Tax and deductions
Are you resident overseas and exempt from UK tax?
HMRC obliges us to withhold UK tax at the current rate of 20%. If your payments are from a UK source of income, you will be charged tax at this rate unless you hold a valid exemption certificate for this income. If you believe you should be exempt, you need to contact HMRC. They will issue the exemption directly to ALCS. Thereafter, UK tax will not be deducted unless there is a change in your circumstances.
If your royalty statement shows that tax you’re exempt from has been deducted, we cannot refund it. You might be able to claim a refund from your local tax authority – your accountant or tax advisor will be able to tell you more.
To prevent the tax being deducted in future, please send us your tax exemption certificate. If you do not already hold one, you should seek further information from HMRC.
Are you resident in the UK?
If you live in the UK for tax purposes, some overseas collective management organisations deduct tax before sending money to us. These are:
- EAU (Estonia)
- SGAE (Spain)
- Writers’ Guild of America West (USA)
- ZAPA (Poland)
If you receive income from these societies, you will have paid tax on it already. You should make a note of this in your UK tax returns.
You’ll find more information here on the HS263 Self-Assessment help sheet.
If you don’t fill in a UK tax return, we suggest you contact your accountant or tax advisor, or HMRC.
Other deductions from your income
We collect money from a variety of sources in the UK and overseas. Some of these might be subject to deductions, depending on the relevant licensing scheme that the money originates from.
If you fill in a UK tax return, it may be possible to reclaim some or all of this tax incurred, usually by claiming the credit for the foreign tax against your UK tax bill. To do this you will need to contact HMRC.
