CONGRATS To All 2017 Prize Winners: New 1099 Info

[Greg Ambrosius]

First of all, CONGRATS to everyone who won prize money in any of our contests in 2017. Anytime you win money in this format, it’s a job well done. Many of you have already received your NFFC regular-season prize money in your Player Accounts and we’ll process the playoff prize money as quickly as possible. We’ll have that deposited into those Player Accounts next week. Look for the prize money here:

https://playnffc-prizes.sportshubtech.com

And then follow this process to Claim Your Prizes and Withdraw Funds:

http://nffcforums.stats.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=16653

Now let’s give you some more good news and get you caught up on how we report your NFFC earnings from this year. This reporting of income to the IRS may affect the amount of taxable income we report to you on your 1099.

After consulting with tax advisors, we’ll be reporting 1099 income based on the cumulative net method for reporting winnings. This means that you will receive a 1099 for 2017 that will reflect the sum total of all your 2017 winnings less the sum total OF ALL your 2017 entry fees. This tax reporting method is consistent with other fantasy operators in the industry. You should be aware that the IRS has not officially ruled on the preferred treatment of fantasy sports income and losses, and remember it’s always your responsibility to report taxable income accurately on your own tax return.

I also want to make it clear that contest prizes that are finalized in 2017 must be reported in the 2017 tax year, regardless of when users “claim” those funds. The claims process is something we have done for years as a way of ensuring we have gathered all of the information required to issue 1099s at the end of the year – it has nothing to do with how or when taxable income is reported to our users. As a result, all winnings that were finalized and posted to customer accounts in 2017 will be subject to tax reporting for the 2017 calendar year. If you choose to hold your winnings in your account with us after it’s been deposited in your Player Account, that’s perfectly fine, but the tax law requires us to report any net winnings over $600 to the IRS in the year the prizes were finalized. So in this year’s case, all winnings after Week 13 will be reported as 2017 income since it was deposited in December and all winnings after Week 16 will be deposited in the first week of January and thus reported as 2018 income.

CONGRATULATIONS on a great season and let’s do it again in 2018!

[King of Queens]

Great news here. I believe you will have 100% customer approval with this announcement.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Great news here. I believe you will have 100% customer approval with this announcement.

100% customer approval on anything would be a first for the NFFC!!!

[kingraiders]

Awesome--that is terrific! Well done!

[Sandman62]

That's great news Greg. Thank you for making that adjustment. Much appreciated.

[ChiTwn]

Definitely hope this is the accounting method going forward into the next year.