THE REVENUE Commissioners have granted former taoiseach Bertie Ahern tax-free status under the artists’ exemption scheme for earnings from his autobiography.
He is among 69 new additions to the list of tax-free artists including 33 writers, 18 painters, five playwrights and scriptwriters, three musicians, three installation artists, three photographers, two sculptors and one illustrator.
The perk is granted to a work that is “original and creative” and is “generally recognised as having cultural or artistic merit”.
Mr Ahern is believed to have received a substantial advance from publisher Random House, which describes the book as “frank and revealing” and giving the “truth behind the man who is Bertie” for the first time.
Mr Ahern joins his daughter Cecelia Ahern on the exemption list. The success of her books since she first published PS, I Love Youat the age of just 21 has made her one of the country's wealthiest writers.
In 2008 her first play Mrs Whippypremiered at the Liberty Hall Theatre and she is a co-creator of the comedy sitcom Samantha Who?starring Christina Applegate.
Others getting the perk are Cork hurler Donal Óg Cusack for Come What May; Kilkenny hurling manager Brian Cody for his autobiography; Frank Lahiffe for Séamus Brennan: A Life in Government; RTÉ newsreader Michael Murphy for At Five in the Afternoon: My Battle with Male Cancer; and publisher John Mulcahy for his first novel, Union.
Up until 2006 the scheme was unique in the world for allowing artists to keep every cent of their earnings, though they did pay PRSI. An earnings cap of €250,000 was introduced in 2006 and last December’s budget reduced the cap to €125,000.
The identities of recipients of the tax break remained secret until 2002, when it was decided to name those who had applied for the exemption from 1998 onwards. International stars such as U2, Westlife and the Corrs, singers Enya and Chris de Burgh, and best-selling authors have not been named as recipients, even though they are believed to have used the scheme prior to 1998.
Before the scheme was capped one mystery artist – thought to be one of the country’s super-rich rock stars – earned €10 million in a year under the scheme without paying any tax.