SIAE, which stands for Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori (literally Italian Society of Authors and Publishers) is the Italian organization which collects tax due to artists and musicians for the use of their copyright protected works. The Society is also responsible for redistributing these taxes to the artists and their publishers. Their web site is www.siae.it
Who is responsible for making this tax payment?
The Society’s regulations cover a number of different situations. Defining who is responsible may depend on the type of event and the venue. Their description states that “the organizer of the event” is in responsible of the payment, and in case of a wedding this usually translates to the spouses being considered “the organizer”. In case of a corporate event, the company hosting the event is the organizer, and so on. Please read on to understand how this works in reality working with Italyweddings.
What this means that if you decide to have a live band or a DJ or even potentially recorded music through a sound system at your wedding, you will have to obtain a SIAE permit and pay their tax order to have all your documents in order.
How much is a SIAE permit?
We charge a set fee of 600 Euros for the permit, and all handling costs, for each day that has musical activitiy that requires a permit.
How do I get a SIAE permit?
In nearly all cases, Italyweddings will help you get the SIAE permit. For a live band or DJ arranged by Italyweddings, we will be responsible for obtaining the permit, the payment of the tax itself, presenting the SIAE permit to the venue, and overseeing all aspects of the permit on the day of the event. All of this is included in our set fee of 500 Euros.
In the case the couple secure musicians directly, (either directly with the musicians, or through a third party music coordination company, there are a couple of options:
   –   The band or third party may take care of the payment on your behalf – but they are under no obligation to do so, and may charge you to do so.
   –   Italyweddings may be requested to handle the payment on your behalf. In this case however, we will require full cooperation of the musicians, or the third party music coordinator, in order to receive all the necessary information to complete the SIAE paperwork. In this situation Italyweddings will charge an additional handling fee of 150 Euros
What is the bordereau?
The bordereau is the music program that must be compiled by the performers after the event and has to be sent back by the organizer of the event to the SIAE office where the permit was created the days following the event.
In all cases, this will be included in the above handling fee.
What if I don’t have a SIAE permit?
Without a SIAE permit you are open to the risk, in the case of an inspection by the SIAE authorities (which are becoming quite common) that you will be liable for a large and unpleasant fine, and it will quite probable that the music will be shut off on the day of the event.
What is ENPALS?
SIAE inspectors have also the duty to check if the musicians are members of the ENPALS (“Ente Nazionale di Previdenza e di Assistenza per i Lavoratori dello Spettacolo e Dello Sport Professionistico” which stands for “Entertainment Industry Employees Pension Organization”) and if their contributions have been payed.  Musicians are responsible for paying this tax and they must be in possession of a certificate issued by the ENPALS offices. All musicians employed by Italyweddings are in possession of this certificate, but we are not able to offer a similar assurance for third party bands / dj’s / music coordinators.
In what situations does the SIAE tax not apply.