After decades, NFL decides to give up tax-exempt status
WASHINGTON Every so often, in a bid to sound threatening, a member of Congress has vowed to revoke the NFL's tax-exempt status. Now Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league will give it up voluntarily to "eliminate this distraction."
One result is that Goodell's compensation about $35 million 2013, and approximately $44 million in 2012 will no longer need to be made public.
In a memo to all 32 teams Tuesday, he wrote that "a change in the tax status will not alter the function or operation of the league office or Management Council in any way."
NFL relinquishing tax-exempt status photo
FILE - In this March 25, 2015, file photo, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addresses the media at a news conference at the NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix. The National Football League is giving up its tax-exempt status. In a letter to team owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell said 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. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
A business of about $10 billion in annual revenues, the NFL has held tax-exempt status since the 1940s, and so was required to file a publicly available IRS form listing compensation for the highest-paid employees. Individual NFL teams do not have tax-exempt status.
http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/top-news/nfl-relinquishing-tax-exempt-status/nk46c/