book publishing tax credit

As reported on the Quill & Quire blog, the Ontario-based book publishing industry is quietly celebrating the fact that books are exempt from the new Harmonized Sales Tax announced in this week's provincial budget. As well, the existing 30% tax credit for Ontario book publishers has seen its conditions extended in ways designed to help both struggling book publishers and the writers they publish.

From the budget documents:

Expanding the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit

The Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit is a 30 per cent refundable tax credit available to Ontario book publishing corporations for qualifying expenditures related to publishing and promoting the first three books by a Canadian author in an eligible category of writing. Eligible categories of writing are adult or children’s fiction, non-fiction, poetry or biography.

This Budget proposes to expand eligibility to qualifying expenditures incurred after March 26, 2009 for:

* any number of books by a Canadian author in an eligible category of writing; and
* direct expenses that reasonably relate to publishing an electronic version of an eligible book.

The Ontario-based magazine industry, meanwhile, is considering the implications of magazine subscriptions being included in the HST.