DACS Payback at Alamy

[mtkang]

hi all, generate the report using alamy website feature.. can i email as the original xml format? do i need to sort the report for them? thanks.

[sgoodwin4813]

Thanks to previous posters for providing information about this.  I just went through it as well as I could and it was not as easy as all of that.  If you live in the US, it might be easier to just let Alamy handle it unless you think the amount of money will be large.  Here is my experience.  If anyone knows how I should have done it differently please let me know.

I went to the DACS web site, registered and filled out the online form as indicated by others by putting in "Alamy claim 2013" in all of the fields.  I have no idea if my image was used for books, magazines or whatever so just put it in for them all except for TV, which based on the image seems unlikely.  Ok, fine up to this point.

Eventually you come to a page where they want bank information, including IBAN and SWIFT numbers.  The SWIFT number is no problem, but apparently most banks in the US don't use IBAN numbers so I couldn't put anything into that mandatory field.  Eventually I just put "No IBAN number" or something like that and it took it.  The interesting part is that they never asked for an account number so I'm not sure how the money will get to your account once it reaches the bank.

At the end, there was something about non-UK residents and taxes.  The US has a tax treaty with the UK to avoid double taxation making us exempt from UK income taxes since the IRS will nail us anyway.  For this you have to send them a DACS residency form.  OK, no problem, I printed that out, scanned it and e-mailed it back with my Alamy sales report in csv format downloaded from the Alamy web site.  OK up to this point - annoying but not too bad.

However, to avoid them withholding a 20% UK income tax, you also have to get certification from the HMRC.  Here is where it gets to be a pain.  After perusing the HMRC web site, I downloaded what I think is the appropriate form - Form US-Individual 2002.  This form of course requires you to enter a full description of the royalties, date of contract and the UK payer - none of which you know because neither Alamy nor DACS has told us.  So of course we can't fill out the form until afterwards, even though the whole purpose is to avoid paying the tax in the first place. 

The worst part is that you have to provide the HMRC with proof of US Residency for tax purposes, which requires the IRS to send them a Form 6166.  You get the Form 6166 by sending the IRS a completed Form 8802 AND A CHECK FOR $85!  So to do this and avoid them charging you UK income tax you have to pay the IRS $85 up front.  Not worth the effort nor the money.  I'm dropping it at this point, and if I had not already sent everything to DACS would just send Alamy their form and be done with it.  Unnecessarily paying the UK 20% I suppose is better than paying Alamy 50% but I could have saved myself a lot of time by not bothering.  Of course I'll change that opinion if it turns out to be a large amount, but I'm not holding my breath for that.

My recommendation: unless you have a lot of images that apply or think it will be a lot of money, it probably isn't worth the time and effort to do it yourself - much better to just fill out the brief Alamy form and be happy with anything you get.

[dirkr]

Eventually you come to a page where they want bank information, including IBAN and SWIFT numbers.  The SWIFT number is no problem, but apparently most banks in the US don't use IBAN numbers so I couldn't put anything into that mandatory field.  Eventually I just put "No IBAN number" or something like that and it took it.  The interesting part is that they never asked for an account number so I'm not sure how the money will get to your account once it reaches the bank.

IBAN means "International Bank Account Number".
It is the account number. I don't think it is used in the US at all...

[sgoodwin4813]

Then I probably should have put my account number there or maybe in the comment section - according to my bank they are not used commonly in the US if at all.

[gpgibson]

Partly tongue in cheek and serious, depends on reply's !!

How would you like me to fill in your DACS claim for 20% ?

I've claimed the last few years and had �80, �200 and last year �500 !!!

What do you think ?

[Uncle Pete]

Since I don't remember getting an email from Alamy, I wondered how do I look and see if I have any of these for the past years? Does Alamy list ISBN numbers or how do I know it's one of the UK sales, or World Wide?

[sgoodwin4813]

If you didn't receive the e-mail then you probably don't have any UK sales.  If you go to the Build a Downloadable Sales Report button you can generate a report, then look in the Region column to see where they were bought.  Unfortunately that's as much as you can find out as far as I can tell - no way to find out the rest.

[borg]

December is here, still nothing?

[karkozphoto]

I got 30 pounds by the begining of the month. Claimed for two publications, one in magazine, the other in the book.

[bunhill]

December is here, still nothing?

http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/3152-dacs-and-alamy/

[borg]

Those who have applied their claim over Alamy, please post here when your money arrives to your balance...
I haven't got anything yet...

[bunhill]

Those who have applied their claim over Alamy, please post here when your money arrives to your balance...
I haven't got anything yet...

OK But I think you would be better following the thread which I linked to above.

FWIW I applied via Alamy. Nobody who applied via Alamy has received the money yet - because Alamy have not received it according to this post from them in the thread which I linked to above.

We have not yet received the funds from DACS but when we do, these will be placed onto the appropriate photographer's balance.

[Uncle Pete]

Assuming that "Worldwide" doesn't count, this would? 

Country: United Kingdom
Usage: Editorial
Media: Newspaper - national
Print run: up to 750,000
Placement: Inside and online
Image Size: 1/4 page
Start: 01 July 2014
End: 02 July 2014
One use in a single editorial or advertorial article used within print and /or web versions, with re-use of the article in other titles or web versions within the same newspaper group. Digital use includes archive rights for the lifetime of the article.

Not enough to get excited, I'll just wait.

Thanks for the help identifying what it applied to.

If you didn't receive the e-mail then you probably don't have any UK sales.  If you go to the Build a Downloadable Sales Report button you can generate a report, then look in the Region column to see where they were bought.  Unfortunately that's as much as you can find out as far as I can tell - no way to find out the rest.

[BaldricksTrousers]

Does anybody remember what time period the claim covers? Is it for the 2013/14 tax year, 2013 calendar year or something else? And do all UK sales ever made get worked into the calculation or just those for one year?

[sgoodwin4813]

The time frame was "the past year" but I never did figure out what that meant.  I think it is just UK sales for books, magazines or TV uses that are covered - I don't think UK sales for ads or something like that would count.

I went through DACS directly and I had a mysterious wire transfer into my bank account last week that probably was from them.  If so, their amount before subtracting 30% to pay the UK taxes (that I don't owe but they are making me pay anyway) was more than what I got from Alamy for the original sale so no complaints (except for having to pay the tax).  That sale was in Oct 2013 so I suspect it was for calendar year 2013.  Maybe others with more experience know better.

[Antonio S.]

Today I recieved 26.08 USD from Alamy for "DACS payment 2014"

[Ariene]

Got money today as well, thanks Alamy

[Pauws99]

Got $17 since I had an awful year on Alamy  is a nice little pay out to  just to fill in a form!

[bunhill]

Added to balance. Thanks Alamy.

[borg]

34$

[dpimborough]

$59 here   I had hoped for more 

[dpimborough]

Does anybody remember what time period the claim covers? Is it for the 2013/14 tax year, 2013 calendar year or something else? And do all UK sales ever made get worked into the calculation or just those for one year?

It's only for the calendar year 2013

2014 will be up for claims next July to Sept.

[BaldricksTrousers]

$69 - which is a nice extra bit in a (very) slow month.
Thanks for the info, TeddyTC

[pancaketom]

34.70 - which is more than I made there last month. I wonder if it would be worth my while to file myself to get about double that (assuming it is about the same next year).

As an aside - I had a nice bunch of sales earlier this month and assuming they all clear Alamy will be my #1 this month (unless sales pick up dramatically elsewhere)

[Fairplay]

Hm interesting, I got exactly the same $34.70