The Artist’s Statute has taken a new step forward with the approval, by the Congress of Deputies, of the reform of the regulation governing personal income tax with regard to the irregular income of artists.

This is one of the key measures of the Artist’s Statute promoted by the Ministry of Culture, demanded by the cultural sector as an important step towards fairer and more equitable tax treatment for artists and cultural workers.

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The Statute of the Artist moves forward with the approval of the reform of the IRPF that contemplates the intermittence of cultural workers

The purpose of this reform, which complies with one of the agreements of the report on the Artist’s Statute approved unanimously in Congress in 2018, is to adapt the regulations governing the determination of the net income of a person engaged in artistic or cultural activity to the characteristics of this activity.

The circumstance that justifies this specific tax treatment is that the income from cultural work does not correspond to the specific moment of the public presentation of a cultural event. Beyond when the specific performance, execution or creation takes place, there is a period that is necessary to achieve or complete the performance, execution or creation of that work. This intermittency means, therefore, an irregularity in the frequency of their income.

Currently, given that artists’ income is not distributed regularly over time, it suffers a higher taxation effect when this fluctuation of income is integrated with a progressive rate, in works, usually for projects, whose duration exceeds one year. The new reform establishes a mechanism that corrects this effect by reducing the personal income tax burden corresponding to the year in which these higher payments are to be included at specific times.

Specifically, a 30% reduction is introduced for income from work or economic activities obtained by artists when such income exceeds 130% of the average income obtained in the last three financial years.

Fairer taxation
In the area of taxation, the Artist’s Statute aims to modernise and update the taxation of artists, performers, creators and cultural workers, making clear two essential objectives. The first is the fiscal responsibility that all citizens are obliged to assume by contributing to the support of the State in solidarity, proportionate and fair to their income. The second is the right to be treated fiscally in a reasonable, fair and equitable manner, taking into account the irregularity of their income, derived from the intermittent nature of cultural work.

The measure is part of the Government’s legislative agenda, which prioritises social progress in terms of rights, obligations and opportunities, with a vocation to translate into effective legislative changes that transform reality, which the Artist’s Statute is transferring to the field of culture.