Cap. 123 Art. 31FTaxation of royalties on qualifying literary works.

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of the Income

Tax Acts, the provisions of this article shall apply to royalties derived on or after 1 January 2021 by an individual in his capacity as author of a qualifying literary work by virtue of his title to the copyright on that work conferred by the Copyright Act.

(2) The tax on the royalties to which this article applies shall be chargeable, at the option of the individual who derives those royalties:

(a) when the royalties were derived before the 1st January 2023, at the rate of fifteen cents (€0.15) on every euro of the gross amount of the royalties; and

(b) when the royalties were derived on or after 1st January 2023, at the rate of seven point five percent (7.5%) of the gross amount of the royalties, and such tax shall be final and no set-off or refund shall be granted to any person in respect of the tax so charged.

(3) The option referred to in sub-article (2) shall be exercised by means of the submission of a notice to the Commissioner and the payment of the tax calculated in accordance with that sub-article by not later than the 30th of April of the relative year of assessment, or such other date as may be prescribed, on such form and in such manner as the Commissioner may approve.

(4) An individual who, in any year, derives royalties to which this article applies may only exercise the option referred to in sub-article (2) in respect of the full amount of those royalties and an option that refers only to a part of those royalties shall be invalid.

(5) When an individual exercises the option referred to in sub-article (2), the royalties to which the option refers shall be deemed to constitute separate chargeable income and shall not form part of the total income of that individual and the said individual shall not be required to declare such royalties in any return made pursuant to the Income Tax Acts except as provided in this article.

(6) In this article:

(a) the terms "author" and "ISBN" have the meanings assigned to them in the National Book Council (Establishment) Order; and

(b) "qualifying literary work" means a publication which bears an ISBN and which is a novel, story, poetical work, text book, treatise, history, biography, encyclopaedia or dictionary that is eligible for copyright in terms of the Copyright Act.