I.R.S. Seeks Comment on New Artist-Friendly Program
Last autumn the The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) created a new rule that bars foreign artists who earn less than $10,000 per year in the U.S. from the “Central Withholding Agreement” program, making it harder for them to manage the tax withholding on their U.S. earnings. The impact of this rule-change was to significantly damage tour cashflow for developing, independent, and non-commercial artists; this has resulted in numerous tours being cancelled, and artists being dropped from agencies.
Last November, Tamizdat, CWA Management, and The League of American Orchestras, with the support of the NEA and the members of the “Performing Artist Visa Working Group,” submitted to the IRS a proposed rule change that would not only restore lower earning artists’ access to the CWA program, but would actually make it much easier for those artists to access the program.
We are very pleased that The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released a draft form for a “Simplified Central Withholding Agreement” program. The program is intended to help foreign artists who earn less than $10,000 per year in the U.S. to more easily manage the tax withholding on their U.S. earnings. The draft form can be found here:
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/…/bulletins/24865ad
The IRS is seeking comment on the new program.
We are preparing formal comments on the IRS’s proposal, so if this is a matter of interest to you, please review the draft, and let us know what you think. Please send you comments to me at matthew@tamizdat.org.