Anyone Officiate Fulltime? (high school sports)
 

I have been talking to a few guys and they say a few people Officiate for their full time gig and maybe have a part time day job. I found it interesting. Just wondering if anyone here does this.

I have some co-workers that accuse me of it.;)

Can't imagine officiating HS sports on a FT basis even comes close to paying all the bills one would need.

Considering HS games are usually only played outside of school hours or on the weekends I can't see how someone could work enough games (even varsity games 7 nights a week) and be able to live. Maybe FT officiating include 7-8 games on the weekend may put you in the 30-40k range (before taxes).

Now if you're doing a full time D1 schedule where you are paid 2-3k a game that's different, but not at at the HS level.

That's what I thought too. Guy said his buddy made $34k just officiating. Not ALL basketball but he does many different sports (Basketball, Football, Baseball).

He would have to do multiple sports, and he'd have to be willing to work the type of ball that turns most officials away (Travel, AAU, pop warner, etc).

34k with no retirement plan, no health insurance benefits, etc. No thanks.

I'm sure if you work 3-4 sports and can get about 30-40 hours a week you could make 35-45K. but it's all 1099 and no benefits. No thanks. Unless I lived in an area where the cost of living was 1920's.

Well that is no different that a lot of people in this country. You will make more money than working at McDonald's for sure.

But that being said it is not the best way to go for the long term for sure.

Peace

I know someone down here that does that. He calls several sports year round and even is official timer/scorer for LSU games during those seasons. He stays real busy----don't know his bottom line from his activities. Not sure I would want to do it that way!

Main problem is summer months. No school=no school ball=less money. If you work wreck league basketball, it's year round. And summer around here you can make a killing with legion baseball and ASA/UTrip fast pitch softball. Throw in club volleyball and you got a nice paying gig. But as others have stated, no insurance and you would probably pay quarterly taxes. I might even be talking myself into this.....my wife works for Feds so she has all the insurance anyway. Maybe one of these years......

Oh, and don't forget its contract work, so you don't get paid on a regular schedule and with outdoor sports, bad weather means no money too.

I work Division 1 softball and high school (hopefully Division 3 next year) basketball as my full time and only job. When offseason comes in both sports I have to work a lot of wreck basketball or slow pitch softball. Bad week I make $450-$500. Good week $1500-$3000. I'm very careful with my money, taking about 30% of what I make and put it into a savings account for taxes. You just have to be careful with your money, and I wouldn't do it without the softball money. I won't say how much, but I am over the $34k figure that's been quoted, so I guess I'm lucky.

I've not done any D1 softball but the college I have done doesn't pay much better than high school bc no mileage. Only one D1 school here and rest are NAIA/D2/D3/Juco which just don't pay all that much. I know it can be done, just a lot of time away from home and my lil girl and her soon to arrive lil sister deserve for daddy to be home too much for me to try to make it work with just officiating. I do envy the thought though, contract work and no real "boss". Maybe one of these years

There's a guy around these parts who does it fulltime. A lot traveling and motel sleeping from what I can tell.

We have a few guys in our association that officiate football, basketball, and baseball. Baseball is where they make their most because they start working in March and can go until November plus weekend tournaments. One of the guys I know, also runs a private training/development program for basketball players as well. He's making $40-50/per person for a 60 minute group session. $75 for 1 on 1.

Not for me...I like my 401k, insurance and peace of mind that I don't have to rely on my legs to pay the bills.

It's a good gig ....25,000 cash average 25.00 per hour and I keep it all ....sorry Uncle Sam








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I don't think you're being serious, but if you are, shame on you. A big part of this job is integrity, and not reporting all your income flies right in the face of that. And if you're making that much money, the schools should be sending you 1099s, which the IRS receives copies of and will find out if you don't file them. So, I'm not really inclined that you make this much money and get away with tax fraud.

Preach much?

Well, he's not wrong.

2000.00 in 1099's minus mileage,meals,uniforms covers that


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I imagine it is....if you're willing to cheat.

Justify it however you'd like, you're a cheater. Most cheaters are at least discrete enough not to brag about it.

yep, and no one is supposed to make a career out of McDonald's unless he or she is moving into management.

I'm saying this in the interest of other officials who may be reading this.

You're completely wrong and completely exposed to audit. Legally, you're required to report everything you make, whether or not it comes in the form of cash or check, and whether or not you get a 1099. You may or may not agree with how it should be, but that's how it is.

Very true, but not all jobs, even the so-called good ones pay benefits or give a great salary.

A lot of officials use officiating as a bridge for other things like for another job, going to school and paying for college for their kids or even travel.

All of those things I have personally seen people used and even in different periods of time I have done the same.

Now it is harder to do when you are only doing one sport, but if you do 3 like I did, you can make a little bit of money.

Lacrosse, baseball and even youth sports can add a lot to your income if you do not pass out first.

Peace

And I bet he complains about "rich" people not paying enough taxes.

By law? Yes, but to compare our integrity for what we do on the court with our integrity when it comes to reporting our earnings is a stretch and a "holier than thou" attitude. Report them if you want to and if it makes you feel better that you are following the law. We are taxed enough in this country and our tax dollars are not wisely spent. If somebody doesn't want to report their earnings, that's their choice. Let's just not try to put it into the same category as our on court integrity. That's ridiculous!!!

Do you, I, or any poster on here report fantasy sports winnings? They are income and should be reported as well. I bet NOBODY on here reports those winnings. Where's the integrity?????????

By law, you are absolutely correct. NO question.

Take a poll, private if you like, and find out how many refs report their income. I think you will find it to be very low.

If you are doing D1 college, I get it. You are a bigger target for an audit. Doing strictly high school? The IRS has no idea who you are, what you are doing, and how much you make unless you get a 1099. You have to earn $600 in a calendar year from one school to get a 1099 from them.

Once again, how many of you report fantasy sports winnings? That is considered to be income by the IRS and you should report that as well. Those of you chastising others for being a "cheater" and not having integrity, better have all of your income on your 1040 before you sling mud.

I hear ya.

My kids will be going to college someday from my referee earnings. Put all of my profit into 529 plans for my kids. Every year.

As I said above, you are 100% correct.

On the other hand, after having worked in the tax world, the government has NO idea about your referee earnings unless you get a 1099. Even then, they only know about the money that was reported on a 1099. If you didn't get a 1099 or you were paid cash, the IRS has no clue about the income. They could never prove you received anything other than what was on the 1099. The audit exposure is very low.

Before anybody accuses me of being an advocate of cheating, that's not what I'm doing. I'm simply giving information to officials about the IRS. What they do with the information and their money is up to them.

I gave up fantasy sports because I never won [emoji22][emoji22]
Thanks for rubbing it in

I couldn't disagree more. Way to justify your own cheating.

Once you've lost credibility in one area, you've lost it everywhere in my book.


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Of course you are advocating cheating. You can tell yourself you aren't till you're blue in the face, but it is exactly what you are doing. This cheating is why the IRS keeps working to make 1099 rules stricter -- which imposes extra costs to catch cheaters. Funny how people who are getting paid from tax dollars (i.e. public schools) are so reluctant to pay their taxes . . .

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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Glad I didn't disappoint you. I just hope you got the email notification of my original post that Adam felt the need to edit.

As far as taking an extreme position in life, some things need an extreme position. And when it comes to integrity, that's one that does. So get some.