Tax Time

Lady K'Lyssia · Nov 1, 2005

Okay another admin thing that should be asked.

I believe Jenna said she would be handling the distribution of the monies - no problem with that.

However - will you be able to issue quarterly reports (like a royalty statement) so those of us who can can calculate our royalties so they can be applied to our writing records as income and a charitable donation - one of the things to keep the Tax Man happy?

You can probably calculate the royalties based on the number of pieces in the book - which each author getting 1 "split" for each piece they have.

Alphabet · Nov 1, 2005

surely if you paint a wall for a neighbour you don't get tax rebates do you?
effectively that's what my piece in the collection is, anyway.

Certainly jenna didn't suggest in her submission call that we were profit sharing the income and each personally donating our part... what about the cover design and editing and proof reading and flyer printers and posters etc etc...

sorry, but I don't think we've got a 'share' in the income that we must declare and then gain rebates from - and if we HAD then it would be infinitessimally small and ever shrinking as more and more people do their bit to make the anthology work..

Each person sending a press-release somewhere would get .0001% revenues allocated... ? At least, that's how I see it not working.

I rather see this as a publication where the payment is non-monetary = 'as much satisfaction as you can eat'

aka eraser · Nov 1, 2005

I think most folks are in the camp Alphabet articulated. A lot of people gave of their talents and time simply because it feels good to help others. Many of us will get "real" benefits simply by being associated with high calibre writers. Those being published for the first time have a credit they point to with justifiable pride. Who knows what doors may open for them as a result of this?

The only money that matters here is that which will wend its way to the charities.

maestrowork · Nov 1, 2005

I don't know where the talk of royalties come in... huh?

The only thing you can report for your charitable donations, perhaps, is the money you spend on buying the book. OK, not sure about other things such as posters, bookmarks, etc. but since we're not a "non-profit" group it would be difficult to qualify those costs as charitable donations. For your information, services and time cannot be reported as donations.

ChunkyC · Nov 1, 2005

In a nutshell, we donated our stories/poems/essays, therefore there is no income to report at tax time.

Just having my name in the table of contents means I've done something as a writer that just might outlive me. And it led to my speaking with Jenna on the phone today.

I can now die a happy man.

Lady K'Lyssia · Nov 1, 2005

I'm sorry to offended you guys - however I have to look at my writing as a business. Yes we donated this for a charity and that is where the money is going as it should be. However, is this was something other than a 100 percent donation we have received something for the orginal option on what we sent as well as a percentage afterwards - in a professional anthology.

As professional writers we need to think of our writing as professional and anything we place a story in as a professional publication. If you are reporting your writing as a business to the IRS, they expect to see some sort of income being generated if you are going to claim your deductions - if they don't see any income after a few years they classify it as a hobby and you lose a lot of deductions.

I don't care if we are dealing with a small amount or even the normally decreasing returns over time - I just need to keep my bookkeeping straight for the IRS.

Again sorry to offend, but it was a legitimate question and one that needed to be asked. This way if the IRS asks I can show where I also asked.

ChunkyC · Nov 1, 2005

Perhaps this is a question Jenna can answer, then. I'm sure she'll pop in at some point, or you could PM her directly, Carol.

Vanessa · Nov 1, 2005

I guess my only question is and I too don't mean to offend, but why didn't you ask this question at the time your piece was selected? It is very late now to raise this question, when in fact we all knew that we were donating our time and effort to this cause.

JennaGlatzer · Nov 1, 2005

As far as I'm aware, Ray is right-- time/services/talents can't be listed as donations. I know there was some talk a few years back about artists who were trying to declare the "fair market value" of work they had donated to causes, but I believe this was disallowed. The cost of the book itself is not tax-deductable, either, because we don't have registered charity status.

mdin · Nov 1, 2005

You won't be able to claim a tax deduction on this. I'm not a tax expert, but I do know a little about this stuff.

I suspect the IRS would consider this a volunteer thing. As a professional writer, you volunteered your time to create something for charity. You can't use your time as a tax deduction. Take for example my friend Joe. Joe is a contractor, and he makes a lot of money building things. He also spent two weeks working on some Habitat for Humanity houses. If he hadn't done this, he would've earned several thousand dollars doing something else. If he had simply donated cash, he'd be able to deduct. But since it was just his time, no.

Also, while the money from this anthology may be going to charity, the anthology itself is not a legal charity. You donated to the anthology, not the Red Cross or Salvation Army. Therefore, since the anthology is not a 501c(3) or any other type of recognized charity, any deducations are not tax deductible.

JennaGlatzer · Nov 1, 2005

What he said.

Lady K'Lyssia · Nov 1, 2005

That answers the question.

I wouldn't have expected the full price of the book only the amount that is actually donated per book.

As for why I didn't ask at the beginning - it wasn't relevant to my submitting a story and participating. As I mentioned earlier - I'm trying to make sure I have all of my accounting and information straight.

ChunkyC · Nov 2, 2005

I thought about it some more overnight, and indeed it does make sense to check it out to make sure all your paperwork is in order.

Up here in Canada, it would be the same basic thing. I donated my story, so in theory if it was to a registered charity, I could claim my 1/119th of the monies raised as a deduction on my income tax. Since it isn't a registered charity, the point is moot. However, out of curiosity, I did some math and figured out that if SoS sold 100,000 copies in a year, my 'share' as a deduction would reduce the amount of income tax I would pay in that year by approximately $30.

Seems like a rather pointless exercise.

Tax Time

Lady K'Lyssia

Alphabet

Aspiring Inspirer

aka eraser

Fish Whisperer

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

ChunkyC

It's hard being green

Lady K'Lyssia

ChunkyC

It's hard being green

Vanessa

Writer and Music Producer

JennaGlatzer

wishes you happiness

mdin

The late, the great XThe NavigatorX

JennaGlatzer

wishes you happiness

Lady K'Lyssia

ChunkyC

It's hard being green