The NIL Taxation Playbook: Part 1
Presented by Caroline Bruckner, Frank Agostino, Derek Ganter, and Sarah Green: the American Tax Policy Institute and the American Bar Association Tax Section.
NIL payments arrive with no withholding and often no tax form, but the IRS still expects a return. In this session, panelists from the IRS, private practice, and academia break down what counts as NIL income (cash, gear, travel, vehicles), the $400 filing threshold that applies regardless of age, and what self-employment tax actually costs using a worked $56,000 example. Topics covered: What counts as taxable NIL income — and what doesn’t The $400 threshold that triggers a filing requirement Self-employment tax: what it is and why it’s 15.3% A real $56,000 NIL year, broken down line by line Quarterly estimated payments and the penalties for missing them The hidden FAFSA/financial aid impact of NIL income How to choose a tax preparer, and where to get help for free.
The NIL Taxation Playbook: Part 2
Presented by Katherine Tulloch Pratt, Yariv Brauner, Nathan Goldman, LaKeisha Cheri Marsh, Doron Narotzki, and Robert Raiol: the American Tax Policy Institute and the American Bar Association Tax Section.
Part 2 of this two-part webinar covers the questions that come up once NIL income becomes real: dependent status, filing obligations, business entities, international athletes, state taxes, and where schools and coaches should draw the line on giving tax advice. Find Part One here. Topics covered: How a student-athlete’s dependent status affects their parents’ tax return, and whether a separate return is needed Whether to form a business entity for NIL income — benefits, costs, and entity types Tax rules for non-U.S. citizen student-athletes State tax filing considerations How Athletic Directors and Coaches should handle NIL tax questions from athletes A school program that educates athletes on NIL finances and taxes Whether NIL taxation creates recruiting advantages for certain conferences or schools.
ATPI Webinar: Tax Law as Health Law: Fiscal Policy, Inequality, and Access to Care
May 11, 2026 at 12:00–1:00 PM Eastern Time
Tax law is one of the most powerful and least visible determinants of health care access in the United States. Through mechanisms such as Medicare and Medicaid financing, the exclusion for employer-sponsored insurance, premium tax credits for coverage purchased on state exchanges (and related employer penalties), the definition of “medical care,” nondiscrimination rules affecting highly compensated employees, nonprofit hospital tax exemptions, Health Savings Accounts, and more, the tax system shapes who has access to care, what services are covered and incentivized, and how health risks and costs are allocated across populations. At a time of major federal tax legislation and renewed pressure on public health financing, understanding the intersection of taxation and health law is more urgent than ever.
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ATPI Comments in Response to Request for Information Related to the Financial Literacy and Education Commission Update to the U.S. National Strategy for Financial Literacy
On March 27, 2026, the American Tax Policy Institute submitted comments to Deputy Director Tanya McInnis and Senior Advisor Cheryl Cooper of the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Consumer Policy.
Read the Comments Letter
ATPI Webinar: Tax, Race, and Reparations: Reckoning with History, Rethinking the Future
On March 6, 2026, the American Tax Policy Institute held a timely conversation with three leading scholars whose groundbreaking books challenge the ways tax law has reflected and reinforced racial injustice—historically, domestically, and globally. From colonial America's use of taxation to entrench slavery, to the racialized architecture of the international tax system, to a bold new legal strategy for achieving reparations in the United States, this book-centered discussion explored how law and policy have long been tools of inequality and how they might be reclaimed for justice.
Recording is now available
ATPI Annual Engagement Report
The American Tax Policy Institute is a section 501(c)(3) organization whose Trustees and members are leading experts on taxation from the fields of law, accounting and economics. ATPI is a nonpartisan organization that promotes and facilitates scholarly research, analysis, examination and discussion of tax policy proposals and issues in order to improve the tax system and assist governmental authorities in tax administration. ATPI supports scholarship in law, accounting, and economics to aid policy makers and administrators and improve the tax system.
ATPI provides support through financial and programmatic assistance for roundtable discussions and conferences on tax policy issues.
Read our Annual Engagement Report
ATPI Webinar: Rewriting the Rules: Environmental Tax Policy in a Shifting Legal Landscape
Held on September 8, 2025. As governments reevaluate their commitments to climate mitigation and fiscal policy priorities shift, the legal and practical contours of environmental tax law are rapidly changing. This webinar examined the implications of recent federal legislative developments, including the enactment of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” for environmental tax policy and clean energy investment. In this non-partisan webinar, experts from law, accounting, and policy discussed the rollback of tax-based incentives for climate action, evolving requirements for project qualification, and the uncertain future of energy-related tax credits. The panel also considered how state and local governments, nonprofit actors, and the private sector are responding to these changes—and how these developments may shape the future use of tax policy to address environmental and economic priorities.
View the Recording or View the Slidedeck
Papers are published in the Pace Environmental Law Review: Click here
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Since 1993
Promoting and Facilitating Scholarly Research, Analysis, Examination...
The American Tax Policy Institute is a section 501(c)(3) organization whose Trustees and members are some of the leading experts on taxation from the fields of law, accounting and economics. ATPI is a nonpartisan organization that promotes and facilitates scholarly research, analysis, examination, discussion of tax policy proposals and issues, in order to improve the tax system, and to provide assistance to governmental authorities involved in tax administration. ATPI supports scholarship in law, accounting and economics that will aid policy makers and administrators and improve our tax system.
ATPI provides support through financial and development assistance for roundtable discussions and conferences on tax policy issues.
For information on how to submit proposals for ATPI support, please contact us.
Mission
The mission of ATPI is to bring together lawyers, economists, accountants, and others who make or implement tax policy in order to analyze tax systems, explore possible improvements to them, and promote understanding of their impact on society.