As a general rule, anyone performing a service in the US must be taxed on their income including most performing artists. The IRS uses withholding as a mechanism to ensure that tax is collected. Some states require venues to withhold a certain % of the artists gross income from their payout for a performance. At the federal level, venues may also be required to withhold a certain amount for foreign artists.

Using Prism's Tax Withholdings feature, you can automatically calculate the amount of tax that needs to be withheld from the artist payout at settlement.

You will have the option to include a tax withholding amount when building out an artist deal on the Deals tab of an Event. Click the three dot menu next to the Offer or Settlement button and then click Edit. Below the Deal Type Settings, there is a Tax Withholdings toggle to toggle on if you would like to account for withholdings (see photo below).

Fill in the tax withholding specifics based on your tax requirements.

Minimum Threshold: Tax withholdings may be subject to a minimum threshold before a percentage is withheld from the payout. For example, in Missouri, a venue must withhold 2 percent if the entertainer is paid more than $300 for all performances.

Withholding %: The amount to be withheld from the artist's final payout.

Due Date: When the withholding is due to the tax entity.

Note that Prism does not support multiple withholdings at this time. If the artist is subject to multiple withholdings taxes, for example state 2% and federal 30%, you may be able to sum the two taxes (32%) as the Withholding % to obtain the correct payout numbers at Settlement.

When a Tax Withholding is included in a deal, it will appear on the Offer or Contract in the Headliner section and the withholding % amount will be deducted from the payout if it passes the Minimum Threshold. For Promoters, to have the Tax Withholding amount only appear at Settlement, add the withholding amount to the deal after creating the Offer.

For agents, any deal that includes a Tax Withholding will deduct the Tax Withholding amount from the artist payout. However, commission calculations will be based on the total artist earnings. So if there is a 10% commission on a deal and the artist deal is a $10,000 guarantee with a 20% withholding, their payout will be $8,000 and the commission amount will be $1,000. If an artist payout has been overridden, the Tax Withholding will calculate based on the Override amount.

When a Tax Withholding is included in a deal, the external settlement document will automatically deduct the Tax Withholding % amount from the payout if it is greater than the Minimum Threshold. The Event must be in the Confirmed, In Settlement, or Settled status to generate an external settlement, learn more about settling here.

There may be cases where Adjustments to artists payouts should also be subject to Tax Withholding. For example, if an artist is paid $10,000 for a performance plus a $1,000 sell out bonus, the total $11,000 may be subject to Tax Withholdings. When using the Adjustment feature, you will have the option to factor the adjustment into the tax withholding calculation or not.

Customers with access to Payments Reporting, an add on feature, have the ability to report on Tax Withholdings amounts. To upgrade your account or confirm access to Payments Reporting, contact accountmanagement@prism.fm.

On the Payments tab in Reporting, generate a report of all upcoming withholdings payments. Use the Filters to the right to Filter down the list of events and select the Payment Type "Withholdings" toggle to see only Withholdings payments in the report. Use the Status toggle to mark them as "Paid." Export a list of all withholding payments using the Download CSV button.

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