archaeology or a publication associated with items or areas of significant heritage value

or

• it’s a publication that comes fully within the terms of reference of the National Archives Advisory Council and relates to archives concerning Ireland that are more than 30 years old and are based largely on research from such archives

The following types of work aren't regarded as original and creative:

• A book or other piece of writing published primarily for students pursuing a course of study or people engaged in any trade, profession, vocation or branch of learning as an aid to professional or other practice in connection with the trade, profession, vocation or branch of learning
• Article or series of articles published in a newspaper, magazine, book or elsewhere, except a book consisting of a series of articles by the same author connected by a common theme and therefore capable of existing independently in its own right
• Plays were written for advertising purposes that don’t exist independently in their own right by reason of quality or duration
• Musical compositions written for advertising purposes and that don’t exist independently in their own right by reason of quality or duration
• Adaptations, arrangements, and versions of musical compositions by a person other than a bona fide composer actively engaged in musical composition
• Photographs or drawings (other than a set or sets of photographs or drawings that are collectively created for an artistic purpose) that are mainly of record, that serve a utilitarian function or that would not exist independently in their own right by reason of quality or by reference to their potential for inclusion as part of an art exhibition
• Objects primarily functional in nature produced by processes other than by hand or objects produced by hand by people other than those actively engaged as bona fide artists in the field of visual arts

Payments to artists that are exempt from tax

If you received an Artist’s Exemption, you can also receive the following payments tax-free:

• Bursaries paid directly to you by the Arts Council
• Residencies when paid directly to the individual by the Arts Council for the purpose of producing a qualifying work
• Cnuas payments made under the Aosdána Scheme
• Payments from the sale of works that are considered eligible under the Artists Exemption scheme
• Advance royalties

Advance royalties

If you earn advance royalties for the subsequent publication of a book or other piece of writing, you’ll have to lodge a claim with Revenue in the tax year you receive the royalties for them to be exempt from tax. When making your claim you’ll need to give confirmation from the publisher that the book will be published along with a draft copy of the work.

If you’re waiting for a claim to be granted, any tax liability that arises on the advance must be paid. If the claim is subsequently granted you may be entitled to a refund if appropriate. Advance royalties paid before the year of claim are not exempt from tax.

If you sell books online to the US, then you may be due tax back in the form of a royalty refund. 

We get US royalty refunds for sportspeople, musicians, artists and actors so if you've been working or performing in the US on a P, O, B1 or B2 visa we can help you apply for a royalty refund.

If you earned US royalties during the past 3 years, you will have had up to 30% tax deducted from your earnings. That extra income could come in very handy for you so it's worth claiming it back. 

Look no further. Taxback will claim back most, if not all of the tax withheld from your US earnings as far back as the past 3 tax years if you weren’t a resident there during that time.