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​NIL Income Comes With Four Tax Deadlines a Year. Your Athlete Should Never Have to Think About Any of Them.
No employer withholds taxes on NIL income. The athlete is responsible for calculating and paying the IRS four times a year, and the IRS does not send reminders until something is already wrong.
Aureus runs the quarterly numbers, keeps the deadlines, and answers the notices.
NIL TAX & FINANCIAL ADVISORY
Your athlete's engagement is delivered by a team of advisors, accountants, and credentialed tax professionals, anchored by Enrolled Agent representation.
The Enrolled Agent credential is the highest the IRS awards, federally licensed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, with unlimited authority to represent taxpayers in all 50 states.
Why NIL income needs year-round attention
The IRS does not care that your athlete has an LLC. It cares that they file correctly, pay quarterly, and respond to notices. Forming the entity was the foundation. Compliance is what keeps it standing.
NIL income is self-employment income. Nothing is withheld from a collective payment or a brand deal, which means the tax system that quietly runs in the background of every paycheck in America does not exist for your athlete. The IRS expects estimated payments four times a year, calculated on income the athlete has actually earned, even when that income changes every month.
Meanwhile the paperwork keeps arriving. Brands request W-9s. 1099s show up in January, sometimes with the wrong amounts. The IRS computer matches everything and mails a notice when it finds a difference. Each of these is routine when a professional handles it inside the deadline, and each becomes expensive when it sits in a drawer during the season.
What NIL quarterly tax compliance includes
EVERY QUARTER
Quarterly Estimated
Tax Calculation
Each quarter we calculate what your athlete actually owes based on income actually earned, and deliver clear payment instructions before the deadline. Inconsistent income is expected, not a problem.
EVERY QUARTER
Quarterly Family
Check-In Call
A scheduled call each quarter with the athlete and the parents. Where the income stands, what was paid, what is coming, and what questions the family has. Everyone stays on the same page.
YEAR-END
Q4 Planning and Year End Position Summary
A Q4 tax planning meeting before the year closes, while moves can still be made, followed by a written year-end position summary in January so filing season starts with zero mystery.
IRS PROTECTION
IRS and State Notice Response
IRS Power of Attorney, Form 2848, goes on file the day the engagement begins. Notices from the IRS and your home state come to us for triage and routine response. The letters stop being your family's problem to interpret.
DEAL PAPERWORK
W-9 and 1099 Administration
Every new deal papered correctly under the business, and every 1099 checked against the books in January. Wrong 1099s are common in NIL, and catching them early is far easier than disputing them later.
ONGOING
Books Oversight
and Direct Support
Quarterly review of the athlete's QuickBooks Online file to keep records clean, plus email and portal support with a guaranteed two-business-day response window all year.
What happens if an NIL athlete misses quarterly taxes?
Nothing dramatic at first, which is exactly the problem. The IRS assesses an underpayment penalty that accrues quietly, interest compounds on top of it, and the full year's tax bill lands in April as a single number the family never saw coming. For an athlete earning real NIL income, that April surprise is routinely five figures.
Then the notice sequence starts. A balance-due letter, then another, each one escalating. Athletes are not exempt from the collections process because they are students, and the IRS matching computer already has every 1099 a collective or brand filed.
None of this is difficult to prevent. It requires someone calculating the right number four times a year, making sure it gets paid, and answering the mail. That is precisely what this engagement is.
What compliance includes
Compliance is the minimum responsible level for any athlete with active NIL income. It keeps the athlete current with the IRS, keeps the deadlines, and keeps the family informed. It is built for athletes whose NIL income is real but still building.
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It does not include monthly bookkeeping, monthly financial reporting, annual tax return preparation, the S-Corporation election, payroll, retirement plan setup, or multi-state filings beyond the home state. Those belong to a different level of engagement, and pretending otherwise would shortchange the athletes who need them.
When income crosses roughly $75,000 a year, when deals start landing from multiple states, or when the family wants monthly visibility into the numbers, it is time for full accounting and tax strategy.
That is where the S-Corporation election, automated payroll, and the Solo 401(k) live. We will tell you when you are there.
How NIL quarterly tax compliance works
1
NIL Strategy Call
A no-cost conversation about the athlete's income, deal flow, and current tax position. We confirm Compliance is the right fit, and we will say so if it is not.
2
Onboarding
Form 2848 filed with the IRS, books access established, the deadline calendar built, and any current-year catch-up identified before it becomes a problem.
3
The quarterly rhythm
ach quarter: the estimate calculated on real numbers, payment instructions delivered, books reviewed, and the family check-in call held.
4
Year-end position
The Q4 planning meeting catches opportunities while they still exist, and the January summary hands your tax preparer a clean, documented year.
The deadlines do not wait for the season to end
Estimated tax deadlines fall in April, June, September, and January, and they arrive whether the athlete is mid-season, in finals week, or in the transfer portal. The families who never think about these dates are the ones who put a professional on them.
Frequently asked questions
Does my athlete really have to pay taxes four times a year?
If they have NIL income with nothing withheld, yes. The IRS requires estimated tax payments through the year as income is earned. Waiting until April to pay everything at once triggers underpayment penalties even if the April payment is made in full.
Our athlete's income is completely inconsistent. How do you calculate a quarterly payment?
On actuals, every quarter. We calculate each payment from the income the athlete has genuinely earned to date, not a January guess about the year. A big collective payment in one quarter and nothing the next is a normal NIL pattern, and the calculation absorbs it.
What do we do when a 1099 or an IRS letter shows up?
Send it to us and go back to your season. With Power of Attorney on file, we triage every notice, respond to routine matters directly, and tell you in plain English what anything means before it becomes urgent.
Does this include preparing the annual tax return?
No, and we tell families that up front rather than burying it. Compliance keeps the athlete current and hands off a clean, documented year. Annual return preparation, along with the S-Corporation election and multi-state filings, is part of our accounting and tax strategy engagement, where those pieces are designed to work together.
What if my athlete earns NIL income in more than one state?
Compliance covers the home state. Athletes with regular multi-state activity are usually past the point where Compliance fits, and the multi-state analysis they need is built into the next engagement level. We will flag it the moment we see it in the numbers.
What does this cost?
A flat monthly retainer, scoped to your athlete's income and situation and quoted at your Strategy Call. You will know the exact number before anything begins, and it does not change with how many questions you ask.
Four deadlines a year. Zero surprises in April.
The athletes who get into tax trouble are almost never the ones who earned the most. They are the ones nobody was watching the deadlines for.
Put a team on it, and the quarterly system that blindsides most NIL families becomes something yours never thinks about.
This page is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or investment advice.
​Each athlete's situation must be reviewed individually. NIL regulations vary by state and institution and continue to evolve.