National Football League is Giving up Tax-Exempt Status

[alnorth]

BREAKING: National Football League giving up tax-exempt status; Goodell says it was a 'distraction'.

— The Associated Press (@AP) April 28, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Football League is giving up its tax-exempt status.

In a letter to team owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league office and its management council will file tax returns as taxable entities for the 2015 fiscal year. Goodell says the NFL has been tax-exempt since 1942, though all 32 teams pay taxes on their income.

Goodell says the change will not alter the function or operation of the league, since all the teams already pay taxes.

Some members of Congress have criticized the NFL, which generates billions in revenue, for being tax-exempt. Goodell says the status has become a "distraction."

Goodell forwarded the letter to the owners to Congressman Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee.

[O.city]

Ok, what does that mean?

[teedubya]

It should have never been tax exempt. That's ****ing stupid.

[Mr. Laz]

It's not really about being tax exempt


It's about not taxing the money twice

Teams are the ones that get the money, the league just oversees and organizes the money.


the NFL's position anyway.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by O.city

Ok, what does that mean?

It means you'll have to sell your youngest girls to the China slave trade to afford to go watch a game

[Hootie]

so what does this mean?

There has to be a reason for it ...

I don't know a thing about it ... but there is no way the NFL is going to start willingly pay that much money in taxes (when they never have) unless it benefits them greatly or prevents something HUGE from spilling to the public.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

so what does this mean?

There has to be a reason for it ...

I don't know a thing about it ... but there is no way the NFL is going to start willingly pay that much money in taxes (when they never have) unless it benefits them greatly or prevents something HUGE from spilling to the public.

Teams are already taxed, the league (until now) was not.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

so what does this mean?

There has to be a reason for it ...

I don't know a thing about it ... but there is no way the NFL is going to start willingly pay that much money in taxes (when they never have) unless it benefits them greatly or prevents something HUGE from spilling to the public.

Dez video man, dez video

[alnorth]

Just put the AP article in the OP.

Apparently right now, the vast majority of revenue is made by the teams and is taxed. If the NFL itself makes anything, its not much, and I guess they decided it wasn't worth the hassle of grandstanding politicians yelling about how the NFL is tax-exempt.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

so what does this mean?

There has to be a reason for it ...

I don't know a thing about it ... but there is no way the NFL is going to start willingly pay that much money in taxes (when they never have) unless it benefits them greatly or prevents something HUGE from spilling to the public.

Don't confuse the NFL with the NFL TEAMS. They are two different things. AFAIK, the teams are not claiming non-profit status. Most likely, and with some exceptions (Packers) they are closely held companies with pass-through tax treatment for the owners.

The NFL is the organization that runs the business of the NFL for the owners. That entity does not get billions of dollars a year (or at least, it doesn't keep it -- as the money goes out to the teams). It may technically qualify for non-profit status as IT (as compared to the teams) is not an entity designed to make a profit -- instead any amounts in excess of its operational funding needs would be sent to the teams.

[Brock]

Maybe there was some momentum gathering to take it away from them anyway.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by O.city

Ok, what does that mean?

I suspect it means that Roger Goodell is about to get a huge annual bonus that exactly matches the entity's profits each year.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I suspect it means that Roger Goodell is about to get a huge annual bonus that exactly matches the entity's profits each year.

Somehow, your posts seem more authoritative, and I find myself unwilling to question anything you say...

... then I realized its the new avatar. The ermine is a fearsome little beast.

[BossChief]

Watch them get audited in the next 5 years.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Somehow, your posts seem more authoritative, and I find myself unwilling to question anything you say...

... then I realized its the new avatar. The ermine is a fearsome little beast.

Your cat that's planning to pounce on my ermine is in for a bad surprise.