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He paid a tax preparer every year. Three states still sent notices for away games he had nearly forgotten.
In July an NFL rookie we will call Devon was doing exactly what players do in the offseason: minicamp wrapped, the biggest check of his life cleared, a few weeks at the lake before training camp. Then his agent forwarded an email. Three state tax notices, $34,000 in penalties and interest, for games he played the season before.
Book Free ReviewPhoenix · Updated September 24, 2026 · 6 min read
One rookie. Eleven states.
11
states taxed in one season
“I'd been paying someone since draft day and had no idea I owed three states money. Amadae found it in a week and had a plan by the next one. I finally feel like someone's actually watching this instead of just filing it.”
Devon · NFL rookie, 11-state season
The Story
Devon was not hiding income. He was paying, every year, for tax preparation. It just was not built for someone who gets taxed in a new state almost every week the season runs. His exact words to us: I figured if I am paying someone every year, it is handled. That sentence is the entire industry's problem in one line.
The Problem
That is not a metaphor. The jock tax slices an athlete's income up by every state, and sometimes city, where the games get played, on top of his home state. Signing bonuses land under different sourcing rules than game checks. Agent fees and training costs come off the top with nobody checking the deduction. A generalist preparer with a broad client list rarely tracks a season of duty days against a state-by-state filing calendar, because that kind of tracking is a specialty practice, not a general one.
11
states one rookie season was taxed in. Three of them never got a nonresident return.
Devon's 2025 game schedule against his filed returns, Amadae review
What We Tried
Devon tried the obvious fixes first: the national tax franchise his agent recommended, then a solo CPA a teammate swore by, and each one produced a return every April without ever tracking the duty days, sourcing the signing bonus differently from game checks, or auditing the expenses. You can be diligent, pay someone every year, and still be exposed because nobody was watching the schedule in between.
What two preparers actually did across 11 states
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The Discovery
When Amadae's team mapped Devon's actual game schedule against his filed state returns, a handful of away-game states had no nonresident return on file at all, the exact count is in the stats above. Some had already sent notices; one had not yet, which meant the penalty clock was still running quietly in the background. If a state had already mailed a notice, the fix was answering it and stopping the interest clock immediately; if it hadn't mailed one yet, the fix was filing before it did, because a voluntary late filing is treated very differently from one filed only after a state comes looking. The rules are not exotic, just numerous, and numerous is exactly what generic prep is not built to catch.
Devon's rookie season, state by state
$34,000 in penalties and interest across the three, and climbing
The FixAMADAE
Amadae builds for athletes, so multi-state exposure is the default assumption, not an edge case. The game schedule goes in once, every duty-day state is mapped against filing thresholds and due dates, and a dedicated tax team files each nonresident return before it becomes a penalty. Signing bonuses are sourced correctly from day one. Expenses get reviewed line by line, and the I figured it was handled feeling gets replaced with a dashboard he can check from a hotel on a road trip. Real accountants, one flat monthly price.
A filing versus a system
| Tax franchise | Solo CPA | Amadae | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Files the federal return | |||
| Every duty-day state mapped to a deadline | |||
| Signing bonus sourced correctly from day one | If asked | ||
| Agent fees and training costs audited | |||
| Quarterly estimates against the real schedule | Extra fee | ||
| Checks in between Aprils |
The Proof
The missing states became a tracked filing calendar. The unaudited expenses got reviewed. The notices got answered before the next one could compound any further. Two years of paying someone had not produced what one real look at the schedule did.
“I'd been paying someone since draft day and had no idea I owed three states money. Amadae found it in a week and had a plan by the next one. I finally feel like someone's actually watching this instead of just filing it.”
Devon
NFL rookie, 11-state season
3 missed state filings caught, $34,000 in penalties stopped compounding
Why NowAMADAE
The next estimated tax deadline lands January 15, right as the season hits its hardest stretch with zero bandwidth for state filings. That is not a scare tactic, it is the calendar. Every quarter without a real filing system is a quarter closer to a penalty letter arriving mid-season the way Devon's did. The review starts with exactly what caught his three states: your last two years of filings matched against your actual game and travel schedule, free, no obligation, no contract.
Jan 15
next estimated tax deadline. It lands in the middle of the season, and the penalty clock starts the day after.
IRS Form 1040-ES schedule
11
states taxed in one season
3
nonresident returns never filed
$34,000
penalties and interest, still climbing
1 week
to find what two years of prep missed
One client, with permission. Your numbers will differ.
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No long-term contract. Cancel any time. The two-year filing audit is free.
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Straight answers
The problem is not effort, it is specialization. A preparer with a broad client list files what is in front of them once a year. A team built around a live filing calendar is checking constantly, which is the only way multi-state exposure gets caught before a notice.
That is exactly why the setup happens now, in the quiet weeks. Send the schedule and the last two returns once, and the filing calendar is built before the next road trip locks your time in again.
Then you will know for certain, at no cost. The review matches your last two years of filings against your real game and travel schedule, and if every state is covered we will say so.