Sports and Entertainment
The Columbus City Codes require all professional sports teams and entertainers doing business within Columbus to file and pay a 2.5% city income tax on the net profits derived from said Columbus business and to withhold city tax at the rate of 2.5% from all employees’ qualified wages that are earned in Columbus. Information regarding the definition of qualified wages for the computation of withholding tax for sports and entertainment venue employees can be found in our Columbus City Code 362.052 Collection at Source: Occasional Entrant.
For the purpose of filing the required business and withholding tax returns, please register for an account on our new website, the Columbus Revenue Information Service Portal (CRISP), at crisp.columbus.gov.
Nonresident Members of Professional Sports Teams
The Columbus source income of a nonresident individual who is a member of a professional sports team is determined by multiplying the individual’s total compensation for services rendered during the taxable year by a fraction. The numerator of this fraction is the number of duty days spent in Columbus rendering services for the team in any manner during the taxable year. The denominator is the total number of duty days spent within as well as outside Columbus during the taxable year. Travel days that do not involve either a game, practice, team meeting, promotional caravan or other similar team event are not considered duty days spent in Columbus but are considered duty days spent within as well as outside Columbus. For the purpose of this section, a partial duty day spent in the taxing community (such as a portion of the day preceding or succeeding the day that the game is played) is considered an entire duty day spent in the taxing community.
In determining the Columbus source income of a nonresident member of a professional sports team, the following definitions apply:
- The term "professional sports team" includes, but is not limited to, any professional baseball, basketball, football, soccer or hockey team.
- The term "member of a professional sports team" includes those employees who are active players, players on the disabled list and any other persons required to travel and perform services on behalf of a professional sports team on a regular basis. This includes, but is not limited to, coaches, managers, trainers, and media personnel.
- The term "duty days" means all days during the taxable year from the beginning of the professional sports team's pre-season training period through the last game in which the team competes or is scheduled to compete.
- Duty days include game days, practice days, days spent at team meetings, promotional caravans and days served with the team through all post-season games in which the team competes or is scheduled to compete. Duty days also include days on which a member of a professional sports team renders a service for a team on a date that does not fall in the aforementioned period, such as the "Pro Bowl" or off-season training activities at the facilities of the team.
- Duty days for any member who joins and/or leaves a team during the season begins on the day the person joins the team and ends on the day the member leaves the team. For this situation a separate duty day calculation will be made for the period the member was with each team.
- Days for which a member of a professional sports team is not compensated and is not rendering services for the team in any manner, including days when the member has been suspended without pay and prohibited from performing any services for the team, are not treated as duty days.
- Days for which a member is on the disabled list are presumed not to be duty days spent in Columbus but are considered to be included in the total duty days within and outside Columbus.
- The term "total compensation for services rendered as a member of a professional sports team" means the total compensation earned during the taxable year for services rendered. Such compensation includes, but is not limited to salaries, wages, bonuses, strike benefits, severance pay, termination pay, contract buy-out payments, option year buy-out payments, and expansion or relocation payments.
- Such compensation starts from the beginning of the official pre-season training period through the last game in which the team competes or is scheduled to compete during that taxable year.
- Such compensation also applies to an event during the taxable year that occurs on a date that does not fall within the aforementioned period such as participation in instructional leagues, the "Pro Bowl" or promotional caravans.
- "Bonuses" are included in "total compensation for services rendered as a member of a professional sports team" and are subject to allocation if they are:
- Earned as the result of play during the season such as; performance bonuses, play-off or "bowl" games played by a team, selection to an all-star league or other honorary positions.
- Earned for signing a contract unless all of the following conditions are met:
- the payment of the signing bonus is not conditional upon the signer playing any games for the team, or performing any subsequent services for the team, or even making the team;
- The signing bonus is payable separately from the salary and any other compensation.
- The signing bonus is nonrefundable.
- The signing bonus is not subject to F.I.C.A. (employment) taxation.
Nonresident Members of Entertainment Venues
The Columbus source income of a nonresident individual who is a member of an entertainment venue is determined by multiplying the individual’s total compensation for services rendered in the City of Columbus during the taxable year by the tax rate of 2.5%. Partial days spent in the taxing community (such as a portion of the day preceding or succeeding the day that the performance is scheduled on) are considered an entire day spent in the taxing community.
20-Day Rule
Nonresident members of professional sports teams and entertainment venues are not eligible to enact the 20-Day Rule in regards to withholding tax for employees and reporting requirements.
Equitable Apportionment and Allotment
Where the method for determining Columbus source income does not fairly and equitably apportion and allocate the compensation of a nonresident member of a professional sports team or entertainment venue for services rendered in Columbus, the Auditor may require the person to apportion and allocate the compensation under another method prescribed by the Auditor as long as the prescribed method results in a fair and equitable apportionment and allocation. A nonresident member of a professional sports team or entertainment venue may submit a proposal for an alternative method to apportion and allocate the compensation, demonstrating that the method provided under this section does not fairly and equitably apportion and allocate the compensation. If approved, the proposed method must be fully explained in the Columbus income tax return filed by the nonresident member.