That's unfortunate. I've had a nice lucky streak going for quite a few years now. I'm due to lose.

I figured that response was coming from somebody at some point. You don't know who I am or what I do with my money. Or anybody else.

Let me get this straight. If you know somebody cheats on their taxes with their reffing money, they no longer have credibility with you on the court no matter how good of an official they are? If that's true, way to take an extreme position in life.

Do you think the IRS is one bit worried about some guys not paying taxes on their reffing money? I have first hand experience in the business and guys like us are not even on their radar. They are worried about big money people and people that have multiple income categories and expense categories that they use to fudge numbers.

You can talk about morals all you want, audit exposure, integrity, and the like. The bottom line is that, yes, the money is income and is supposed to be reported but a bigger number of refs don't report it than do.

Questioning somebody's ability or integrity as an official in correlation to what they do with their taxes is an extreme position to take. Are you reporting every dime of income that you take in during the year? I still haven't heard from those of you that win at fantasy sports. That is supposed to be reported too. Are you guys doing that?

Yes.

I haven't played fantasy sports for 2 years now, and when I did play fantasy sports, there was never any money involved. As an sports official, any form of gambling on any sport (and yes, I consider fantasy sports to be gambling when money is involve) seems like a very very bad idea to me.

I used to play the occasional game of poker or blackjack, but I haven't even done that in a couple of years.

Claiming $2000 out of $25,000 in earnings isn't just cheating, it's bragging about committing a Federal felony.

I run my officiating as a business and keep copious records because I want everything to be above board. So yes, everything I earn in connection to my business gets claimed. I barely turn a profit anyways due to mileage. I know there are plenty of folks out there that only claim what's on their 1099s and they will likely never be caught. That doesn't make it right and spin it how you like but that is a personal integrity issue. But I see you are taking the government protest approach so keep fighting the good fight. And I don't play fantasy sports for money or gamble so that's a straw herring.

Back to the OP, I could never do this for a living. I like having benefits and I like doing this for fun.

Please don't take this as me making fun of you because I'm not, but some of you guys crack me up.

You are obviously a basketball official. You consider playing fantasy football a bad idea for you? Any fantasy sports is a bad idea because you are an official?

Man some of you guys need to loosen up and not take yourselves so seriously. Not one single player, coach, fan, or administrator cares if you play fantasy sports. I doubt they care about your taxes either. They care about your knowledge of the rules, your game management, and how you approach your job on the court.

I mean this in the most positive way possible. I imagine some of you guys are very very very good officials. Your knowledge of the rules is great and I can tell that you guys take it seriously, as do I. I don't share your stance (not you personally) that playing fantasy sports/gambling is a bad idea because you officiate a sport. I also don't question the ability/integrity of an official because of what they do with their money/taxes. Maybe I am in the minority on this board, maybe I'm not.

Everyone needs to be careful with their hoity toity attitudes related to the filing of taxes. Are you 100% certain you are following every rule about mileage and expenses?

If you have a very hectic day at work and forget to log the starting mileage when you leave the office, do you use the assignment software measurement (because in many that is just an estimate based on a zip codes)? You may be padding your mileage.

Mileage that is part of the commute is not deductible (at least it wasn't in the past) so technically the mileage from the site to you home is not deductible (that is the return leg of your commute). Again...padding the mileage here?

If you attend a camp and your spouse goes with you so they can have a get-away and relax, are you separating the cost of the meals so you only deduct the cost of YOUR meal (and recalculating the taxes and allocating the tip)? If not, this is claiming a deduction for something not associated with officiating.

Those would also constitute tax fraud. Not at the level of someone under reporting, but a crime is a crime. People make mistakes when tracking income and expenses...if you missed one game on your income calculation do you file an amended return or do you intentionally leave your income understated? Isn't that filing a false return?

How about other items on the return? Every item EXACTLY in accordance with current IRS code? Are you sure?

Seriously? Honest mistakes aren't the same as intentionally, willfully setting out to actively deceive. A crime is NOT a crime. Jaywalking <> embezzlement <> armed robbery <> rape. This sort of equivalence is illogical. And also, mistakes aren't criminal matters generally, they'd just get you audited or incur a penalty. Willful underreporting can get you in criminal court. Pretty unlikely for these magnitudes of income, but still...

I don't claim to be perfect or get every single $. I'm sure there are some cash games here and there that I forget. But that is quite a world away from intentionally seeking out to evade taxes in a systematic manner. Maybe I'm just a chump, I guess.

And the return commute generally is deductible, as an FYI, for most of us. There was a very good discussion of this in another thread.

Getting details wrong (which mileage is deductible and which is not) is completely different than simply refusing to report a good chunk of your income simply because you didn't get a 1099 for it.

Either way, you're liable to pay taxes, but there is a moral and ethical component to underreporting (or failing to report) that does not apply to misunderstanding the byzantine IRS rules.

Now, if one is under the mistaken impression that income that doesn't come with a 1099 does not have to be reported, we can now declare that delusion to be dismissed.

Who cares? Uncle Sam isn't missing $10-$20 bucks from officials when buying that latest dodad to bomb some country in the Middle East that costs $200,000,000.

Report what you make, and if you don't then who gives a crap. The risk you live with is if you get audited you just have to say, "you got me".

I am under the impression that there is a difference between some "honest mistakes" like claiming mileage the incorrect way than just not reporting it or having any evidence of the travel.

I also think that people here that are sitting on their high horse, probably are not claiming everything properly on some way. That envelope that gives you two $20 bills as compared to someone writing you a check for that amount. I know I have forgot some money by just not recording it in the past.

The bottom line is you can put just about anything on your taxes, but it is up to the IRS to check and make sure you have crossed all you "Ts" and dotted your "I"s when claiming stuff.

Also when you pay for anything you can claim a lot of stuff for business. But you need to make sure it is done properly and I am sure most people do not do this and they would get in some trouble with the IRS. Again, these are mostly fines I am talking about. Every tax issue is not going to be jail time. But if you pay $20,000 is different than spending that amount and going to jail.

We really just need to calm down on most of this stuff anyway. That is what an accountant and lawyers are for anyway.

Peace

[QUOTE=SD Referee;983834]Please don't take this as me making fun of you because I'm not, but some of you guys crack me up.[quote]
No offense taken. I enjoy the discussion.

I also officiate football (HS and NCAA), baseball and (about once a year) softball.

I stopped playing fantasy sports because I didn't really enjoy doing it.

Probably not at the HS level or the D-III college level (where I currently work), but I wouldn't be surprised if they did care at the D-II or D-I level. And I guarantee you they do care at the professional level.

And I seem to remember some articles about NBA (or NCAA basketball) officials getting in trouble for taking incorrect tax deductions or somesuch... I'm too lazy to look it up right now.

Well, in fairness, some of them probably care more about getting "hometown calls". :D

Fair enough. Have fun with your fantasy team(s).

Not all areas are paid by a school. Many are paid through their association/assignor and it is quite easy to get to $600 since your whole season is lumped together.

Yep. Also, if you get paid through Arbiter, it aggregates to $600. This would lead to an odd scenario if you happen to have a couple of schools or districts that also added up to $600. If you just add your 1099s, you'll be over-reporting.

My city treasurer most definitely cares about income from officiating and other independent contracting jobs. I have the letters to prove it.

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