More Archival Topics From TAA’s Print Newsletter with Commentary From Long-Time Member Phil Wankat

Long-time TAA Member Phil Wankat has dug back into his TAA print newsletter archive, this time into the black-and-white early issues published between 1994 and 2010, finding more gold to share with you along with his brief commentary of the value of each article.

We will be adding these articles to the web page, “Articles from TAA Report Archives (now The Academic Author) with Commentary,” along with the other articles he shared from the TAA Report, over the next few months. The articles are organized into 12 categories, including Authors Needed, Bios, Contracts and Legal Comments, Diversity, Managing and Planning, Money, Production, Publishing first book, Recognition and Rewards, Teaching, Textbook Scholarship and Textbooks in Promotion Cases, and Writing and Writer’s Block.
The first set of articles we are sharing, in the Authors Needed category, include:

“Co-authoring a book originally written by another,” by Frank Silverman. “Look for a book that has an author who is retired, or close to retirement or, well, deceased,” says Wankat.

“Authors uneasy over Pearson deal.” “Big mergers ‘reduce the opportunities for new authors and even close the door on experienced authors,'” says Wankat.

Join us for the 3/16 TAA Webinar: Taxes & Authors: What You Should Know in 2023

While it is understandable that most writers would prefer to concentrate their time on their writing, writing is a business and you need to make sure you’re taking care of all of the tax deductions that you should be.

Join us for this one-hour webinar on March 16 at 2 p.m. ET, “Taxes & Authors: What You Should Know in 2023“, presented by Robert M. Pesce, a partner with Marcum LLP.

Taxes and authors: What you should know in 2021

In his TAA webinar presentation, “Taxes & Authors: What You Should Know in 2021“, Robert Pesce, a partner with Marcum LLP, provided guidance on when it is beneficial for authors to form a business entity, strategies for managing business income and expenses, and how the qualified business income deduction (QBI) applies to authors.

As soon as your authoring efforts produce income in excess of $400, you are officially running a business – whether you define a business entity or not. According to Pesce, any income in excess of $400 must be reported on a Schedule C filed with your tax return and is subject to self-employment tax.

Authors may be eligible for proposed IRS regulation on 20% deduction for income from pass-through businesses

Based on proposed regulations issued by the IRS and Treasury that would add a new provision of the Internal Revenue Code allowing owners of sole proprietorships, S corporations, LLCs, or partnerships a deduction of up to 20% of the income earned by the business, writers will be eligible for the deduction, said Robert Pesce, an accountant with Marcum LLP.

“I read the 184-page Proposed Regulations,” said Pesce. “There is nothing in the regs that excludes authors from the deduction or indicates an author is a SSTB [Specified Service Trade or Business category, which is excluded from the deduction]. 

Proposed IRS regulations issued providing guidance on new 20% deduction for flow-through entities

The IRS and Treasury issued proposed regulations providing interim guidance on the new Section 199A 20% deduction on Qualified Business Income (QBI) introduced under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The law contains a series of complex provisions, definitions and computations, many of which are addressed by the Service. The preamble to the regulations provides that taxpayers can rely on this guidance until such time that final regulations are issued.

This new provision of the Internal Revenue Code allows owners of sole proprietorships, S corporations, LLCs, or partnerships a deduction of up to 20% of the income earned by the business.