It’s that time of year again – March Madness is coming to an end and Tax Day is almost here. After so many bracket-destroying upsets, prospects are fast diminishing for an office pool windfall a week before April 15.

Both basketball and taxes also come together in the form of various tax credits offered by states to entice sporting events, such as college basketball championships, to locate there.

Missouri recently enacted two new tax credits intended to lure more sporting events to the state, reports a Bloomberg BNA Weekly State Tax Report article. One tax credit offers certain taxpayers a credit equal to 100 percent of the applicant's eligible costs associated with the sporting event, or $5 per admission ticket sold to the sporting event, whichever is less.

Missouri will get back its money from this new tax credit, so long as fans spend at least $117 at the sporting event, notes a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

The other sports-related tax credit gives taxpayers a tax break for making donations to certain groups for the sole purpose of attracting sporting events to Missouri. The tax credit is nonrefundable and is equal to 50 percent of the amount of the taxpayer’s donation. Donations may be in the form of cash, publicly-traded stocks and bonds, or even real estate.

Other states, including Alaska, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, and North Carolina, offer various sports-related tax credits and incentives. For more information about these tax credits, check out Bloomberg BNA’s Credits and Incentives State Tax Portfolios.


In other developments . . .

The District of Columbia enacted legislation that expands the tax relief provided to “qualified high technology companies” in an effort to attract technology companies to establish businesses there, according to a Bloomberg BNA Weekly State Tax Report article.

By:  Kathleen Caggiano

Follow us on Twitter at: @BBNATax.
Join Bloomberg BNA's State Tax Group on LinkedIn.