--- title: SB 71. Income Taxes; taxable net income compensation of athletes for the use of the athlete's name, image, or likeness; exempt collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb71 cite_as: SB 71, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb71 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb71.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb71/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69766 date: 2025-02-04 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb70.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb72.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 95 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb71.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 71 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-02-03 last_action: Senate Read and Referred sponsors: - Brandon Beach - Greg Dolezal - Ben Watson - Carden Summers - Frank Ginn text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB71/2025 upstream_id: 1952866 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - college athletes - name image and likeness - income taxes - state tax exemptions - higher education --- # SB 71. Income Taxes; taxable net income compensation of athletes for the use of the athlete's name, image, or likeness; exempt ## Text Senate Bill 71 By: Senators Beach of the 21st, Dolezal of the 27th, Watson of the 1st, Summers of the 13th and Ginn of the 47th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Chapter 7 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to income taxes, so as to exempt from taxable net income compensation of athletes for the use of the athlete's name, image, or likeness; to provide for related matters; to provide for applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. Chapter 7 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to income taxes, is amended by adding a new paragraph to subsection (a) of Code Section 48-7-27, relating to computation of taxable net income, to read as follows: "(11.3) Income received pursuant to Code Section 20-3-681 by a student athlete at a postsecondary educational institution as compensation for the use of his or her name, image, or likeness, to the extent such income is included in the taxpayer's federal adjusted gross income and is not otherwise exempt from the tax imposed by this article under any other provision of law;" SECTION 2. This Act shall be applicable to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. SECTION 3. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. A Georgia Senate bill would exempt college athletes' name, image, and likeness payments from Georgia state income tax, starting with the 2025 tax year. ### Plain-language summary Under current Georgia law, income that college athletes earn from deals allowing companies or others to use their name, image, or likeness (often called NIL deals) counts as taxable income just like any other earnings. This bill would change that by adding a new exemption to Georgia's income tax code (O.C.G.A. § 48-7-27). The bill amends Chapter 7 of Title 48, the state's income tax law, so that NIL compensation received by a student athlete at a Georgia postsecondary school under O.C.G.A. § 20-3-681 would not count as taxable net income for state purposes, as long as it is included in the athlete's federal adjusted gross income and is not already exempt under some other law. The change would apply to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. ### What it does - Adds a new exemption to Georgia's income tax law (O.C.G.A. § 48-7-27) for student athletes' name, image, and likeness compensation. - Limits the exemption to NIL payments received under O.C.G.A. § 20-3-681, the existing state law governing college athlete NIL deals. - Requires the income to already be counted in the athlete's federal adjusted gross income for the exemption to apply. - Excludes income that is already exempt from Georgia tax under some other law, to avoid double exemptions. - Sets the exemption to apply starting with tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. ### Who it affects College athletes at Georgia postsecondary institutions who earn money from name, image, or likeness deals, and by extension the colleges and universities where they play. The Georgia Department of Revenue would also be affected, since it administers the state income tax exemption. ### Why it matters If enacted, student athletes earning NIL money in Georgia would keep more of that income because it would no longer be taxed at the state level, potentially making Georgia schools more financially attractive to recruits compared to other states without such an exemption. ### Key provisions - Section 1 adds paragraph (11.3) to subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. § 48-7-27, excluding NIL compensation received under O.C.G.A. § 20-3-681 from taxable net income. - The exemption only applies to income already included in the athlete's federal adjusted gross income and not otherwise exempt under another law. - Section 2 makes the change apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. - Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard clause with no specific substantive effect beyond this bill's changes. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-02-03) - Last action: Senate Read and Referred (2025-02-04) - Sponsors: Brandon Beach, Greg Dolezal, Ben Watson, Carden Summers, Frank Ginn - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69766 > The history, votes, and amendments (95 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb71.md?full=1