2017 Winnings Will Be Deposited To New Player Accounts

[Greg Ambrosius]

Just a couple of follow-up questions about the timing of the taxable winnings (2017 vs. 2018)

I assume any winnings above entry fee for the season ending week 13 will be in our accounts shortly and as such taxable in 2017 even if we request a withdrawal after January 1st. Is that correct?

Additional Winnings earned at the end of week 16 (satellite, championship rounds, cutlines, etc.) will be "won" close to the end of the year considering the season ends Christmas. Do you expect those to hit our accounts in 2017 or early 2018? I assume if it's early January then anything that hits the accounts in January to be taxable next year.

It would be great to somehow defer winnings into Jan considering the possible lower tax brackets.

Thanks in advance,
Pete

Correct. If you claim your winnings from the regular season and ask for a payment it will be reported in 2017. Even if you don't claim and don't ask for payment until after 2017 it will still be reported as income in 2017. We have to report this earned income in the year that the money is deposited into your Player Account, so anything deposited in December is reported as 2017 income even if you didn't claim the prize money. The final payments will go into your accounts the week of Jan. 2nd, so will be reported as 2018 winnings when you claim them and ask for payment.

[King of Queens]

Greg, just to be clear, if we won regular season prize money (i.e. 1st in H2H, 1st in points, etc.), that money will post to our Player Accounts sometime next week. If we let that regular season prize money sit in the account until 1/1/2018, doesn't it still get reported as 2017 income? My understanding has always been that regular season prize money is reported as 2017 income, and playoff/Championship/Consolation prize money is reported as 2018 income.

Please confirm.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg, just to be clear, if we won regular season prize money (i.e. 1st in H2H, 1st in points, etc.), that money will post to our Player Accounts sometime next week. If we let that regular season prize money sit in the account until 1/1/2018, doesn't it still get reported as 2017 income? My understanding has always been that regular season prize money is reported as 2017 income, and playoff/Championship/Consolation prize money is reported as 2018 income.

Please confirm.

I have the correct answer now. You are correct; money that is deposited into your account during the calendar 2017 year is reported as 2017 income. NFFC regular season winnings will be reported as 2017 income. The Week 16 prize money will not be awarded until the week of Jan. 2nd and thus will be 2018 earned income. Hope that helps.

[Don Draper]

Can an owner choose to not claim some of his prize money until 2019 and thus pushing back tax implications two years?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Can an owner choose to not claim some of his prize money until 2019 and thus pushing back tax implications two years?

I know who you've been talking to!!

Only if you want to forfeit your money per the rules.

21. Taxes
After 12 months, any unclaimed prize will be forfeited.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, I'll post this on another thread, but let's get you ready for the prizes process for next week. This is different than in past years with STATS, so let's all get on the same page now.

All NFFC regular season prize winners -- including all NFFC Cutline Championship regular season winners -- will have their prizes put into their new Player Accounts next week. Standings don't finalize until Thursday at 6 pm ET and then after that we'll get a winner's spreadsheet from STATS. Once we have that we'll match up the winning totals and post on your Player Accounts.

You don't have access to that account just yet, but you will soon. Here's how it will work.

1. Next week we will post a Claim Prizes URL to do just that, claim your winnings (I'll post it next week right here)

2. The home page will feature a big CONGRATS! banner with a blue button underneath that says "Claim Your Winnings" Click on that blue button

3. That will then take you to a Deposit Bonus Page. Because of higher credit card fees associated with every new purchase, we are going to incentivize our NFFC owners to keep some money on account if they know they are going to be playing in our NFFC Post-Season Contest or the NFBC or CDM or Fanball or with LeagueSafe or any other contest we own. We will deposit ANOTHER $80 if you keep at least $200 on your Player Account.

We understand that Cash Is King, but we also know that many of you will be playing the NFFC Post-Season Contest or a $150 NFBC Draft Champions league and thus by keeping $200 or more on account we'll give you an extra $80. That pays for more than half of an NFFC Post-Season Contest team and you can win $100,000 in that one. It's our way of showing you how easy it is to keep some money on account and easily pay for upcoming contests that way. And of course, we avoid those crazy 3-4 percent credit card fees with each upcoming purchase. We both win this way.

And if you won big money and decide to keep $5,000-$10,000 on account, we'll have even more incentives for you. Those that keep $10,000 or more on account (again avoiding all of those fees for us), we have a special VIP offering in Las Vegas in March and September for you. I'll announce all of those details later, but look for all of that soon.

4. After clicking off the Deposit Bonus Page, you'll go to the Prizes Page. There you will see another blue "Claim Prizes" button next to each league you won money in. Click each blue box, click on the Affidavit to agree to the payment terms and make sure your W9 Online is filled out. The W9 information did not transfer from STATS LLC, so please fill that out again. Once you've done that the information will stay on file going forward. But make sure you fill that out.

5. A Confirmation Page will follow to verify your winning prize total.

6. Finally, you'll see a Withdraw Funds page. There you can ask for some or all of your prize money to be paid via check. Just say how much you want in a check and verify the address that this is going to be sent to. If you won $7,000, it's easy to ask for all $7,000. Just type the total in the box. If you want $5,000 in a check and $2,000 on account, just type in $5,000 and a check will be sent to you. On your main page you'll see $2,000 in the upper right corner each time you log onto the site.

It's as easy as that. It will probably take a minute or two to log on and go through the process. We will get the first batch of checks out quickly and try to get this prize money in your hands before Christmas. That's our goal. Then after Week 16, we'll do it again and get more money on your Player Account the week of Jan. 2nd and before the NFFC Post-Season Contest begins. Keep some money on account for that great contest.

Okay, remember this is a new process this year. You must 1) Claim Your Prize; 2) Withdraw Your Funds; we will send a check in that amount and keep whatever money you want to remain on Account; and 3) Make even more money by accepting the bonus of $80 for keeping at least $200 on account. That's free money if you know you're going to play here again. Take it.

Thanks all and good luck. And CONGRATS on a great 2017 NFFC season.