Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

534 Relief for copyright payments etc

(1) Where—

(a) an author of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work assigns the copyright in the work wholly or partially, or grants any interest in the copyright by licence; and

(b) the consideration for the assignment or grant consists wholly or partially of a payment to which this section applies, being a payment the whole amount of which would, but for this section, be included in computing the amount of his profits or gains for a single year of assessment; and

(c) the author was engaged on the making of the work for a period of more than 12 months;

he may, on making a claim, require that effect shall be given to the following provisions of this section in connection with that payment.

(2) If the period for which he was engaged on the making of the work does not exceed 24 months, then, for all income tax purposes, one-half only of the amount of the payment shall be treated as having become receivable on the date on which it actually became receivable, and the remaining half shall be treated as having become receivable 12 months before that date.

(3) If the period for which he was engaged on the making of the work exceeds 24 months, then, for all income tax purposes, one-third only of the amount of the payment shall be treated as having become receivable on the date on which it actually became receivable, and one-third shall be treated as having become receivable 12 months, and one-third 24 months, before that date.

(4) This section applies to—

(a) a lump sum payment, including an advance on account of royalties which is not returnable, and

(b) any payment of or on account of royalties or sums payable periodically,

except that it shall not by virtue of paragraph (b) above apply to payments in respect of the copyright in any work which only become receivable more than two years after its first publication.

(5) A claim under this section with respect to any payment to which it applies by virtue only of subsection (4)(b) above shall have effect as a claim with respect to all such payments in respect of the copyright in the same work which are receivable by the claimant, whether before or after the claim; and such a claim may be made at any time not later than 5th April next following the expiration of eight years after the work’s first publication.

(6) A claim cannot be made under this section in respect of a payment if a prior claim has been made under section 535 as respects that payment.

(7) In this section—

(a) “author” includes a joint author; and

(b) any reference to the first publication of a work is a reference to the first occasion on which the work or a reproduction of it is published, performed or exhibited.