Does HMRC's "Making Tax Digital" affect you?

Did you know how much you earn does not only affect how much tax you pay? 

In future, it is likely to affect HOW you (1) account for your gross income and (2) pay your tax. 

This is all part of the Making Tax Digital initiative of HMRC. This blog post is all about what's happened recently and what's coming - and whether you need to know more NOW!

I'm going to say upfront, if you are an amateur artist or a professional not earning very much from your art you have nothing to worry about - for the moment.

However those earning MORE than "not earning very much" MUST get to grips with Making Tax Digital soon. Plus note that they are focused on gross income and not net (more about this below)

Digital record-keeping will deliver time-saving benefits for taxpayers (HMRC)

IN THE NEAR FUTURE, I'm going to be developing a "Making Tax Digital page" in the Tax section of my Art Business Info website - alongside the existing UK Tax Tips for Artists to provide artists with links to useful info.

In the meantime, I'll be blogging about it on here for artists who need to get their heads around it.

Of course, as always (here comes the disclaimer), as law and related online content changes all the time,  I am totally unable to warrant that ANY and/or ALL information is complete and/or

• professional and/or
• up to date and/or
• wholly accurate and/or
• all links lead to the most current information (at the time of writing)

UNLESS I am quoting recent HMRC emails (see below) or HMRC websites with a recent date. 

YOU are solely responsible for making sure that you get the proper advice. Personally, I find the HMRC website provides everything most people need to know - but you do need to read it!

Making Tax Digital

As somebody who completes a self-assessment form each year, I received my Getting ready for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax email from HMRC yesterday which very clearly states the timetable for the staged implementation of Making Tax Digital. 

I assume everybody else who makes a self assessment tax return for sole trader income also got the same email. So look in your inbox if you missed it!

Money Laundering, NFTs and artists selling their own work.

NEW WEBPAGE: Money Laundering and the Art Market

Back in April 2021, I wrote about how I needed to update my Art Business Info for Artists website for new law, rules and regulations for the Art Business and Artists.
For example:

• completely new law and regulations relating to Money Laundering in the Art Market

• updates for existing law and regulation eg international trade and shipping for post Brexit ramifications (some is done - but this is still a work in progress as things work their way through - I'm waiting for the resolution of the Irish angle)

I started my Money Laundering Page - but it soon became clear that there were going to be a lot more developments so I held off from Publishing.

A number of other industry sectors, such as banking, have long been the subject of an anti-money laundering regulatory framework. The reason for now extending that framework to the art market is a concern that the art market could be used by criminals to launder the proceeds of crime such as drug trafficking, modern slavery, tax evasion, corruption or theft.

Today I published the new page - in part in response to an artist friend who wrote to me about the nuisance (scam) communications relating to NFTs - to which my response was "they're scams - it's all about money laundering!" 

However to write about the NFTs I needed to provide some context in terms of the MEGA changes in law and regulations which MUST now be complied with by a variety of those who are active players in the art market - so I can highlight how most NFTs approaches to artists are linked to money laundering. 

It's all about a very welcome exemption from the Regulations for artists trading their own art.

NEW: Money Laundering & the Art Market

So this is my new page: Money Laundering & the Art Market: Anti Money Laundering (AML): Law, Regulations and Practice

Plus here's the main reason why I held off.......

• The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 took effect on 10th January 2020. This introduced the notion of the Art Market Participant who must comply with the regulations
• The 2019 Regulations indicate that the definition of Art Market Participants (AMPs) is as follows

  “a firm or sole practitioner who by way of business trades in, or acts as an intermediary in the sale or purchase of, works of art and the value of the transaction, or a series of linked transactions, amounts to 10,000 euros or more”

• In 2022, the Money Laundering Regulations related to the draft legislation recorded the fact artists are not included as AMPs 

The changes introduced mean that from 10 January 2020, AMPs as defined in the MLRs (which excludes artists selling their own work (my underlining) – see paragraph 19 below) must: 

• Register with HMRC before they carry on with their business, where this involves a transaction of 10,000 euros or more, or a series of linked transactions of 10,000 euros or more 
• Carry out a written risk assessment of the extent to which they are exposed to money laundering 
• Maintain a written prescribed range of policies, controls and procedures 
• Carry out CDD measures on customers before they conclude a transaction 
• Appoint a nominated officer 
• Train staff appropriately 
• Report suspicious transactions to the authorities 
• Keep appropriate records of CDD and of transaction

• Last month (6th February 2023), the British Art Market Federation's Guidance on Anti Money Laundering for Art Market Participants - approved by HMRC - was published and is the current up to date summary of how the law now works for different organisations and people participating in the art market and selling art.

This is the relevant link to the supporting HMRC Page Guidance - Money laundering supervision for art market participants

This is the new guidance on artists in relation to AMPs ( my bold )

19. Artists selling their own work, whether as an individual/sole practitioner or through a business they own, are not within the scope of the MLRs, and so are not required to register as an AMP. This extends to sales of an artist’s own work through their business, which only sells their work (but not for sales of other artists’ work if also sold through their business). Similarly, sales out of an artist’s estate, or sales of an artist’s work by someone employed by the artist, or the artist’s business, to sell the artist’s work, are not within scope of the MLRs.

How this affects artists and NFTs

The major change affecting artists is that artists are now NOT identified as "art market participants" (AMPs - who must register and comply with all the legislation) any more IF they are only selling their own art.

It's odd how artists are now being bombarded - mainly via Instagram - with requests to make their artwork available for NFTs.

Hence, given they are excluded from the monitoring requirements, artists are now prime targets for those wanting to launder money.

So if you are one of those being bombarded with NFT requests:

• just be aware, and stay away from unconventional sales of unconventional art commodities if you want to play it safe and avoid being involved with money laundering.
• make NFT a term which means that a message cannot be sent to you
• ALWAYS check that you know who you are dealing with - particularly if the transaction is international.

NOTE: I've still to do a detailed note and update about NFTs for the Money Laundering page.

Tax Tips for UK Artists - a Zoom Talk

Two weeks ago I delivered a Zoom Talk to recent art graduates about "Tax Tips for UK Artists" - and walked them through the process of starting out with their tax affairs with the HMRC and what they needed to do. 

You can find out what the Talk covers below.

Any art society or group of artists who'd like to me to deliver a Zoom Talk can get in touch with me via the Contact Form at the end of my 'Would You Like Me to Help Page' on Art Business Info for Artists. 

As well as preparing the Talk, I've also been updating the pages on my Art Business Info for Artists website about

• UK Tax Tips for Artists
• UK: Self-Assessment Video Tips

Both of these contain much of what I cover in the Talk - plus HMRC Videos explaining specific aspects of importance.

Tax Tips for UK Artists - the Zoom Talk

The talk covers

Artists - Do you have a Profitable Side Hustle?

I know a number of artists whose taxable income comes from a portfolio of activities and income streams - and notably includes a side hustle.

I'm thinking about writing about the type of Artists' Side Hustles which have proved SUCCESSFUL in

• diversifying the activities of a (would-be) professional artist (as in "I'm aiming to make all my income from art")
• generating another income stream 
• reducing the risk to your economic wellbeing when all art sales suddenly dry up.

Copyright Making A Mark Publications

What is a Side Hustle?

What is art? (legally speaking)

I needed to find a definition for the question "What is art" recently while developing a new page about Money Laundering & the Art Market: Law, Regulations and Practice.

[Note: If you are selling art - but are not an individual artist who is selling their own art - and don't know about the new money laundering regulations, there is a very serious gap in your "need to know" art business knowledge. I'm hoping to publish soon.....]

So what is art?

Purists might suggest that if the artist says it's art then it's art. 

That might be fine in isolation - but it doesn't cut it as a definition in the "Art as a Merchantable Commodity Market" where there are very many relevant laws and regulations - and taxes and penalties and fines. ( for anybody in any doubt I suggest you read my Art Business Info for Artists page about "Legal Matters for Artists - How to stay on the right side of the law ​and understand all relevant legal liabilities" )

The legal definition of works of art in the UK

It's really quite simple. 

Art (in the UK) is defined for art business, tax, finance and money laundering purposes as stated below. 

Works of Art" has the same meaning as in section 21 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and includes:

• Painting, drawings, collages and decorative plaques executed by hand; 
• Limited edition prints; 
• Original sculpture or statuary and limited edition sculpture casts; 
• Handmade limited edition tapestries and hangings; 
• Signed ceramics executed by an individual; 
• Signed limited edition enamels on copper (not comprised in an article of jewellery); and 
• Signed limited edition photographs. 

By way of contrast in the USA the courts have been used to dispute and contest constraints (i.e. "the obscenity pledge" and "the decency clause") which related to censorship of what is deemed inappropriate for public funding. In doing so they referenced the First and Fifth Amendments.

NFTs are NOT Art

Interestingly, I've only just realised that last week there was a bit of a furore online because Wikipedia has decided that NFTs are NOT ART! 

As in 

• Sales of 'art' as NFTs are NOT art sales.
• the most expensive NFTs which purport to be art are not being included in the list of the most expensive artworks ever sold

You can read the debate on the discussion page here - under 'Separation of NFT sales and artwork sales' which cites

NFTs are not a new artistic medium in the way that oil paint, printmaking, photography or video art were. Even digital art (which is just art made on a computer) preexisted NFTs by decades. NFTs are financial instruments. They make it easier to sell digital files by creating scarcity. Washington Post

Beeple’s work has been compared to that of KAWS or Banksy, two other artists who have bypassed art-world gatekeepers to establish huge sale prices. But ultimately, NFTs are a technology used to authenticate an artwork; determining whether a work is art or not is up to the viewer. The technology can be used to authenticate other kinds of objects, too. New York Times

So we now have

• List of most expensive paintings
• List of most expensive photographs
• List of most expensive sculptures
• List of most expensive artworks by living artists
• List of most expensive non-fungible tokens

An NFT is a Non-fungible token 

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger.[1] Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. Because each token is uniquely identifiable, NFTs differ from blockchain cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. (Wikipedia)

This in turn could affect their value - and hence there's a lot of "investment" in how they should be defined!

Personally, for me, an NFT is a digital token not art - and won't ever be art until it enjoys copyright protection - which NFTs do not.

Here are some of the articles discussing Wikipedia's decision to define NFTs - as NFTs!

• Wikipedia Editors Have Voted Not to Classify NFTs as Art, Sparking Outrage in the Crypto Community | ArtNet News
• What’s Really at Stake in the Debate over Whether NFTs Are Art | ArtNet
• Should NFTs Be Classified as Art? Wikipedia’s Editors Vote ‘No’ | Smithsonian
• NFTs Weren’t Supposed to End Like This | The Atlantic
• How Wikipedia’s Classification Of NFTs As ‘Not Art’ Impacts Equity In The Art World | 
• Are NFTs art? Wikipedia says not exactly | Quartz

I suspect some of the rationale might also relate to law and how art is defined.

An NFT (and, if applicable, the associated license to use, copy or display the underlying asset) can be traded and sold on digital markets. The extralegal nature of NFT trading usually results in an informal exchange of ownership over the asset that has no legal basis for enforcement, often conferring little more than use as a status symbol.

There needs to be parity in terms of the marketplace in terms of what is being bought and sold before you can start making comparisons about "what is the most expensive?"

There again it's entirely possible that there are also some considerable suspicions about:

• inflation of NFT sales/receipts due to "wash trading"
• use of NFTs for money laundering

BECAUSE at the moment there is no regulation of NFTs in terms of robust and regulated financial systems - which will very definitely NOT last forever.

Online Conferences for Art Societies - a sustainable solution for getting more artists together?

Why don't more regional and national art societies hold Online Conferences?

When you're a local art society there's nothing to stop you limiting your activities to your locality - because, in all probability, that is where most of your members live. They'll either turn up or not to group events depending on how much they like being social and sociable.

However - if you're a regional or national organisation - why do we still behave as if everybody has to go to one place to get together to discuss / see / learn about / demonstrate our favourite art genre / medium?

In these days of reducing our carbon footprint, surely we need to be doing more in terms of finding alternative and more sustainable solutions which allow people to get together and enjoy what they like best about their art - and learn from one another and others.

One of the major benefits of the C19 saga (count the ways you can say "you know what" without triggering google filters!) is that more and more people have learned about the technology for getting online. I think if I'd been an investor in Zoom I'd be very happy right now!

What we saw in 2020

Lots of Annual get-togethers and annual conferences by art societies - which occur predominantly in the USA were cancelled in 2020. However this happened early enough in the year for a number to have time to work out how they could "replatform" the conference - out of a hotel and onto Zoom. 

Those who had some gumption got their act together, had a major think - and took the Conference Online. I think this might well be because there's a considerable amount of income for art societies generated by these conferences.

Which is how, in October 2020, I came to be sitting in my armchair for four days straight and participating in Online in October the very first Virtual Annual Conference of the American Society of Botanical Artists.

Given this was very much a "suck it and see" and a somewhat "seat of the pants" exercise it's amazing how well it worked. They took their normal convention schedule and digitised it - which meant a series of sessions which were mini workshops, evening ones which were lectures or presentations and then a social at the end of the day. In a lot of ways it was very much like the Conference I attended - and spoke at - in Pittsburgh in 2019.  However, the major difference was I was always five hours behind and social interaction - which was the only time members faces got on screen - was always in the middle of the night for me so I didn't actually make it to any of the socials. However I got through most of everything else after buying the "all in" option.

How did others cope with the change?

I took a look online and came across other examples of online conferences organised by different art organisations

Art Societies

• The Glass Art Society - has a very international outlook and may well have held the first online conference by an art society in May 2020

the organizers of the annual Glass Art Society conference pivoted from their extensively planned in-person event in Småland, Sweden, to the artist organization's first-ever online conference in May 2020.

• The Art Society had an Online Conference about Life Drawing in October 2020

Other member organisations

• The Museums Association went online in 2020 - and recorded the Conference highlights for members to refer back to

Overall, there was a lot of feedback and learning from the first tries at this new form of social interaction online - and lots to build into the learning for the conferences in 2021.

Major benefits seen from 2020 events

New rules and regulations for Art Business - and Artists

I'm trying to catch up on the amount of change in law and regulations impacting on both artists, art organisations and the art market in the last 18 months.

I'm creating new resource pages for:

• international shipping 
• rules of origin
• export licences
• money laundering regulations for art market participants where a transaction (or series of transactions with the same buyer) exceeds £10,000

Import and export of artwork etc

Since 1st January 2021, 

• I've had LOTS of detailed queries about HOW to import / export art without falling foul of the new regulations
• there has been huge traffic to my Art Business Info for Artists in relation to international shipping and the import or export of art (and other created artworks and/or art material)

As at the beginning of January, there wasn't much to go on in terms of what people needed to do post Brexit - so I held off making changes until the situation improved.

I'm now very slowly slogging my way through the HUGE amount of new documentation from HMRC and various government departments which relates to the import / export of art and art materials post 1st January 2021 i.e. post the UK leaving the EU.

My brain hurts! 

View of the new page on Rules of Origin on At Business Info for Artists

To date:

• I've got one new page up - on "Rules of Origin" 
• in the SHIP ART section of Art Business Info for Artists
• it's a dedicated page under International Art Shipping: How to ship / export art
  to other countries
• I'm working on Export Licences - and when these are required - which will hopefully publish this week.
• these are required in relation to specific types of art over a specific valuation

I've still got to get my head around the Northern Ireland question and the border in the Irish Sea....

Mandatory Money Laundering Regulations for all Art Market Participants

ALERT!!! Plus I know I need to create a NEW page related to Money Laundering Regulations for Artists (and Art Galleries etc.) in the MONEY section. 

This WILL impact on more than a few artists, selling exhibitions, art societies and art galleries because

• The art market is a known target for money laundering and is officially regarded by HMRC as "high risk"
• The EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) was enacted into UK law with effect from 10 January 2020 and anti money laundering compliance has NOT BEEN OPTIONAL since 10th of January 2020
• The new regulations require a LOT of information to be collected and formally recorded and retained in relation to purchasers of artwork valued (as one lot or an accumulation) above the equivalent of £10,000

To be exempt, an artist (or art organisation) must be 

Not trading in or acting as an intermediary involving a “work of art” in a single transaction, or a series of linked transactions of £10,000 or more.

So basically, every time you price and deal in an artwork above £10,000 you (or your agent) 

• MUST register to comply with the Regulations and 
• MUST maintain all appropriate records - which will be open to inspection by those monitoring compliance (think VAT records!)

Art Market Participants (AMPs) which includes any person or organisation dealing in art - have until 10th June 2021 to register to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations (i.e. it was deferred because of the Covid-19 pandemic).

See for example The Art Newspaper's article (updated in March 2021) The art market is 'high risk' for money laundering, so ignore new regulations at your peril

More on this when my new page is published in the near future.

The pages improve with age!

As always with these sort of initiatives my first published page is the best I can do at the time. HOWEVER they always improve over time as:

• I find more information 
• fill the gaps in advice
• make the entire page more related to the art business - while at the same time providing the context for "what an artist needs to know" (or art gallery or art collector!)

Do you use eco-friendly packaging for transporting / shipping your art?

Have you thought about how sustainable the packaging is that you use for packing your artwork for transporting to exhibitions or shipping to clients?

Have you heard about the Plastic Packaging Tax - which will start being levied in the UK as from April 2022 - with the aim of reducing the use of single use plastic?

This post looks at:

• the background to the drive for more sustainable packaging
• the Plastic Packaging Tax
• what is packaging - from the perspective of a self-employed small business owner
• your obligations on under the waste duty of care rules?
• how to review your use of sustainable green eco-friendly packaging for your artwork
• PLUS CHECKLIST of questions to ask when thinking how to be more friendly to the planet - and marketing your art!

Background

Very many people are concerned about:

• the impact of climate change
• the extent to which single use plastic packaging is becoming a curse for the planet and its oceans 

In March 2018, the government launched a call for evidence on using the tax system or charges to tackle single-use plastic waste. This received a record 162,000 responses, highlighting the strong public interest in action in this area.

Using new plastic typically has greater environmental impact: it requires unnecessary resource extraction and processing, with higher energy use and emissions than using recycled material. It also results in significant amounts of additional plastic waste on the market, which is generally sent to landfill or incinerated. 

Plastic Packaging Tax | HM Treasury Overview

Many people who buy products are very concerned that packaging should reflect their values and avoid the destruction of the environment. 

These include people who buy art.

What is the Plastic Packaging Tax and who will be impacted?

The UK government wants to promote 

a clear economic incentive for businesses to use recycled material in the production of plastic packaging, which will create greater demand for this material and in turn stimulate increased levels of recycling and collection of plastic waste, diverting it away from landfill or incineration.

To do this it's introducing a Plastic Packaging Tax as from April 2022

Those affected by this tax will be:

• UK producers of plastic packaging,
• importers of plastic packaging,
• business customers of producers and importers of plastic packaging, and
• consumers who buy goods in plastic packaging in the UK.

Bottom line - if you are currently using plastic materials for your packaging, you will probably find it increases in cost next year.

Now is the time to get your packaging standards reviewed and revised!

What is packaging?

Just in case you think this is nothing to do with you as an artist.....

‘Packaging’ is any material used to hold, protect, handle, deliver and present goods. This includes packaging for raw materials right through to finished goods to be sold or being sold. For example, pallets, boxes, bags, tape for wrapping, rolls, tubes and clothes hangers sold as part of the clothing item.

GOV UK Guidance - Packaging waste: producer responsibilities

So unless you place your framed artwork in the hands of your buyer yourself - with no packaging -  you are a packaging producer!

Also, did you know that your art business (in the UK) MUST follow the waste duty of care rules?

Hardship lies ahead #1: Checklist for Artists

This post provides some CHECKLISTS FOR ARTISTS 

• thinking about the future and 
• wanting to get to grips with the basics of surviving as an artist AND an art business within the context of both Covid AND the Recession.

i.e. Neither the Coronavirus Pandemic nor the Recession are going away completely in a hurry - so it's time to tease out and get to grips with some of the practical implications for the medium and longer term.

For what it's worth I reckon it will be at least two years before we get back to normal.  Possibly three.

In the meantime people have some difficult decisions to make.

"Hardship lies ahead" is the new slogan of the Chancellor of the Exchequer - and he's absolutely spot on.

• Not all businesses will reopen
• Not everybody will have a job in the businesses that do
• Not everybody is going to enjoy the income level going forward that they have had in the past
• LOTS OF PEOPLE ARE GOING TO FEEL VERY UNCERTAIN - and lack of confidence depresses spending on art.

PLUS at some point, we'll all have to pay for the enormous bailouts which have been going on around the world - which may well mean tax increases in the longer term.

This post is about translating that context into the PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS for artists and selling art generally and providing CHECKLISTS for

• artists - this post
• future posts re.
• art societies 
• art exhibitions 
• art galleries
• art teachers

A preamble

I last wrote on this topic in The Pandemic Recession: Likely Impact on Art Sales and Artists

HOWEVER I gathered afterwards that quite a few people felt I was probably being too negative and miserable - and that "everything will be back to normal soon".

I wonder if others might also now feel it wise to revise that view?

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered one of the worst jobs crises since the Great Depression. There is a real danger that the crisis will increase poverty and widen inequalities, with the impact felt for years to come. OECD

Now that

• business closures and job losses are now being announced on a very regular basis as we begin to come out of the furlough period (i.e. closure of 8 branches of John Lewis is NOT normal! Nor is M&S reducing staff by 950 jobs.)
• businesses are talking about it taking years to get back to normal AND
• we're seeing some very fierce covid-19 spikes (i.e. second wave) around the world (notably in the USA) as people "got back to normal" much too fast and without taking appropriate precautions 
• PLUS as of today we're got local lockdowns in the UK and we're back to no more than 6 people meeting together I think it's time to get serious.

I'm really NOT being negative.

I'm essentially a really pragmatic person who likes to know the parameters of a problem - including the nasty bits!

I'm also a great believer in planning for what's coming.  Probably because I'm "cursed" by a very marked talent for being able to predict what's coming over the horizon - and a very good track record of being right. It has proved to be useful in a career (sometimes) - but there's always been a tendency to want to "shoot the messenger!" when people really don't like the message - so I wasn't surprised at all by the reaction to the last post.

I'm going to be like Chris Whitty and Dr Fauci and just keep saying what needs saying until people get it!! :)

CHECKLIST FOR ARTISTS

Just for a moment consider the following scenario - and how realistic it might be.

• Your art galleries close down - and your art gets stuck inside
• Your sales incomes dries up or reduces significantly - because fewer people are buying - because of lack of confidence in knowing how long the pandemic / recession will last
• Your regular Bread and Butter job which pays basic bills disappears - it's happening to a lot of people even if they are working for FTSE 100 employers!
• Your online platform suddenly shuts down - don't forget it's not just bricks and mortar businesses which shut down. Small entities are the ones which shut down in the last recession. Consequently all my blogs and websites are with very big hosts for a reason.
• Your partner loses their job - it happens.
• You will be living on a much reduced income - do you know how much you need to keep a roof over your head - and or how long you can last on just savings?
• BUT you haven't got a clue about....
• what you do that makes money or maximises your income and 
• which activity/activities is/are basically a self indulgent money pit

Bear in mind a lot of people have had to face this already.

So now is the time when spending some time on working this out is a really good investment. 

Otherwise life may very well come and bite you on the backside when you're not looking!

TIPS: FINANCIALS

Now is a really good time to work out the ABSOLUTE BASICS

• which income streams maximise profit for time and effort expended and 
• which represent a really poor return after you take every aspect into account.

Why every artist should check your State Pension forecast

I worry about artists who don't pay any attention to their need to provide for a pension - even their State Pension - until it's much too late.

This week I claimed my State Pension - which made me feel a lot older - but made my mother feel very much older!!  ;) You have to stake your claim before they will pay it to you in the four months prior to when it becomes payable. Mainly so they can check it's really you and also where to pay the money too. 

The fact it's going to be paid five years and 11 months after it was originally due is a source of much discontent among women of my age - see WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality).  It's also moved backward over two years from the date I was given when I took early retirement from my job. It's going to keep moving too...

One reason why I'm mentioning this now is that at the end of last month I paid some voluntary contributions on my self-employment income which means I now max out on my (contracted out) State Pension - and I have to say I was greatly impressed by the difference those contributions made. It was well worth persevering and getting to the bottom of what I needed to pay to improve my pension as much as I could.

Artists in the UK and the State Pension

Basically artists are self-employed.  You can have a basic minimum State Pension if you have at least 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record.

To accumulate qualifying years you must pay National Insurance Contributions. This is NOT OPTIONAL for those making profits over a certain level i.e. you cannot avoid them just as you cannot avoid paying tax - via the Self Assessment tax system.

An artist (in the UK) - being self-employed - usually pays two types of National Insurance contributions:

• Class 2 if your profits are £6,475 or more a year
• Class 4 if your profits are £9,501 or more a year

Most people pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance through self-assessment.

However if, like me, you have a nice steady small income from self-employment which never reached the base threshold for Class 2, it was more than a little difficult to see how you could pay contributions on a voluntary basis.

I knew that, although I had retired early, I was either at or very close to the maximum number of years for the State Pension. Initially I could never see the benefit of paying additional contributions as I thought I had enough years paid in already.

Then two things happened which CHANGED MY MIND!

COVID-19 and Art #6: Financial support for self-employed artists and freelancers

Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has just announced the nature of the support to the self-employed.

A lot of artists are seld-employed and others have a portfolio of income streams - with both employment income and self-employed income.

Only those whose earnings are predominantly from self-employment will be eligible for help.

I'm not going to deal with the support being provided for employment.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer at the News Conference which announced the Support Package

Features of the support on offer

The proposals are set out in the following: Chancellor gives support to millions of self-employed individuals  (News Release) - Rishi Sunak announces world-leading scheme to support the UK’s self-employed affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

According to Sunak, this was the most generous package made available by any country.

The scheme has been designed after extensive engagement with stakeholders including the TUC, the Federation of Small Businesses and IPSE - The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed.

This is his speech at the News Conference

UPDATE: Subsequently, HM Revenue & Customs published the Guidance: Claim a grant through the coronavirus (COVID-19) Self-employment Income Support Scheme. This sets out

1. Who can apply
2. How much you’ll get
3. How to apply
4. After you’ve applied
5. Other help you can get

Below is my summary.

Key Features

A NEW Self-Employed Income Support Scheme is being introduced. It will be available to those who

• earn up to £50K from self-employment annually as 
• EITHER a trading profit of less than £50,000 in 2018-19 
• OR an average trading profit over 3 years of less than £50,000 from 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.  
• (i.e. there is a cap on the grant and those earning more than £50k on average will NOT be eligible)
• whose income is predominantly from self-employment. (i.e. more than HALF their income must come from self-employment) The criteria covers 90% of the self-employed.
• have submitted their tax return on time (although those who didn't have a "get out jail" card - and have four weeks to get their return in!) 
• ONLY those who are already in self-employment AND meet the above conditions will be eligible to apply. 
• This means there is no provision for new start-ups which have yet to submit a tax return. 
• The suggestion is that those people need to refer themselves to the benefits system. This is the Guidance about Support for those affected by COVID-19

Those eligible can apply for

• a taxable cash grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profit over the last three years.
• up to £2,500 per month in grant
• for at least 3 months. 

There is no suggestion that the support scheme will benefit those who consistently make a lot more money than this.

Amounts payable will be based on the last three years of tax returns. HMRC will determine the size of the grant by using the average trading profits from tax returns in

• 2016-17,
• 2017-18 and
• 2018-19

Applying for the Grant

Individuals should NOT contact HMRC now. He said HMRC will know who is eligible based on the information contained in their tax database.

People will be sent a letter/email and be invited to apply - once the scheme is operational.

It's very likely that this communication will include a piece of information only known to you and HMRC (i.e. beware scammers)

Those who are eligible for the new scheme will be able to

• apply directly to HMRC for the taxable grant, 
• using a simple online form.
• You will access this scheme only through GOV.UK (and your normal gov.uk account for your tax return)

The arrangements will have regard to fraud.

It's also important that you IGNORE all representations from those claiming to be HMRC - especially those asking you to pay HMRC money before you can claim.

Grant Payments

Grant payments will start in June. Before grant payments are made, the self-employed will still be able to access other available government support for those affected by coronavirus including:

• more generous universal credit and
• business continuity loans where they have a business bank account

The cash grant will be paid directly into people’s bank account.  You will recall we all give details of the bank account we use for tax payments on our self-assessment returns.

A maybe predictable corollary

The Chancellor made the point that the support being offered was equivalent to that being offered to those who are in employment

Working out the scheme had highlighted the discrepancies in contributions made by those in employment and those who are self-employed.

It was considered fair to make arrangements to

• equalise contributions after the pandemic is over 
• so that everybody makes an equal (prorata) contribution to the absolutely massive bailout 

Support for artists in Germany

Earlier the German government made announcements about how they intended to support those who worked in the cutural sector READ Germany Has Rolled Out a Staggering €50 Billion Aid Package for Artists and Cultural Businesses, Putting Other Countries to Shame The three-part package includes

• up to €50 billion ($54 billion) in aid for individuals who are self-employed as well as for small businesses. It will come in the form of 
• grants designed to help with overhead costs like venue rentals and artist studios. 
• Loans will be available to help businesses bridge financial bottlenecks. 
• funding will also support media enterprises, including newspapers.
• social security (including unemployment insurance) will be made available to freelancers for a period of six months.
• Loans may also be deferred. People can ask for a reduction in their payments or an advance on their tax refunds.

NEW: How to spot art scams and fraud

I have a new page about "How to spot art scams and fraud" on my Art Business Info for Artists website. 

I can't think for the life of me think why I haven't created this before.

After all, one of the frequently asked questions by artists is "Is this a scam?" - and our ever-increasing familiarity with what scammers try on somehow does not stop them trying!

On the page you will find summaries and links to relevant information relating to:

• What are art scams and frauds
• Websites which "out" scams and frauds
• How to spot a fake website - which has implications for the content of an artist's website
• How to spot fake goods or services

​Intellectual property crime is committed when someone manufactures, sells or distributes counterfeit or pirated goods, such as such as patents, trademarks, industrial designs or literary and artistic works, for commercial gain.

• How to spot - and avoid - an email scam
• ​How to be safe when paying for goods or services online​

This includes "red flags" for things to watch out for - and how to avoid being scammed - which are generally pretty simple precautions you can take.

extract from the page

It's very definitely a page which will develop over time.  You can find it as shown below

• Art Business Info for Artists
• Practice
• Office Practice & Law for Artists
• How to spot art scams and fraud

Or just put "art scams" or "fraud" into the Google search box on the home page

I've also got three more related pages planned and in the pipeline about:

• How to spot fake art - more for the collector than the artist but also highlights art practices best avoided!
• What to do about a gallery which goes "rogue"- this is the one about 
• when the gallery doesn't pay up after selling your artwork and/or 
• art galleries / dealers trading while insolvent
• goes bust - with your artwork still inside and 
• what to do about it!
• ​Beware of money laundering - the latter is increasingly problematic and now rates as a "must know about" topic for all those who sell art as the UK enacted NEW legislation last month relating to money laundering - related to the EU's new fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

Art dealers can face fines and jail time if they don’t report suspected money laundering transactions to authorities, according to guidance prepared by the British Art Market Federation in conjunction with the U.K. government. Bloomberg Tax

There's a few references below relating to the new legislation on money laundering.

• Can the art world clean up its act? | Financial Times
• New money laundering regulations cause confusion at London Art Fair The Art Newspaper - Mid-market galleries take a mixed approach to new law, with some pricing works below the €10,000 threshold to avoid dealing with new client ID requirements
• Last-Minute U.K. Law to Stop Money Laundering Frustrates British Art Dealers | Art News

If anybody has any suggestions for useful websites or other resources please let me know (or via my Facebook Page)  and I'll add them in

BBC remuneration of artists in TV series under scrutiny

Regular readers of this blog will know I've been banging on about the total disrespect shown for artists appearing in television series - particularly on the BBC and Sky Arts - for some time.

I am becoming increasingly annoyed by the television programmes which use professional people as their "reality stars" and yet fail to give them any credit and/or pay them. Home is Where the Art is: Series 2 - Call for Artists

My one woman campaign seems to have generated some change - and benefits - for artists appearing on television

....and now a reporter from a major broadsheet newspaper is also interested - in the remuneration of artists who appear in a BBC series!

BBC Broadcasting House (headquarters) in London W1

Since I started highlighting the issue - in particular the total lack of named credits for artists appearing in programmes - we've seen some changes.

Series 5 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019

Series 5 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 (initially aired on Sky and subsequently on Channel 4) had all the names of all the artists participating in each Heat/Episode on the production company's website before the series finished - see Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 - Find out more about this series artists (see an example for four of the artists in Episode 1 below). 

The website profile provided links to both their social media sites and their website - and I sometimes wonder whether all my hard work looking for all the names and those links paid off for somebody putting those profiles together! ;) It certainly made it a lot easier in relation to spelling names correctly as the series progressed!

Note the links to the artist's website and social media accounts on these new artists' profiles
- and why you need a website before going on TV!

I'm claiming this as a win because so far as I am aware nothing of this sort had ever been done before I started to comment on the lack of named credits for the artists participating in the programme. Plus I'm pretty sure it wasn't there at the beginning of the series. So maybe somebody read my comments? ;)

We just need to get the production company commissioned by Sky Arts to include the names of ALL the artists in the end credits of every "Artist of the Year" programme - whether Portrait or Landscape - and my work will be done! :)

The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts

My second success was "The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts".  

As I indicated in The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts - Episode 1 and The Artisans without a credit on Arts and Crafts House (which generated a HUGE number of visits to my blog)

I am getting very tired of the people who genuinely make the programme i.e. the people making things whether it's paintings or crafts - having their names left out of the press releases, the credits at the end of the programme and in general receiving very little formal recognition. 

I can only assume one of two things

• EITHER the union for people who appear on television must have an absolute stranglehold on the bosses and refuse to allow the participants to enjoy the same benefits as those who hold union cards

• OR the bosses buying and/or making the programme are not prepared to pay the going rate for others who would normally appear on such programmes. I gather from various people that the amounts they get paid are nominal in the extreme! To me this is simply unacceptable.

It's treating artists and craftspeople as commodities and not as people or professionals. Worse still, it treats them as anonymous nonentities who don't deserve a named credit when the credits roll at the end. Every other professional working on the programme is listed EXCEPT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ARE MAKING THINGS ON THE PROGRAMME! 

What happened next!

Some of the artists who appeared on the programme wrote to me after that blog post and asked if they could quote my blog post. They then went to the production company who made the programme and told them they were not satisfied about the lack of named credits on the end credits - and showed them what I had said.  The programme makers then approached the BBC to make a change - and by the next week their names were all on the end credits of Episode 2!

[ UPDATE: see also my other posts. I'm very pleased to tell you that the artisans wrote to the producers of the programme about the lack of name credit - quoting my blog post - and by the second episode, they'd got their name credit at the end of the programme!
The Artisans without a credit on Arts and Crafts House The Artisans #2 - Stephen Winstanley, Niamh Wimperis and Rod Hughes ]

So it's not as if the BBC is wholly averse to end credits for arts and crafts people!

Home Is Where The Art Is

The MAJOR exception for me was "Home Is Where The Art Is" - the first series of which aired in the Spring of this year.

F&W Media Bankruptcy Protection UPDATE re SALES of Artist Network, Wet Canvas & North Light Books

An update for those who have had, in the past, a connection with Wet Canvas.  
SALES of assets have taken place.

How much Artists Network sold for
- and the relative status of "Crafts" and "Art" should anybody be in any doubt

Summary

• In March 2019, F&W Media filed for bankruptcy protection - and continued in business as "debtors in possession" 
  - see my previous post Owner of Artist Network, Wet Canvas & North Light Books files for Bankruptcy Protection (19 March 2019)

The Debtors continue to operate their businesses and manage their properties as debtors in possession pursuant to sections 1107 and 1108 of the Bankruptcy Code. The Debtors have filed a motion seeking joint administration of the Chapter 11 Cases pursuant to Rule 1015(b) of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. 

• On 7th June the CEO announced that the Books Division had been sold and that the Random House/Penguin bid had been selected as the winning bid and was due to be ratified in court last Monday (June 10th)
• On 13th June, an auction was held in Wilmington and the Communities Division was sold in separate lots. 
• On 17th June (today), documents were filed, which seem to me to say that the sales are approved subject to certain conditions. (but bear in mind I'm ignorant of USA bankruptcy law) 

It remains to be seen what will happen to the art books, art magazines and communities and forums relating to artists - and the royalties due to authors.

Below are more details about the sale of the two divisions - and how come my name ended up in the Court documents!

Arts + All Museums Salary Transparency 2019 - a spreadsheet reveals all

A spreadsheet Arts + All Museums Salary Transparency 2019 was put online and started circulating amongst staff in art museums and galleries last Friday morning (31 May 2019). 

It seeks to record the salaries of different workers in art galleries and museums around the world.

It has taken off and is now approaching warp speed! On June 3 Hyperallergic said it had 660 entries. I looked this morning and checked how many had completed it and it now has over 1800 entries meaning it has tripled in size in less than 3 days - suggesting future growth, as it goes intercontinental, will be exponential.

The data it provides includes

• name of gallery or museum
• role
• Department
• City
• Country
• Starting Salary
• Year of Starting Salary
• Current (2019) or Ending Salary
• Hourly / permanent / or contingent employment
• In part time how many hours per week
• Benefits?
• Year this salary was current
• Years of experience at time of current salary listed
• parental leave 

and these are some of the people who are recording their salaries

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Tate in the UK

Most of the data to date currently comes from the USA - but is expanding to include people in other countries - and will continue to do so long as it is shared within personal networks.

Also note that some museums are named by type and broad location whereas others are completely transparent and name their employer.

It's now locked in terms of inputting data BUT can be updated

We've locked the Excel sheet below so that the data remains intact. New entries are still very welcome, using the Google Form link above. These are always anonymous. They will be uploaded to the sheet below once every 24 hrs.
If you have any Qs or concerns, email checkthenameinthespreadsheet@gmail.com

Being locked means that the frozen pane does not seem to work - meaning that the row containing the column headings disappears off screen which is somewhat irritating - but I'm sure they'll fix that when they work out how to lock cells rather than the whole sheet.

Who started it

Here's some of the news coverage so far and some of the reasons why it came about

Michelle Millar Fisher—an assistant curator of European decorative arts and design at PMA and previously a staffer at MoMA, the Met, and the Guggenheim—created the document and posted it to her Instagram page, where she wrote: “A few years ago, thinking about transparency and the multi-vectored gaps in pay, I started sharing my salaries for each job I’ve had, from nannying to curating, every time I give a career talk. . . . Please contribute if you can.” Fisher told Artnews that she was inspired to make the spreadsheet after writer-curator Kimberly Drew disclosed previous salaries she earned at the Met, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and other institutions. Art Workers Circulate Public Spreadsheet to Promote SalaryTransparency, Reveal pay gaps | Art Forum

✊🏾 'It's Helpful to Know All Scales': Online Spreadsheet Discloses Museum Workers' Salaries https://t.co/cnrOfouTvm

— kimberly rose drew (@museummammy) 31 May 2019

Fisher said she and her colleagues had been inspired to discuss their salaries after hearing Kimberly Drew describe how much she was paid when she held positions at the Met, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and other institutions, and that their survey comes in advance of a similar one to be conducted by POWarts later this year. “I disclosed [my salary] to my colleagues who are of different salary levels, in different institutions,” Fisher said. “In disclosing it, they said it was a really useful thing to share.” ‘It’s Helpful to Know All Scales’: Online Spreadsheet Discloses Museum Workers’ Salaries - References to Museum Salary Surveys and further information and guides | Art News

Today, I shared two slides about how being undercompensated at The Met was a motivator. What I didn’t mention was the fact that I knew I was being underpaid bc @taylorcnewby was transparent about his own salary. Taylor, thank you for being an ally. pic.twitter.com/Cg9NrqQfJ3

— kimberly rose drew (@museummammy) 21 May 2019

I think the response it is getting is very likely to be instigated by those who have also looked at some of the salaries quoted for some of the top people in the organisation (see TAB 2: Top Staff Salaries) and then become outraged at the massive differentials between the top and lower down the organisation

The pay for these prestigious positions may be lower than you expect | Museum Workers Share Their Salaries and Urge Industry-Wide Reform | Hyperallergic

PS Somebody from Hyperallergic participated and indicated it's $100 per article!

Fisher added, in an email to artnet News, that the contributors are from beyond art museums, and are weighing in from science and other museums, as well as from commercial galleries. That was the intention all along, she says, adding “it is completely open to all who identify with this field,” including some international participants who have already contributed. How Much Do Museum Employees Actually Make? A Tell-All Google Spreadsheet Is Now Making the Rounds - Can a new salary spreadsheet be used as a bargaining chip? artnet news

References to further Museum Salary Surveys and other relevant information

Interestingly one of the tabs provides links to other resources related to Salaries in Museums and I'm copying them below

• Inspiration for this doc: Adjunct Project https://www.chronicle.com/article/Adjunct-Project-Shows-Wide/136439
• Inspiration for this doc: Forthcoming POWarts salary survey https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-powarts-survey-aims-bring-transparency-art-salaries 
• Inspiration for this doc: Kimberly Drew keynote at AAM 2019 https://www.aam-us.org/2019/05/28/aam2019-keynote-kimberly-drew/
• AAMD (Assoc. Art Museum Directors) 2019 Wage Survey https://aamd.org/sites/default/files/document/AAMD%20Salary%20Survey%202018%20final.pdf
• AAM (American Alliance of Museums) National Comparative Museum Salary Study 2012 available for free here 
• AAM (AMerican Alliance of Museums) National Comparative Museum Salary Study 2017
• NYT "Should You Tell the World How Much Money You Make?" (Ans: yes) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/business/salary-transparency-ask-a-manager.html
• NEMA (New England Museum Association) 2017 Salary Survey https://nemanet.org/resources/publications/salary-study/
• MoMA Salary Minimums for all UAW Local 2110 union job titles http://www.2110uaw.org/cbas/MoMA_Salary_Minimums_2018-2023.pdf
• Museum Collectieve arbeidsovereenkomst (CAO) [Museum Collective Agreenment] https://www.museumvereniging.nl/media/publicationpage/publicationFile/cao-2018-2020-pdf-definitief.pdf Standards for museum staff in the Netherlands
• NYT "Why You Should Tell Your Co-Workers How Much Money You Make" It’s unlawful for private sector employers to prohibit employees from discussing wages and compensation. Take advantage of that protection. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/smarter-living/pay-secrecy-national-labor-rights-act.html "Open discussion of salaries among peers and co-workers, experts said, is a powerful tool to fight pay inequity. Not only does it serve both selfish and altruistic means — it simultaneously puts you and your co-workers in a better position during salary negotiations — but pay transparency can even protect companies by “minimizing the risk of disparate treatment claims and increasing job satisfaction for workers.”"
• Search for your museum's 990 to see salary listings (find under the "Schedule J" tab) https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits Podcast: Museopunks, Episode 35: Salary Transparency in Art Museums https://www.aam-us.org/2019/05/22/museopunks-episode-35/ "On September 11, 2018, the Board of Directors of the Mountain-Plains Museums Association unanimously voted to require that any jobs or paid internships posted to the MPMA Job Bank would include the level of compensation– whether salary or hourly rate. ...In this episode, we’re joined by Will Stoutamire and Lauren Hunley (both on the Board of the MPMA), and Michelle Epps, President of the National Emerging Museum Professionals Network, for a discussion about salary transparency in the museum field."
• GEMM (Gender Equity in Museums) Salary Transparency Statement https://www.genderequitymuseums.com/single-post/SalaryMatters
• State-by-state US guide to pregnant and parenting workers' rights (A Better Balance) https://babygate.abetterbalance.org
• The New York Working Woman's Pocket Guide (A Better Balance) https://www.abetterbalance.org/new-york-working-womans-pocket-guide/
• Fair Museum Jobs https://fairmuseumjobs.wordpress.com/2018/08/04/the-journey-begins/
• S2M Salary Surveys (biannual reports covering not-for-profits in Australia) https://www.tna.org.au/what-we-do/research/