It spent 16 weeks at the top of the Irish bestseller charts but Caroline Foran’s Owning It: Your Bullsh*t-Free Guide to Living with Anxiety has failed to qualify for the Revenue’s artists’ exemption scheme. A decision by the Tax Appeals Commission (TAC) in June found the book by the broadcaster and author fell “significantly short of the characteristics of an autobiography”.
Revenue initially refused Foran the exemption in 2018 but she appealed to the TAC, arguing the book was autobiographical as it drew on her personal experience as a young woman coping with anxiety. “In my view the character and essence of this work is that of a self-help guide and not of an autobiography,” the TAC ruled in its judgment.
Not all books qualify