Distribution and payment of royalties

How are the royalties distributed?

1. The reports are imported into the EAÜ’s royalty distribution system, where the works used are matched against the works registered in the database.
2. In distribution of the royalties, the number of times a particular work has been used and the duration of that work is taken into account.
3. The royalties collected are distributed among the authors according to the distribution percentages of the registered work.
4. If the work has not been registered at the time of distribution, the publishing contract has not reached the EAÜ, and the EAÜ specialist has not been able to identify the authors of the work,i it will be considered a so-called unknown work that is not included in the royalty distribution. For such works, the EAÜ does not retroactively redistribute royalties.

How are royalties paid?

• Royalties are paid to the author monthly if the net amount accrued for the use of his/her work is at least 50 euros and quarterly if the net amount accrued is at least 30 euros. i
• EAÜ withholds income tax from royalties collected and paid out in accordance with the applicable legislation. Special rules arising from tax treaties apply to royalties paid to non-residents and royalties received from abroad. Royalties received from abroad must be declared by the author to the Estonian Tax and Customs Board, and the author is also responsible for paying income tax on the income received.