BarbriSFCourseDetails
  • videocam On-Demand Webinar
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Tax Law
  • schedule 90 minutes

Key Tax Considerations and Planning for Student-Athletes

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About the Course

Introduction

This CLE/CPE webinar will provide tax counsel and advisers an in-depth analysis of key tax planning techniques and challenges for student-athletes. The panel will discuss the impact of the recent settlement in House v. NCAA, federal and state tax challenges, and reporting requirements, and will offer tax strategies for student-athletes and their advisers.

Description

The recent settlement in House v. NCAA has opened the door for direct payments by schools to student-athletes and implemented a structure similar to professional sports. While this settlement further opens up financial opportunities for student-athletes, it amplifies the need for significant federal and state tax planning for these athletes.

Generally, this settlement ends the long-standing amateurism model regarding student-athletes. As a result, some states are enacting laws to offer certain tax breaks to compete with states that have no state income taxes. This forces student-athletes to consider the tax implications, reporting requirements, and available tax planning options in light of the new structure and the enactment of laws by certain states in response to the settlement.

Tax advisers for athletes must keep in mind the various federal, state, and potential issues stemming from the House v. NCAA settlement, and its impact on NIL agreements and direct payments from schools to student-athletes.

Listen as our authoritative panel examines the House v. NCAA settlement and new structures in compensating student-athletes, federal and state tax challenges, reporting requirements, and tax planning for student-athletes.

Presented By

Julian A. Fortuna
Partner
Greenspoon Marder

Mr. Fortuna is a partner in Greenspoon Marder’s Corporate & Business practice group. With over 30 years of legal experience, he concentrates his practice on domestic and international tax, business and estate planning, employee benefits, and executive compensation matters. Mr. Fortuna has substantial experience representing clients in the entertainment, higher education, clean energy, health care, hospitality, non-profit, manufacturing, retail, and real estate industries.

Cathy Hampton
Partner
Greenspoon Marder

Ms. Hampton is a partner in the Entertainment and Sports and Corporate practice groups at Greenspoon Marder LLP. She offers a dynamic blend of transactional, corporate, regulatory, intellectual property, and litigation expertise, ensuring her clients’ needs are met with precision and insight. As a former public and private sector chief legal officer, Ms. Hampton specializes in high-value mergers and acquisitions, finance, high-stakes disputes, and conflict resolution. After three decades in public and private practice, she launched her own firm with a thriving roster of elite NBA, NFL, SEC, ACC, MEAC and PAC12 athletes. As a founding partner in the sports, entertainment and hospitality space, Ms. Hampton executed over $100 million in brand partnerships with Fortune 100 companies. She has led major transactions across various industries, including global sports sponsorships, the consolidation of a global bank conglomerate, the sale of an international hospitality brand, a construction merger, and the sale and purchase of multiple business assets for athletes, actors, producers, and TV film and digital creatives. Ms. Hampton leverages her extensive experience to mediate complex corporate and regulatory conflicts, fostering mutually beneficial resolutions and minimizing litigation risk.

Peter G. Stathopoulos
Of Counsel
Greenspoon Marder

Mr. Stathopoulos is an Of Counsel in Greenspoon Marder LLP’s Entertainment & Sports and Tax practice groups. His practice is concentrated on entertainment incentives for film, television, digital entertainment and music clients, state and local taxation, and film and television corporate and transactional work. With more than 27 years of state tax and entertainment law experience, Mr. Stathopoulos currently represents or has represented major motion picture studios, streaming platforms, television networks, cable companies, independent film production companies, digital game companies, and lenders in film tax credit lending deals. He has represented clients in connection with film tax credit transfer/lending deals totaling over $250 million. Mr. Stathopoulos is a Board member and Chair, Policy and Political Engagement Committee, with the Georgia Screen Entertainment Coalition, the leading voice of the entertainment industry in Georgia. He is also a Board member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Stathopoulos also serves on the Georgia Department of Revenue Film Tax Credit Advisory Board and is a former chair of the Taxation Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia. As such, he has helped shape tax policy related to the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act, which helped make Georgia one of the leading U.S. destinations for film, television, and digital entertainment productions. Mr. Stathopoulos is also a frequent speaker on entertainment incentives and state and local tax issues. Additionally, he has been published or quoted in various publications, including Variety, Total Retail, Oz Magazine, The Journal of Multistate Taxation, Atlanta Business Chronicle, and State Tax Notes.

Credit Information
  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Tuesday, December 9, 2025

  • schedule

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

I. House v. NCAA settlement framework 

II. Tax considerations for student-athletes

A. Federal tax considerations 

B. State tax law developments and considerations 

III. Types of Income and Related Tax Considerations 

A. Sponsorship and service income

B. Cash awards

C. Royalty income

D. In-kind income 

VI. Best practices for counsel and advisers 

The panel will discuss these and other key issues:

  • Current rules and regulations allowing student-athletes the ability to endorse goods and services in light of House v. NCAA settlement
  • New structures and standards regarding direct payments to student-athletes
  • Types of NIL deals and key tax considerations for student-athletes
  • Navigating the federal tax rules, reporting requirements, and available tax planning strategies
  • Key state tax considerations for student-athletes