Royalties

This depends on how many calendars and how many canvases, puzzles, etc. (single page products) you publish. (single page products) you publish, and above all, how often your products sell. Our most successful authors achieve five-figure sums per year!

As an author at CALVENDO, you receive a royalty share for each of your sold copies.

The fee is fixed for each product category (calendar, puzzle, canvas) and each format and is based on the sales price of the works. The minimum sales prices of the products and thus also the minimum fees are set by CALVENDO. The minimum sales prices are recommended retail prices (RRP) to the trade. Minimum sales prices, price levels and retail prices may fluctuate according to the market situation.

The fee claim for a published work results from the CALVENDO fee table valid at the time of the conclusion of the publishing contract.

A higher sales price, which the author can set himself, also leads to a higher royalty.

You will also find the numbers on which the calculation is based in our Payment Tables.

This is because we want to distinguish between your current balance and your account statement.

Your actual pay can only be determined upon finalization of your account statement. However, experience tells us that at least 8 weeks may pass following the end of the quarter before we have all necessary data from retailers, department stores etc to compile your statement.

To give you an approximate idea about the pay you will receive, we create a payment projection based on orders received. Your statement may differ from the projection due to products being sent back damaged, due to canceled orders and also because retailers sometimes pay late.

Your author payment, of course, is based on the products for which payment was actually received.

The fee is fixed for each product category (calendar, puzzle, canvas) and each format and is based on the non-binding sales price of the works. The minimum sales prices of the products and thus also the minimum fees are predefined by CALVENDO. A higher sales price (above the minimum sales price), which the author can set himself, also leads to a higher fee.

With our Payment Calculator, which you can find on the “pricing” tab in our online calendar editing tool, you can do a run through of how much you would earn per sold item depending on the product type. You will also find the numbers on which the calculation is based in our Payment Tables.

Special productions, such as personalized products made for quantity buying by industrial customers, earn you 5 % of the invoice value.

There is no entitlement to a fee for copies that are returned unpaid by the trade after the usual sales season (e.g. from March of the following year in the case of calendars) because they cannot be sold (keyword "return").
It can happen from time to time that a product is booked in one quarter, the author has received a fee for it - and in the next quarter the product is returned by the trade (extended right of return). In this case, the overpaid fee will be offset in the royalty statement for the next quarter. Further information on this can be found in the publishing contract under item 6.1.

CALVENDO fees are always settled in euros.

Deviations in the amount paid may result from exchange rate fluctuations and rounding.

Your statements are created by CALVENDO Germany in euros.

During each quarter, you can find your preliminary payment projection in your profile under “My Pay”. This is a momentary status based on orders received in the previous month. The information is not updated daily but monthly because retailers only send their figures once per month. These projections are therefore also not binding.

At the end of each quarter, it then takes a few more weeks before we can make your statement available for download because we have to wait for the various retail data from different sources and this may take 8 weeks or longer. It might also be that individual payments owed will only be listed in the following quarter. However, you can rest assured that no payment will get lost! In a nutshell, the sum you can see on the statement you receive once the accounts for each quarter have been settled represents your royalties for all products that have actually been sold in any given quarter and for which Calvendo actually received payment from retailers.

We complete the statement for the first quarter no later than end of June, the statement for the second quarter no later than end of September, the statement for the third quarter no later than end of December and the statement for the fourth quarter no later than end of March.

Your monies are paid via bank transfer (euro area, Switzerland and United Kingdom) or PayPal (USA and all other countries).

Please note that each quarter, transfers are postponed to the following quarter if the minimum payment amounts to less than € 30 (net), i.e. as long as € 30 (net) have not been reached, no payments will be made (see also Contract of Publication § 6.7).

The statutory VAT rate applies.

Since each country sets its own VAT rate, they differ from country to country. In addition, different items, such as consumer goods, food or media are taxed differently in different countries. Generally, the VAT rate depends on the country in which the product is bought.

In the UK, wall calendars are standard rated for VAT at 20%.

When you as an author earn taxable income, you may also deduct your expenses for your CALVENDO activities.

We have put together some information and tips for our German users in our advice on taxes. But please consult your tax advisor about your personal situation and find out what is the situation in your country of residence.

As authors residing outside of Germany, please note that, as stipulated by current tax laws, CALVENDO, as a company with headquarters in Germany, is obligated to deduct withholding tax as stipulated in § 50a Abs. 2 Satz 1 Alt. 1 EstG from your pay and to pass it on to the German tax office.

Author royalties are determined in euros in our head office in Germany and paid out in your local currency. Bank transfers to countries using the euro are done in euros. Transfers to countries whose currency is not the euro are converted to the currency of the receiving account. Your bank does this on the day of the transfer using that day’s currency exchange rate. Bank transfer fees will be shared between Calvendo and the author.

You do. Consult your tax advisor for details.

There is one particularity for authors who reside outside of Germany. As stipulated by current tax laws, CALVENDO, as a company with headquarters in Germany, is obligated to deduct withholding tax as stipulated in § 50a Abs. 2 Satz 1 Alt. 1 EStG from your pay and to pass it on it to the German tax office.

Yes. As a company with headquarters in Germany that does transborder business within the euro area, we are required to by law when we make payments to authors who reside outside Germany.

In the case of authors with a limited income tax liability – which usually applies to authors who reside outside of Germany – CALVENDO must deduct a withholding tax of 15 % (§ 50a Abs. 2 Satz 1 Alt. 1 EStG), plus 5.5 % solidarity surcharge from their pay to pass this on to the German Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt) (Federal Central Tax Office). A report to the BZSt must be made in this respect every quarter.

Insofar as a double taxation agreement (DTA) exists between Germany and the author's country of residence, the withholding tax is reduced to a very low rate or even to zero percent. Thus, under § 50d Abs. 1 EStG, the author may, upon application to the German Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, be reimbursed for the withholding tax that was deducted in excess.

For this to happen, written confirmation from CALVENDO is required, which indicates the withholding tax that was deducted and passed on.

There are two exceptions to the mandatory deduction of withholding tax, provided that there is a DTA which reduces the withholding tax or sets it to zero percent.

aa) Exemption Procedure

The author may apply for an exemption certificate from the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern. Once Calvendo possesses such an exemption certificate, withholding tax may be reduced or even omitted entirely for the length of time the certificate is valid. An exemption certificate is required only if the author's pay exceeds a certain limit (see section bb) Reporting Process)

bb) Reporting Process (Kontrollmeldeverfahren)

CALVENDO participates in a reporting process – which, among other things, requires authorization from the BZSt – CALVENDO may reduce the tax deduction in accordance with the respective DTA. Insofar as the DTA stipulates that the tax shall be reduced to zero, CALVENDO may omit the withholding tax deduction. The following requirements must be fulfilled for the reporting process to be applicable:

• Individual payment to the respective author amounts to no more than €5,500,
• Total payment to the respective author amounts annually to no more than €40,000,
• CALVENDO puts a report on record before April 30th of the subsequent year and does so with the BZSt and with their tax office, providing the following information:
• Last name, first name and place of residence of each author,
• In the case of payments to authors from the USA, their Social Security Number, Employer's Identification Number or Taxpayer Identification Number
• The gross amount and kind of compensation per author; where applicable, the amount of withholding tax deducted.

 

IBAN stands for International Bank Account Number and has been used since 2014 for cross-border payment transfer within the (expanded) euro area. It can have up to 34 digits and is composed of a 2-digit country code (Germany: DE, United Kingdom: GB, France: FR), two check digits, the Bank Identifier Code, the sort code and the individual account number. IBAN formats differ from country to country.

BIC, also called SWIFT, is the abbreviation for Bank Identifier Code. It functions as an internationally valid sort code or bank identification number and can consist of between 8 and 11 characters and digits: a 4-letter institution code or bank code, a 2-letter country code, a 2-letter or digit location code, as well as a 3-digit branch code, which is optional.

You can usually find your personal IBAN and BIC code on your (paper) account statement or on your bank’s website. Alternatively, just call your bank and check.