Are soccer fees/expenses tax deductible if the club is registered as a non-profit?

A

algomez619

BRONZE
I read something on a face book soccer group where one of the parents was saying that they deduct their soccer expenses. Most folks said that uncle Sam was going to come knocking on their door. I see articles like this on the internet (https://www.beechmontsoccerclub.com...-fees-tax-deductible-maximizing-your-savings/) where they say it is but I'm still highly skeptical. Any tax professionals or parents on here that can chime in? Thanks!
 
I am not a tax professional, I'm just someone on the internet.

Generally, when you pay for some commercial service, that is not tax deductible. When you make a donation to a charity, or pay for a specific thing which is explicitly tax deductible in the tax code, that may be tax deductible (depending on your personal circumstances). But I'm not aware of any general way in which club soccer expenses would be generally tax deductible, legally.

The linked article has lots of "might be" qualifiers and weasel language, which makes it sound like it's designed to sell the expense to parents, rather than be sound advice. I'd be suspicious.

Note, also: the chances of being audited by the IRS are relatively low for non-wealthy people (well under 1% chance, iirc), and many people use questionable deduction strategies regularly to reduce their tax bills. Unless you are audited, the IRS will generally "take your word for it" with respect to any plausible deductions, and I've known of people who abuse the crap out of that reality. The chances of any single person getting caught doing this are fairly low, but the costs might be higher if you are caught and the IRS thinks you were trying to cheat on taxes on purpose (penalties for accidents are generally much lower, something like 10% extra on top of what was additionally owed). I am more conservative with my taxes than most people that I know, but I would not be surprised if you could get away with some small amount of deductions here (in terms of not getting caught), even if it was not entirely legal.
 
I can't think of a single part of it that's tax deductible... unless you make a donation to the club and even THAT isn't something I'd trust.
 
Swifty see's it Black or White. This is a hard no. You and others might see some gray, but not Swifty. I always say, "when in doubt, throw it out."
 
That article has a lot of double talks, but the short answer is no. You paid $4K for club soccer, and you received $4K in goods and services. You did not donate anything.

However, there were years when we paid $4K for club, but I felt we only got $2K worth of coaching. In those instances, technically I only received $2K in services and donated $2K to charity. LOL.
 
Messi>CR7 said:
That article has a lot of double talks, but the short answer is no. You paid $4K for club soccer, and you received $4K in goods and services. You did not donate anything.

However, there were years when we paid $4K for club, but I felt we only got $2K worth of coaching. In those instances, technically I only received $2K in services and donated $2K to charity. LOL.
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In addition to the $2k coaching donation we should be able to write off the DA, ECNL and surf cup travel agency markups. Are the state cup hoodies considered pre-tax? Well they should be.
 
Incorporate your kid’s soccer and write off all expenses (club fees, travel, equipment, personal training, mileage, car with depreciation, nutritional supplements and etc) as losses until they play pro. Sponsor tournament entry fees as a charitable donations and get it written off. I mean let’s get creative here 😬
 
TeamDadJokes said:
Incorporate your kid’s soccer and write off all expenses (club fees, travel, equipment, personal training, mileage, car with depreciation, nutritional supplements and etc) as losses until they play pro. Sponsor tournament entry fees as a charitable donations and get it written off. I mean let’s get creative here 😬
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What if I hire my kids to my sports consulting business hmm? I can deduct up to 12k per kid without them being taxed. The other day I paid a personal trainer to teach my kid how to do certain things so they can help me with the consulting part of the business. I also put them in club soccer and paid their club fees so they can better be suited to help me with my consulting sports Biz... when I'm consulting on the proper soccer activities my kids new knowledge helps a lot😉
 
Veritas said:
What if I hire my kids to my sports consulting business hmm? I can deduct up to 12k per kid without them being taxed. The other day I paid a personal trainer to teach my kid how to do certain things so they can help me with the consulting part of the business. I also put them in club soccer and paid their club fees so they can better be suited to help me with my consulting sports Biz... when I'm consulting on the proper soccer activities my kids new knowledge helps a lot😉
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I had a pal that did videos for clubs. What if he paid his daughters fees as a "marketing and promotion" line item? His dd could wear his branded sweatshirt with his logo. DD can hand out biz cards and help grow business. Thoughts class? This is a great stuff. This is a big time investment that costs some parents $20,000 a year. If Servers get tax free tips, then parents should get this help. I say 100% right off. Even golf outings can be business related to sell the other dads your video service. In fact, someone should start a Tax business to help the parents with tax questions.
 
crush said:
I had a pal that did videos for clubs. What if he paid his daughters fees as a "marketing and promotion" line item? His dd could wear his branded sweatshirt with his logo. DD can hand out biz cards and help grow business. Thoughts class? This is a great stuff. This is a big time investment that costs some parents $20,000 a year. If Servers get tax free tips, then parents should get this help. I say 100% right off. Even golf outings can be business related to sell the other dads your video service. In fact, someone should start a Tax business to help the parents with tax questions.
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Love it... I'm going to incorporate editing videos for my clients. My daughter is great at it...
 
Last season we all traveled to Seattle for playoffs. I had to help a few of my clients with some valuable advice. My daughter came along and helped with all of it. We wrote of meals, Air fare and hotels... I received $2500 dollars for my services but had spent close to 10K in expenses including marketing so i took a loss. Hopefully in 4 years I can make a profit when she graduates high school.
 
Veritas said:
Last season we all traveled to Seattle for playoffs. I had to help a few of my clients with some valuable advice. My daughter came along and helped with all of it. We wrote of meals, Air fare and hotels... I received $2500 dollars for my services but had spent close to 10K in expenses including marketing so i took a loss. Hopefully in 4 years I can make a profit when she graduates high school.
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My buddy sold a house to one of the parents two years ago and made $20,000 commission. He wrote off $20K for the playoff run. Basically, he made a deal with his dd. I pay for you to play soccer. I will drive you to practices and games and pay for all your travel, plus a per diem. I will then build relationships with each family and even make friends with the other teams' parents. That's why he always wanted the parents to be on the same side. Now check this out and how referral business works. Not only did he sell a parent's house from his dd team, but the neighbor down the street pulled up at the open house and asked, "Hey friend, do you have so time next week to talk about selling my house?" Well, he not only met with the neighbor, but sold that house as well for another $20K commission.
 
crush said:
I had a pal that did videos for clubs. What if he paid his daughters fees as a "marketing and promotion" line item? His dd could wear his branded sweatshirt with his logo. DD can hand out biz cards and help grow business. Thoughts class? This is a great stuff. This is a big time investment that costs some parents $20,000 a year. If Servers get tax free tips, then parents should get this help. I say 100% right off. Even golf outings can be business related to sell the other dads your video service. In fact, someone should start a Tax business to help the parents with tax questions.
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Do it, you can write-off anything you want...as long as you don't get caught.
 
watfly said:
Do it, you can write-off anything you want...as long as you don't get caught.
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Ok Swifty, I'll let my brother in law know your advice. I'll confess. He lurks on here and has his own Residential Remodeling Company and wants tax advice on here for free and then he will look at all the risks and make a decision. Let's walk this through. Bob's Residential Remodeling, Inc does residential remodeling for million-dollar homes. He needs access and a way to pernitrate these high-end areas. Direct mail is insane and most of these places are gated, so a good door knocker would have to jump the fence and thats illegal. So Bob thinks he should be able to talk to his dd, make a pre warm up sports shirt with all his information to fish one of the parents on the team for 10 monts. WTF is wrong that marketing idea watty. The nonprofit soccer club gets $4,000 and Bob gets advertising write off for his business. The dd gets free soccer because it's coming from Bobs company and not the family budget. It's a win, win and win for all.
 
crush said:
Ok Swifty, I'll let my brother in law know your advice. I'll confess. He lurks on here and has his own Residential Remodeling Company and wants tax advice on here for free and then he will look at all the risks and make a decision. Let's walk this through. Bob's Residential Remodeling, Inc does residential remodeling for million-dollar homes. He needs access and a way to pernitrate these high-end areas. Direct mail is insane and most of these places are gated, so a good door knocker would have to jump the fence and thats illegal. So Bob thinks he should be able to talk to his dd, make a pre warm up sports shirt with all his information to fish one of the parents on the team for 10 monts. WTF is wrong that marketing idea watty. The nonprofit soccer club gets $4,000 and Bob gets advertising write off for his business. The dd gets free soccer because it's coming from Bobs company and not the family budget. It's a win, win and win for all.
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Hey Swifty, what if dd went out and found a business to "sponsor" her marketing, I mean her club dues in return for dd to wear the pre-warm shirt? Does that biz get a write off? Towards the end of my kid's amazing youth career, the warmups for some of the clubs paid a sponsor fee to be on the warm-up. What does the kid get if they wear these nice uniforms with ads all over them? What does dad get? Asking for friend.
 
algomez619 said:
I read something on a face book soccer group where one of the parents was saying that they deduct their soccer expenses. Most folks said that uncle Sam was going to come knocking on their door. I see articles like this on the internet (https://www.beechmontsoccerclub.com...-fees-tax-deductible-maximizing-your-savings/) where they say it is but I'm still highly skeptical. Any tax professionals or parents on here that can chime in? Thanks!
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Not to pick on any one club specifically, but here's a couple:​

Here's Sporting's decision which seems to indicate you could get at least credit for 50% or more on your income taxes based on your income.
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SPORTING CALIFORNIA INC (4769800) is a nonprofit public benefit corporation.​

MISSION VIEJO PATEADORES, INC. (1853165) is a nonprofit public benefit corporation.​

"The IRS also requires nonprofits to provide donors with a written receipt acknowledging their donation." SEE, https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc506

Mission Viejo Pateadores Inc.​

EIN: 33-0561743 | Costa Mesa, California, United States

Other Names​

MISSION VIEJO PATEADORES INC
MISSION VIEJO PATEADORES INC DBA PATEADORES

Publication 78 Data​

Organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. Users may rely on this list in determining deductibility of their contributions.
On Publication 78 Data List: Yes
Deductibility Code: PC

Copies of Returns (990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, 990-T)​

Electronic copies (images) of Forms 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF or 990-T returns filed with the IRS by charities and non-profits.

Tax Year 2022 Form 990​

Tax Year 2021 Form 990​

Tax Year 2020 Form 990​

Tax Year 2019 Form 990​

Tax Year 2018 Form 990​

Tax Year 2017 Form 990​

Tax Year 2016 Form 990​


Sporting California Inc.​

EIN: 87-2208880 | Ontario, California, United States

Other Names​

SPORTING CALIFORNIA INC

Publication 78 Data​

Organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. Users may rely on this list in determining deductibility of their contributions.
On Publication 78 Data List: Yes
Deductibility Code: PC

Determination Letter​

A favorable determination letter is issued by the IRS if an organization meets the requirements for tax-exempt status under the Code section the organization applied.

Final Letter(s)​

Copies of Returns (990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, 990-T)​

Electronic copies (images) of Forms 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF or 990-T returns filed with the IRS by charities and non-profits.

Tax Year 2022 Form 990​

Tax Year 2021 Form 990​

 
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