I'm with you Matthew....tell them to bugger-off, poetically, of course.
Clayton
Matthew Francis wrote:
> I've just received a tax demand in respect of two poetry prizes I won in the
> last year or so. My accountant says that the Inland Revenue argues that
> poetry is part of my business and therefore poetry prizes (unlike, say,
> lottery prizes) count as business earnings. The Writers' and Artists'
> Yearbook, on the other hand, points to a case where a Special Commission
> ruled that a recipient of the Whitbread Prize was not liable to tax, but
> apparently the detail of this ruling was not made public. I would say, a)
> that they're not really business earnings, since whether or not one gets
> paid is extremely moot, and b) the Inland Revenue must be consistent - as
> someone who gets most of his income from teaching, and a few fees here and
> there from writing, I am less of a professional writer than most recipients
> of the Whitbread, Booker and other big literary prizes, and surely these are
> not taxed. Anyone have any opinions?
>
> Best wishes
>
> Matthew
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