Pay to play?

cd4th · Jan 30, 2014

Guess I never realized this crap before. :thinking: Oh well, they sure as hell can afford it.

http://www.nj.com/super-bowl/index.ssf/2014/01/not_even_the_broncos_and_seahawks_can_evade_the_tax_man_when_super_bowl_2014_comes_to_nj.html

Super Bowl tax bite: Broncos, Seahawks must pay NJ taxes

When Peyton Manning takes the field at MetLife Stadium for the Super Bowl next weekend, there is one defender he will have absolutely no chance of evading.

The tax man.

The state Division of Taxation will be taking a cut of the Denver Bronco quarterback’s estimated $15 million salary, as well as a portion of the $7 million paid to Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, and a piece of the $662,434 Seattle starting quarterback Russell Wilson will earn next season.

Indeed, every member of the two Super Bowl teams coming here this week will take a tax hit during their brief stay in New Jersey — every player, every coach and trainer and anyone else who regularly travels with two organizations.

Unlike Florida — which has hosted 15 Super Bowls and had been vying for this one too, will see temperatures this week in the 70s and has no personal income tax for National Football League players (or anyone else for that matter) — New Jersey imposes an 8.97 percent tax bite on all out-of-state athletes that come here to play.

They call it the "jock tax," and New Jersey is not the only state that targets the multimillion-dollar paychecks of professional athletes. From California to New York, state tax authorities routinely take a percentage of the salary out of every visitor’s locker room.

"If a doctor or executive goes to Chicago for a business meeting, nobody cares," said Robert Raiola, a CPA who specializes in sports taxation. "But if a ballplayer goes to Chicago for a game, the state of Illinois will be looking for him to file a tax return."

Raiola, senior manager of the sports and entertainment group within the accounting firm of O’Connor Davies LLP in its Cranford office, said athletes across the country often file more than a dozen tax returns every year, paying taxes in every state in which they compete — and sometimes local taxes as well, if they play games in cities like Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. So do many of the high-profile sportscasters who join them on the road.

The tax is essentially a super-sized commuter tax, based not just on the gameday itself, but how many days an athlete is in the state, imposed on a prorated portion of the player’s salary for the year.

And it’s not just for the Super Bowl. When the Redskins came to town to play the Giants in the last game of the season, everyone on the team incurred a tax liability — even those who did not play. If someone is on the roster, a portion of their income will be taxed in New Jersey.

A spokesman for the New Jersey Treasury Department said both basic pay for any games played in the state and any bonuses paid for championship, playoff or bowl games played by a team are covered by the state’s tax rules.

"For all professional athletes covered by this regulation, the average amount of income tax the state collects each year is about $10 million," said spokesman Christopher Santarelli.

That doesn’t include the taxes paid by members of the Giants, Jets and Devils who are New Jersey residents.
‘Jordan’s revenge’

California, which has five major league baseball teams, three NFL teams, four NBA teams and three NHL teams, receives more than $100 million annually in taxes from visiting athletes.

Raiola said states with an income tax have always had provisions to collect from nonresidents earning money while working in those states. But it was not until 1991 that professional athletes playing away from home became a major revenue stream for those states. That’s when California sent a tax bill to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls after they had the temerity to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.

California’s income tax was (and still is) much higher than the Illinois tax rate, which meant Jordan — who received a credit for any out-of-state taxes applied against his Illinois return — was out of pocket for the difference. Jordan’s fans in the Illinois legislature were outraged.

They came up with a bill to get back at California, taxing athletes who came to Illinois to play, said Raiola. The bill was informally dubbed "Michael Jordan’s Revenge."
Everywhere they play, they must pay ... "

Around the same time, Nicholas Panarella, a lawyer who helped the city of Philadelphia rake in millions from tax dodgers, came up with the idea of targeting high-paid athletes who had visited the city of brotherly love. In 1992, Philadelphia mailed out tax notices to 4,500 nonresident team players from across the country, seeking city wage taxes for games they played in the city as far back to 1986.

Lawyers for the four major league players associations ultimately negotiated a settlement, limiting the Philadelphia tax collections to two years, while waiving all interest.
Pay to play

Soon afterward, though, nearly every state with a professional sports team wanted a piece of the action and athletes across the country suddenly were getting bills every time they stepped off a plane.

These days, that can mean a tangle of returns for any athlete. Football players may play eight or more games away from home, depending on whether they make the playoffs. Basketball and baseball players, who are on the road all the time, can file 20 or more state returns.

"Everywhere they play, they must pay," said Steven Piascik, a CPA and financial adviser whose Glen Allen, Va., firm specializes in sports accounting and has members of both Super Bowl teams as clients.

"If you travel with the team, you have to file," he said. And some get targeted even if they don’t travel.

Retired Indianapolis center Jeff Saturday is now in court in Ohio challenging a $3,294 tax bill he got in 2008 when injury caused him to sit out a game with the Cleveland Browns. He did not even go to Ohio with the team.

Hunter Hillenmeyer, a former linebacker with the Chicago Bears, is also suing the city, complaining that Cleveland calculates its jock tax on a per-game basis, hitting pro athletes with higher city income taxes than other nonresidents.

Of the 25 states with professional teams, only Texas, Washington and Florida have no personal income tax and do not collect jock taxes. While Tennessee does not have an income tax, the state does impose a "privilege tax" on visiting athletes of $2,500 a game, up to a maximum of three games, to play the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and the NHL’s Nashville Predators. The state statute, however, exempts NFL teams who play the Tennessee Titans.
Adding it up

The jock tax will not be an insignificant hit to the pocketbook to those playing in Sunday’s Super Bowl, although Manning, with his considerable salary, will leave a lot more behind than most.

Raiola did the math. Manning is to be paid $15 million for the 2014-15 season. He received another $23,000 for winning the divisional playoffs, and $42,000 for the conference playoffs. In addition, each member of the winning team in the Super Bowl will get $92,000, while members of the losing team each receive $46,000.

New Jersey bases its tax on so-called "duty days," which allocates income based on a ratio of total days spent in the state over the total days engaged in football-related activities. Manning will be in New Jersey for about eight days for the Super Bowl, with the team staying in Jersey City and practicing at the Jets training facility in Florham Park. Assuming he stays healthy next season, he will be back for another two days in East Rutherford, with Denver on the 2014 schedule for a game with the Jets.

Those 10 days in New Jersey, divided by an estimated 235 total duty days, means that Manning’s accountant will have to allocate 4.26 percent of the quarterback’s salary to New Jersey — about $646,000 if he wins the Super Bowl, and $644,000 if he loses, according to Raiola. His New Jersey tax bill (with the top indiviidial tax rate here at 8.97 percent) will come to about $57,000 for his 10 days in the Garden State, whether he wins or loses.

Wilson, who earns far less, will see a much smaller tax bill. According to Raiola, the Seahawks quarterback, who will not see the Giants or Jets at home next season, will be allocating only 3.4 percent of his far more modest salary to New Jersey.

If the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, Wilson will get a tax bill of about $2,000 from Trenton, just about the same as if they lose, calculated Raiola.

If the Super Bowl had gone to Tampa or Miami, both starting quarterbacks would have paid nothing to Florida in taxes —a big reason why players love playing there.
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ACBass · Jan 30, 2014

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Pay to play?

cd4th Shoot first, shoot again

ACBass Well-Known Member

Jazz Warsaw Warrior

ACBass Well-Known Member

SilverFox66 Well-Known Member

Whodat Exile

DIXIEDOG Prostaff for Taylor worms

SilverFox66 Well-Known Member

California cities playing both ends against the middle

Lets see. Play to win, Don't tell the other side what we're planning to do

New player in bass boats

the greatest NFL games ever played

Playing around

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