Songwriters Close to Tax Break

A five year struggle to secure a tax break for songwriters is near an end. A House and Senate conference committee has agreed changes proposed by Nashville Songwriters Association International, N-S-A-I. The organization has been pushing to change the way songwriters are taxed when they sell their music catalogues – a collection of songs they’ve written over their career.

Now, when a songwriter sells his or her catalogue, the sale is taxed at a personal income rate, which can be as high as 40-percent. Under a proposal being considered in Congress, the sale would be subject to the capital gains tax at 15-percent.

Debi Cochran is NSAI’s legislative director. She says the tax code was written when songwriters didn’t retain copyrights to their music.

“As the way songwriters’ work has evolved, we have come to the point where we are self-employed and we own part of those copyrights. And the tax system needs to be changed to reflect the way we are working now.”

Cochran is confident that the proposal in Congress will be passed as part of a larger tax cut bill. Williamson County Republican Marsha Blackburn is among the co-sponsors of the songwriter’s bill, which goes back to house for a floor vote before going to the Senate.