For studios and sites that pay performers a share of title sales

A share for the rights is a royalty. A share for performing is pay.

Residual works each performer’s quarterly statement: what each title sold, their share, how much went to pay back an advance and what is still to work off, and what they were paid. At year end it puts royalties on 1099-MISC box 2 and pay for performing on 1099-NEC box 1a — and asks which a deal is rather than guessing.

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Opens in this browser with an invented studio already in it. No account, no email address, nothing installed.

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The problem

The form depends on what the share pays for.

A share paid for a performer’s rights in the work is a royalty, reported gross on 1099-MISC box 2 once the year’s royalties reach $10. Pay for performing dressed as a share is nonemployee compensation on a 1099-NEC at the $2,000 line. Advances are reported in the year paid and worked off later earnings, so nothing is counted twice. A performer on a share also wants a statement they can follow.

$10

of royalties in a year, and they are reported gross in box 2 of 1099-MISC.

IRS 1099-MISC instructions →

$2,000

the 1099-NEC line for pay for performing, for tax years after 2025.

Gross

royalties are reported before any commission or chargeback taken off them.

Will not put a deal on a form until someone decides what it is.

A deal saved without saying whether the share is a royalty or pay for performing is held off every form. A quarter already paid out cannot have its sales changed. Sent refuses while the year is running, a deal is undecided, or a W-9 is missing. There is no override.

How it works

Performers, deals, sales, statements

Add performers and deals

Each performer’s W-9, last four digits only. Each deal’s title, share, gross or net, what it is paid for, and any advance.

Enter each quarter’s sales

Gross, platform fees and refunds per title.

Print the statements

Each performer’s quarter: base, earned, advance worked off, payable, and what was paid. At year end, the forms.

What it will never do

It works the statements. It pays and files nothing.

Whether a deal is a royalty belongs to the studio and its accountant. Residual asks and records the answer.

No guessing.A deal without “paid for” stays off every form.

No full TINs.The last four digits only.

It is not an accountant.Not tax advice.

It never touches a payment.The subscription is for software.

Pricing

Priced per studio

A statement every performer can read, every quarter.

Most studios

One studio

$19/month

One studio or site with performers on a share.

Quarterly statements per performer
Advances worked off
1099-MISC or 1099-NEC sorted

One studio, yearly

$190/year

The same, two months free.

Everything in One studio
Paid quarters locked
Export for your accountant

Subscription. Your bank statement says Residual Software. Refunded in full on request within 30 days. Your licence key is emailed to you within two working days of payment.

Checkout is our own bitcoin server, not a card processor — nobody we had to apply to and nobody who can close the account. The button takes you straight to it. Give your email address there — that is where your key is sent.

Questions

The ones we actually get asked

Is a revenue share a royalty?

Only if it is paid for the performer’s rights in the work. Pay for performing is not. Residual asks you to decide each deal.

How are advances handled?

Reported in the year they are paid, then worked off later earnings, so nothing is counted twice.

When are the forms due?

1099-MISC to the performer by January 31 and to the IRS by February 28 on paper or March 31 electronically; 1099-NEC to both by January 31.

Is this tax advice?

No. It is the statement your performers wish they got.

What do I actually get when I pay?

The demo on this page is the whole program, running on invented records. Paying gets you a licence key — one line of text, emailed to the address you give at checkout within two working days. Paste it into the program and from then on it keeps your own records. Until then, nothing you type into it is kept.

The key is checked inside the page, on your own machine. It never calls us, so there is still no account and nothing about your business goes anywhere. If you ever stop paying, your records stay exactly where they are, read-only, and Export still hands you every one of them.

Open the demo before the next payout

The invented studio has a royalty with an advance being worked off, a share nobody has called a royalty or pay, a performer under the $10 line, and one paid for performing with no W-9. Residual sorts every one.

Open the demo See pricing