Copyright Agency makes deductions from licence fees to meet anticipated operating costs.
MAJOR FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO COSTS
Our main cost is the staff who are responsible for negotiation and collection of licence fees, collection and processing of data for distribution, processes relating to distribution of licence fees, and member services. The other major cost is our information technology infrastructure, which supports collection and distribution of licence fees and member services. You can see our financial reports here.
Deductions for anticipated operating costs: October 2022 to September 2023
For most licence fees, the deduction is 17.4%.
The different deductions for the following:
- pay-per-use licences for text (e.g. through RightsPortal): 13.5%
- pay-per-use licences for artworks issued by the Visual Arts team: 13.8%
- licence fees from media monitoring licences: 8.5%
- artists’ resale royalty scheme: 15%
Deductions for anticipated operating costs: October 2023 to September 2024
The deduction for most licence fees will be 16.3%.
The other deductions will be:
- pay-per-use licences for text (e.g. through RightsPortal): 13.5%
- pay-per-use licences for artworks issued by the Visual Arts team: 16%
- licence fees from media monitoring licences: 8.5%
- artists’ resale royalty scheme: 15%
For some distributions of licence fees from pay-per-use licences for artworks negotiated before October 2023 the deduction will be 13.8%.
Funds from unpaid allocations (‘rollovers’) added to licence fees for distribution
As of July 2022, we have added unpaid allocations from past distributions (‘rollovers’) to licence fees, for distributions. There is no deduction for operating costs from these funds when they added to licence fees for distribution (because we made deductions when the funds were initially distributed).
CULTURAL FUND DEDUCTION
In addition to deductions for anticipated operating costs, Copyright Agency allocates up to 1.5% of licence fees to the Cultural Fund, which grants funds for cultural purposes as approved by the Board. The current percentage of licence fees allocated to the Cultural Fund was approved by members at the 27 November 2010 Annual General Meeting.
This deduction does not apply to the artists’ resale royalty scheme or to payments from Screenrights for artworks.
GST on operating costs
Some of the deductions for our operating costs are subject to Goods and Services Tax (GST) based on Australian Taxation Office (ATO) requirements. If GST is applicable, we will make a deduction for the GST and you will be allocated an equivalent Input Tax Credit (ITC) that you may be able to claim from the ATO. See here for further information about tax issues relating to Copyright Agency payments.
Information about deductions in your payment statements
You can see deductions for amounts allocated to you in the Detailed View tab in the Payments section of your online account.
cost to revenue ratio
We report a cost to revenue ratio for the financial year in our Annual Report each year.
The cost to revenue ratio is different to the deductions for anticipated operating costs that appear on payment statements. It is based on the actual income and expenditure in the Profit and Loss Statement for the financial year. The deductions for anticipated operating costs are based on estimates of our future costs, and any adjustments for differences between past estimates and past actual costs.
September 2023