Aureus Advisory Partners
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The Financial Front Office for High-Earning Athletes
At $250,000 and above, an athlete is no longer a taxpayer with a business.
They are an enterprise with a family, a multi-state footprint, and a professional career coming into view.
This engagement runs the entire financial operation at that level: monthly strategy with our Enrolled Agent, forecasting, unlimited multi-state compliance, family coordination, and the pro-transition workstream.
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.
When the athlete becomes an enterprise
Somewhere past $250,000 of NIL income, the questions change. It is no longer whether the taxes are handled. It is whether anyone is commanding the whole picture: income arriving from a dozen sources across half a dozen states, a family whose own tax situation is now tangled with the athlete's business, an agent entering the frame, and a professional contract close enough to plan for.
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The tools that got the athlete here still run underneath. The S-Corp, payroll, and retirement structure keeps working. But at this level, structure is table stakes. What the situation demands is a financial front office: forecasting instead of reporting, monthly strategy instead of quarterly check-ins, and a credentialed team coordinating with everyone else in the athlete's orbit.
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This engagement exists for a deliberately small number of athletes whose situations genuinely require it. It is the most senior work we do.
What strategic NIL advisory includes
EVERY MONTH
Monthly Strategic Executive Summary
Full financial statements plus a six-month cash flow forecast with scenario modeling and a KPI dashboard: income by state, effective tax rate trending, season versus offseason patterns, deal margin analysis, and distribution tracking.
EVERY MONTH
Direct Monthly
Strategy Meetings
A standing monthly strategy meeting with our Enrolled Agent. Not a check-in and not a review of what already happened. A working session on what comes next: deal structures, entity moves, state exposure, and timing.
EVERY QUARTER
Written Quarterly Strategic Brief
A written strategy document each quarter: where the athlete's position stands, what moves were made and why, and what is being set up for the next stage. The family, and anyone the family authorizes, sees the strategy in writing.
EVERY STATE
Unlimited
Multi-State Compliance
Every jurisdiction where the athlete earns, with no state cap. Appearance income, game-day income, camps, and endorsement work tracked, analyzed, and filed wherever the obligations land.
THE WHOLE FAMILY
Family Coordination
and Entity Architecture
At this income level, the athlete's business and the family's tax picture become interrelated, and we plan them together. When the situation justifies a second entity, for licensing, brand activity, or management, we design and build the architecture.
INCLUDED
20 Hours of IRS Representation
Twenty hours of direct IRS representation built into the engagement each year: audits, examinations, appeals, and escalated matters, done by our Enrolled Agent under the POA. Most firms serving athletes cannot legally offer this.
What does a financial front office actually do?
It sees forward, not backward
A tax return describes last year. A six-month cash flow forecast with scenario modeling answers the questions that actually matter: what happens to the picture if the collective deal renews, if the athlete transfers, if the draft comes a year early.
It coordinates the orbit
Agents, attorneys, and investment advisors each see their piece. We run the tax, accounting, and entity architecture underneath all of them, and coordinate directly with the agent's financial team, the family's attorney, and the investment advisor so the pieces stop working against each other. We do not manage investments, and we do not compete with the people who do. We make their work fit.
It stands between the athlete and the IRS
High incomes draw more IRS attention, and NIL incomes arrive with the exact features that get flagged: large 1099s, multi-state filings, and new deduction patterns. When the IRS asks questions at this level, the difference between a firm that can represent you and one that refers you out is the difference between a process and a crisis.
Professional franchises do not send their finances to a tax preparer in April. They run a front office: people whose job is to see the whole field, plan moves before they are needed, and coordinate every outside party touching the money. High-earning NIL athletes have franchise-level financial complexity with none of that infrastructure. This engagement is that infrastructure.
Who this engagement is built for
We are direct about fit, because this level of work only makes sense when the situation genuinely calls for it. Strategic is built for athletes with one or more of the following:
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NIL income at or above roughly $250,000 a year
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A professional contract on the horizon: draft eligibility approaching, an agent retained, or declared pro intent
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Regular income across more than three states
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A second entity in the picture, or one that should be
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A family tax situation that has become interrelated with the athlete's business
If that is not yet your athlete, our accounting and tax strategy engagement is where most high-earning athletes belong, and it is built to graduate into this one the moment the triggers above appear. We watch for them so you do not have to.
How strategic NIL advisory works
1
NIL Strategy Call
A no-cost conversation about the athlete's full picture: income, states, family situation, representation, and timeline to a professional decision.
2
Onboarding & architecture
The entity structure reviewed and rebuilt where needed, the family coordination map established, the forecasting baseline built, and Power of Attorney on file from day one.
3
The monthly command rhythm
Books closed, payroll running, the Strategic Executive Summary delivered by the 15th, and the monthly strategy meeting with our Enrolled Agent setting the next moves.
4
The pro bridge
When the professional contract comes, the pro-transition workstream activates: signing bonus modeling, and coordination with the agent's team, transitioning into a custom Pro Engagement when the contract is signed.
The decisions at this level do not repeat themselves
A signing bonus is structured once. Residency is established before the contract, not after.
A second entity either exists when the licensing deal arrives or it does not. The value of a front office is having it in place before the decisions that cannot be redone.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from the accounting and tax strategy engagement?
Cadence, depth, and scope. Strategy moves from quarterly to monthly, directly with our Enrolled Agent. Reporting adds forecasting, scenario modeling, and a KPI dashboard. Multi-state coverage becomes unlimited. Family coordination, entity architecture, the written quarterly brief, the pro-transition workstream, and 20 hours of IRS representation are exclusive to this level.
We already have an agent and a financial advisor. Where does Aureus fit?
Underneath and between them. The agent negotiates the deals, the investment advisor manages the portfolio, and we run the tax, accounting, and entity architecture they all depend on, coordinating directly with each of them. We do not provide investment advice or compete with your advisor. In our experience, the agent and the advisor are the two people most relieved when a real financial back office shows up.
What is in the written Quarterly Strategic Brief?
The athlete's current position, the moves made during the quarter and the reasoning behind them, the state exposure picture, and what is being positioned for the next stage. It is the document that lets a parent, and anyone the family authorizes, see the entire strategy on paper instead of taking anyone's word for it.
What does 20 hours of IRS representation included actually mean?
If the IRS opens an examination, sends an escalated notice, or pulls the athlete into an audit, our Enrolled Agent represents the athlete directly, under Power of Attorney, for up to 20 hours a year inside the engagement. No separate hourly bills for the work most families fear most, and no referral to an outside firm at the worst possible moment.
Can you set up a second entity for licensing or brand work?
Yes, when the situation justifies one, and we will tell you plainly when it does not. Second entities for licensing, brand activity, or management can serve real purposes at this income level, but an entity without a reason is cost and complexity. Entity architecture here is driven by the deal flow, not by the appeal of a more complicated org chart.
What does this cost?
A flat monthly retainer, quoted at your Strategy Call after we review the athlete's full picture. This is our most senior engagement and it is priced accordingly, and it is taken on for a deliberately limited number of athletes so the delivery matches the promise.
When the situation outgrows the tax return
There is a point where an athlete's finances stop being a filing obligation and start being a career asset that needs to be run.
Past that point, the question is not whether the athlete needs a front office.
It is whether they have one before the decisions that cannot be redone.
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.