For years, many college football fans and alumni were able to "write off much of their season-ticket cost on their federal tax returns," but "not anymore," according to Bachman & Saunders of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Last year's "far-reaching rewrite of the U.S. tax code" included the "repeal of a write-off for so-called seat donations." Seat donations are a "longtime practice of many athletic departments in which fans" "typically donate $50 to $4,000 or more per seat to a school's athletic foundation" in order to secure the right to buy season tickets. The purchaser could then take an 80% "tax deduction for the seat donation." Those donations "became integral to college athletic fundraising," as they "can make up half or more of the funds raised by athletic foundations." Some schools are "seeing donor attrition due to the change." The seat donation write-off repeal is "expected to raise" $2B in federal tax revenue over 10 years. One "looming question is how the repeal affects priority points -- the loyalty rewards that determine a donor's place in the fan pecking order." Guidance from the IRS is "likely to arrive" in several months, "after many schools have required fans to sign up for next season's tickets." It will also likely "arrive after athletic foundations have issued letters to many donors detailing" '18 deductions early next year. Tax specialists said that it is "hard to predict how the IRS will rule" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/16).
