{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4A59C990-EC7D-4228-B15F-2685E727B2D8", "Thune, Cardin Urge IRS to Prevent Organizations From Obtaining Tax Write-Offs for NIL Contributions", "2023-07-31", "2023", "2023-07", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Taxation and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Oversight, and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, today requested that the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury strengthen their recent general legal advice memorandum (GLAM) on the tax-exempt status of many name, image, and likeness (NIL) collectives by providing formal guidance such as a revenue ruling. This letter coincides with the senators\u2019 bipartisan legislation, the Athlete Opportunity and Taxpayer Integrity Act, that would prohibit individuals and organizations from using the charitable tax deduction for specific contributions that compensate college or incoming college student athletes for the use of their NIL.\n\n\u201cA fundamental requirement for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) is that an organization must operate exclusively for a public benefit, such as a religious, charitable, scientific, or educational purpose,\u201d wrote the senators. \u201cThe GLAM concludes that \u2018many organizations that develop paid NIL opportunities for student athletes are not tax-exempt as described in section 501(c)(3) because the private benefits they provide to student athletes are not incidental both qualitatively and quantitatively to any exempt purpose furthered by that activity.\u2019 We agree with this conclusion that many NIL collectives should not be granted tax exempt status.\u201d\n\nSince the recent adoption of the National Collegiate Athletic Association\u2019s NIL rules, certain organizations, like NIL collectives, have established models that facilitate payment to current and incoming college student athletes, while claiming tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. In response to this development, on June 9, 2023, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel published a GLAM concluding that many tax-exempt NIL collectives\u2019 activities are not fulfilling a tax-exempt purpose.\n\nFull letter below:\n\nDear Commissioner Werfel and Assistant Secretary Batchelder:\n\nOn June 9, 2023, we were pleased to see the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Office of Chief Counsel release general legal advice memorandum (GLAM) AM 2023-004, which concludes that certain organizations that make payments to college or incoming college student athletes for rights to their name, image, and likeness (NIL) are, in many cases, not eligible to have tax-exempt status. We appreciate the IRS\u2019s attention to this important issue through the GLAM and urge your agencies to take the next step by adapting the GLAM\u2019s conclusions into more formal guidance, such as a revenue ruling.\n\nAs you know, individuals and organizations can make certain contributions to college or incoming college student athletes for the use of their NIL. According to the GLAM, several of these organizations, commonly known as NIL collectives, claim tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. A fundamental requirement for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) is that an organization must operate exclusively for a public benefit, such as a religious, charitable, scientific, or educational purpose.\n\nThe GLAM concludes that \u201cmany organizations that develop paid NIL opportunities for student athletes are not tax-exempt as described in section 501(c)(3) because the private benefits they provide to student athletes are not incidental both qualitatively and quantitatively to any exempt purpose furthered by that activity.\u201d We agree with this conclusion that many NIL collectives should not be granted tax exempt status.\n\nRelated to these points, earlier this year we introduced the Athlete Opportunity and Taxpayer Integrity Act to protect student athletes, uphold the integrity of college athletics, and prevent the abuse of the tax code. This bill would achieve these objectives by denying charitable deductions for donations used to compensate college or incoming college student athletes for the use of their NIL, which would include donations to NIL collectives.\n\nThe GLAM is an encouraging step forward and more should be done. We respectfully request that your agencies take the next step by adapting the GLAM\u2019s conclusions into more formal guidance, such as a revenue ruling.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:25:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4A59C990-EC7D-4228-B15F-2685E727B2D8"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4552350621670485, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}