Copyrights enjoyed a tax benefit that allowed the source retention to come at a subsidized rate at the time of invoicing. The Government did not renew the tax benefit and those who receive it for copyright, that is, artists and writers, have to retain the tax in its entirety.
The Government continues to say that it will maintain the tax benefit, but the amounts will only be returned in 2023, when the IRS declaration for 2022 is delivered.
The tax benefit associated with copyrights ended on December 31, 2021, and the Government did not renew it either autonomously or within the scope of the General State Budget for 2022. As the Observer had reported, without this renewal would lose the tax credit. . And, later, the Government indicated, during the discussion of the State Budgets, that it would promote its renewal. So far it hasn’t. But even if it does, the tax benefit will only come when the IRS turns in 2023. Until then, the withholding at source, for those not exempt from doing so, is 100% and no longer 50%.
Tax benefit for copyrights at risk
The authors already feel this retention 100% on their skin. But the Ministry of Finance, through an official source, continues to say that “the bill on tax benefits that were subject to liquidation due to its extinction is in legislative process”, guaranteeing that “in relation to the tax benefit of article 58 .º of the Tax Benefits Statute [referente aos direitos de autor], the Government’s proposal is aimed at its renewal in the exact terms in which it has been in force”. And adds:
Since this tax benefit is related to the IRS (whose income earned in 2022 is settled in 2023), and its effects are retroactive to January 1, 2022, there will be no loss for any taxpayer, although they may have higher tax withholding in 2022“.
António Mendonça Mendes, Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs, had already admitted, in the context of the discussion of the State Budget for 2022, that there was “sensitivity” so that it would “probably” be “extended for the normal five years”. But since these declarations were made in May, the extension of the tax benefits has not yet been promoted.
The renewal, however, according to information from the Ministry of Finance, will only be effective in 2023, when the money that the authors did not receive for 50% withholding will be returned. Even so, those who have a turnover of up to 12,500 euros, who are also taxpayers who are exempt from VAT, are exempt from IRS withholding. According to the VAT Code, “taxpayers benefit from the tax exemption who, not having or being obliged to have organized accounting for IRS or IRC purposes, nor carrying out import, export or related activities, nor carrying out an activity consistent in transfer of goods or provision of services mentioned in Annex E of this Code, did not reach, in the previous calendar year, a turnover of more than 12,500 euros.
Source: Observadora
