Royalties and payments for Canadian Office Agreements
Please note: The Canadian Royalties Department manages royalties for authors who have signed publishing agreements with Oxford University Press (OUP)’s Canada office. Authors whose publishing agreements originated with other OUP offices should visit the UK Royalties or US Royalties pages.
If you do not find the answer to your question relating to Canadian royalties below, or if you have an issue with a lost or expired cheque or tax slip, please contact the Canadian Royalties Department.
Standard payment terms
The OUP policy is for royalty payments to be made by cheque or direct deposit to Canadian bank accounts. Most of our authors receive their royalty payments twice per year, refer to your contract for payment terms.
Advances
Advances will be paid according to your publishing contract. When your title is published and starts earning royalties, these royalties will be deducted from the advance that you have already been paid, and any unearned balance of your advance will be shown clearly in your royalty statement. Once the total value of the advance has been earned, you will begin to receive royalty payments.
Sales figures
For information on sales figures for your book(s), please contact your editor directly. Sales fluctuate, so past performance should not be used as an indicator of anticipated royalty earnings.
Royalty statements
For security reasons, we do not routinely send royalty statements via email. Authors will receive their royalty statements by surface mail. Additional electronic versions are available in PDF format upon request. Please note that you’ll only receive a royalty payment if the total amount is above the minimum payment level on your royalty account. If the threshold is not reached, all royalties due will be carried forward to the following statement.
- Royalty period October to March: Your royalty earnings are calculated on royalty sales made between October 1st and March 31st. If you qualify for a June payment, you should receive your payment and statement by June 30th.
- Royalty period April to September: Your royalty earnings are calculated on royalty sales made between April 1st and September 30th. If you qualify for a December payment, you should receive your payment and statement by December 31st.
You will receive your royalty statement even if you do not receive a payment, unless your account is ‘on hold’ for any of the following reasons:
- All your titles are out of print or there were no transactions in the sales period
- You have not informed the Royalties Team of a change of postal address
- A previous royalty statement or payment has been returned to us
If your royalty statement has not arrived, please contact the Royalties Department. Please note that delivery times can vary due to postal delays, so allow a few extra days for delivery before contacting us.
Upon request, the Royalties Department can provide such information as the amount of a past payment and total payments over a tax year. For more information, please refer to our Royalty Statement Guide.
Designated bank account
As the contracted party, your name must be the account holder name on the bank account where OUP will deliver your payment. If you have any questions, please contact your editor.
To arrange for royalty payments to be made directly into a different bank account, please complete the bank form and send to the Canadian Royalty Department. For security reasons, we can’t make any changes to your account with bank details conveyed by telephone.
If you suspect that a payment may have been deposited to the wrong account, we ask that you first consult your bank because it may be possible to redirect the payment to the correct account, especially if it is held by the same bank. Before we can re-issue a payment, we must have confirmation from our bank that a payment has been rejected and returned. OUP is not responsible for misdirected payments if authors fail to notify us of changes to bank account details.
Delaying payments
Unfortunately, we can’t delay your royalty payment to help you defer tax liability.
Changes of address
If you wish to change your correspondence address, please contact the Canadian Royalties Department. For security reasons, we can’t make any changes to your address details conveyed by telephone.
Deceased authors
Estate representatives of a deceased author should contact the Canadian Royalties Department for a list of the documentation we require to redirect royalty payments.
Contact information
To update your address, change bank details, or have a related inquiry, please contact the Canadian Royalty Department.
Payment types
OUP’s Canadian Royalty Department offers a choice of payment delivery types: cheque or direct deposit to Canadian bank accounts. We encourage you to select direct deposit, if you are eligible. Direct deposit is safe and secure and provides quicker access to your royalty earnings. Please indicate your preferred method. Please note that direct deposits can take up to five working days to process while surface mail typically takes longer.
