Am I right or wrong? TO: Charlie/Coaches/Elite Athletes

Members Area Off Topic Posts/Discussions
1

I didn’t get ANY sleep last night and as I was tossing and turning trying to fall asleep, I came across what I think is a great question.

When current struggling athletes (not at Olympic or National level) are training day in and day out and as part of an athletes regime, they HAVE to buy their needed equipment and buy nutritional supplements and pay for their needed therapy (ie, chiropractic, physio, massage, etc), can they claim these expenses during tax time under the category of Professional Athlete for a tax deduction? I don’t think they have a code in revenue Canada for Amateur Athlete.

Just like a business owner (ie, Charlie Francis) can make business expense claims for their business (ie, Charlie Francis seminar), can an athlete not do the samething for their “occupation”? (basically your business)

Now, I am betting some of you are thinking that you can’t really claim it b/c you are not generating any income like the best in the world are who make income from endorsements, appearance fees, etc (ie Mo Green etc), but my question also is, why would you have to be generating an income in order to justify these claims for a tax deduction? I mean, Mo Green at one point was exactly where we all are and he had to buy his training REQUIRED things, so why shouldn’t we claim these expenses as the Track income makers can?

Those of us in here are either students and very young and some, I am sure, are no longer in school and work full time and are generating income that is also supporting their athletic careers when you need things, like a new pair of runners, etc. So if in your Tax income it states what occupation you have, can you not put what you do for living and also add full or part time athlete?? Should you not have the right to claim these expenses as part of your occupational tax deductable income? At least this way, it will make it a little easier on us to be able to get some of the money back on our tax refunds to re-implement them into our much needed sport expenses.

Charlie, did any of your athletes prior to being World champions & Olympic champions and were, as we all are at the beginning of our careers, making any taxable claims??

Maybe this is a dumb question, I don’t know, but it makes sense to me and I am hoping that any of you can shed some light on it. If I am not making any sense please accept my apology in advance, it is b/c I am exhausted with no sleep. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to bed to count sheep.

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Vito

A quick answer about that. In Australia NO.

You will need to check your countries tax legislation and rulings.

3

my mother does taxes, people claim anything they want
:smiley:

4

In most countries, if you can earn an income out of anything and it’s your primary source of income, then you can claim expenses. If it’s not your primary ie: you work in an office full time and do aths outside of it, and the aths earns you an income then it’s up to you as to whether or not you claim, but if you do claim expenses then you must declare income you have earnt doing aths aswell. If, however, you don’t earn anything doing aths then you can’t claim any expenses, so if you can somehow earn a small amount of money with aths, such as with professional running or helping others, even if the fee is $1, then you can claim your expenses.

5

Lev - subject to conditions, such as non commercial losses.

Best advice go and see an accountant or tax agent.

Because if you get audited - you could be in trouble

6

I don’t know about Canada, but in Australia DMA is correct - you can’t claim any expenses for this.

There was however a recent test case whereby a ruling was given that athletes cannot be taxed on prizemoney or sponsorship in Australia. This is quite attractive if you are at the absolute top of the tree, but not much good to people on the way up.

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see dcw23, that is just bs!! Its ok to claim expenses if your ranked in the top of the world or nation b/c your raking in $$$ but for those that are struggling and need some financial support, we get the short end of the stick?? Makes you think twice about the sport or the country (you live in) that supports amateur sport.

Charlie/Clemson/Others thoughts???

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I thought I would re-post this since I just had the same exact conversation with one of my profs about this very thing.

Anyone else have thoughts/feedback?? I am hoping to hear from some of the big dawgs!!

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You can’t claim expenses if you don’t earn anything, but you shouldn’t be asking for advice on that here. Talk to a tax expert.

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Vito,

It’s inexpensive to incorporate or set-up a business as a Trainer for example (even if you’re an athlete) and write -off those sorts of things. Of course you’ll need to hire a Bookkeeper to take care of your receipts etc. and talk with a tax advisor for free (if you refer enough business to them). There are many things to consider and research re: operating a business but it is not too complicated and it is well worth it to do it.

btw…last year I got paid a measly amount of money (just above Volunteer) from the JC I assisted at and boy am I glad they did pay me b/c I was able to write-off: shoes, supplements, certification fees for the usatf class, etc… and benefited much more than what they paid me. Perhaps some of these athletes can coach for pennies at their former HS etc. as I did.

Once again…talk to tax experts first, than make it happen. For example, I’m saving more than 10k in taxes this year compared to last year and in both years I will make the same gross. I gave myself a nice little raise and it will only get bigger next year.

11

In the U.S…if u wish to “claim” that the expenses incurred are related
to ur business(running track), it has got to pass the sniff test. The main criteria is ur business most produce a “positive income 3 out of 5 years”. If u do not show a positive income for that period it is concidered a hobby, thus no business deductions allowed.
it would probably be easier to write some items off as a medical expenses