STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator KRISTIN M. CORRADO
District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)
Senator JOSEPH A. LAGANA
District 38 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Excludes from gross income tax certain compensation earned by college athletes for use of name, image, or likeness.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act excluding from gross income tax certain name, image, or likeness compensation earned by college athletes and supplementing chapter 6 of Title 54A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Gross income shall not include compensation earned by a taxpayer for the use of the taxpayer’s name, image, or likeness, pursuant to the “New Jersey Fair Play Act,” P.L.2020, c.83 (C.18A:3B-86 et seq.), during any taxable year in which the taxpayer participates in intercollegiate athletics as a student at a four-year institution of higher education located in the State, except that the amount of the exclusion shall not exceed $100,000 per taxable year.
2. This act shall take effect immediately and apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1 of the year next following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill excludes from New Jersey gross income compensation earned by a taxpayer for the use of their name, image, or likeness, pursuant to the “New Jersey Fair Play Act,” P.L.2020, c.83 (C.18A:3B-86 et seq.), during any taxable year in which the taxpayer participates in intercollegiate athletics as a student at a four-year institution of higher education in the State. The amount of the exclusion would be limited to $100,000 per taxable year.
Under the New Jersey Fair Play Act, a four-year institution of higher education is prohibited, in part, from preventing current or prospective student-athletes from earning compensation for the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness. The exclusion provided under the bill would only be provided to taxpayers who participate in intercollegiate athletics as a student at a four-year institution of higher education in the State.