I'm thinking I will wait until December to do the background check part to make sure all the bugs are worked out first.
That problem is one that was manufactured by the Assignor. You cannot assign uncertified referees to matches. If you assign one hoping they complete their certification and they don't (for any reason), then you made your job harder because now you have to fix it. I don't assign anyone who is not a fully certified referee.
It worked for me this time. We'll see if they fuss because my USSF profile uses my nickname and not the legal name I use only for legal things.
I'm always curious what comes up for me when background checks are run since my suffix is "III" This year, around my father's birthday and again around my birthday, I got quite a bit of stuff about AARP, retirement, etc. It was his 65th birthday and I was so tempted to write back, either you are cheep with whom you pay to aggregate data or you are over paying them since I'm turning 34.
My assignor gives me a 1099 for all the games I do through our local association (state league, college club, HS). For those games that i get paid for on the field or at events/tournaments, well it is so hard to keep track of all that when tax time comes, being all tired and stuff afterwards...
Humor? Reality. I’m not keeping track of that, just like I’m not counting mileage when I go to a game straight from work, or claiming every bit of gear as an unreimbursed expense. So I consider it a wash. To be sure it isn’t even every season that I even do a game where it’s cash at the field. I applaud those who do that detailed record keeping.
I understand where chwmy is coming from, but.... I have heard stories of the IRS auditing an entire basketball officials' association membership, just to see if they were reporting cash income. And when my son was in law school, he did some tax work at the school's legal clinic. One client was a contractor who had been paying subs in cash and not filing 1099's. The rest of his records were no pretty picture either. The IRS's approach was to accept his income figures, based on bank deposits, but to deny all of his claimed expenses. Our largest men's league did not do 1099's for a long time. Eventually, the IRS got wind of it and required them to send them out for the last five years. And they (the IRS) tend not to treat failing to report income as just a paperwork thing for the recipient. Me, I track and report all of my income, 1099 or not. I've got too much else going on from a variety of sources to leave me exposed if the Eternal Revenue Service comes calling.
There's an allegedly elite league in our area that pays cash on the field. Always seemed sketchy to me.
I know of a few leagues that pay cash on the field. What is wrong with it legally? The assignors make it a point to say that it's a good way to get the cash now instead of waiting.
EDP in Maryland (and I assume the rest of the East Coast where they play) pays cash on the field, but our 1099's reflect that income.
Nothing legally "wrong" with getting paid in cash. But, that does not mean it's not recorded in the league's treasury books (for the IRS to eventually review) and reportable as taxable income by the referee (which some may or may not do). Have a peek at the self employment tax? thread from earlier this year. It touches on several related points.
We get cash on field for all leagues here and many tournaments. Many of the tournaments are organized by a variety of different sources. Our high school games income is all by the school, nobody gets 1099, it's all either a check or a direct deposit. Many referees around here make 10k a year with not having a single 1099 come out. So that's how things roll in this neck of the woods.
I have never received a 1099 for high school because I’ve never earned $600 or more from a single school district in a calendar year ($597 once). Still I opted to to report the income to the IRS, more to avoid the possibility of ugly audits than from a sense of patriotic duty, but whatever works for you. My impression is that some of my colleagues choose not to report, so clearly their level of risk avoidance/patriotism is different than mine.
My taxes are best left to my accountant. He happens to be a HS hockey referee. He estimates my stuff and we always have referee income on myntax return.
People that aren’t reporting their ref income may be in for a rude awakening in the very near future with the fallout from the Wayfair case you may end up seeing every state, city and local municipality opting for a piece of the pie. We already have a county in our area that threatens to put liens on your paycheck and send a sheriff to your home if you don’t pay their occupational license fee for even working in their county.
Not sure how the decision in South Dakota vs Wayfair (states can charge sales tax on entities that have no presence in the state for items sold to/shipped to the state) applies to refereeing.
Are you working as an independent contractor (a business) whose services are being “sold” over the internet to varying counties and municipalities through schools and the like? They can tax the services you provide. Do some googling about it. Basically it all comes down to if your company (you as a referee) has nexus in an area where the service you provide would fall under sales and use.
I don't think your analysis holds together at all. You were already providing the service by physically being there--that was the physical nexus that would have permitted taxing under the law that existed before Wayfair. Nor is there any reason to think the case has anything to do with subsets of states (counties or cities) as opposed to states. The opinion reversed a prior SCt decisions that was based on a federal constitutional provision that limits what states could do--not on what parts of a state could do while still within the state.
You’re correct nothing really “changed” with the ruling per se. It did verify and bring it to light though. States are now aware and empowered to create taxes if they wish and enforce those they were lax on. It is akin to the way a few years ago no one cared that technically referees under a certain age were in violation of child labor laws. Then a case brought it to light and it suddenly became an issue for states to monitor. Heck I remember a time when schools didn’t really send 1099s even over 600. Then that got people in trouble and you can set your watch by the damn things showing up.