NIL compliance and taxes cover everything a college athlete must handle after earning Name, Image, and Likeness money: reporting deals to the compliance office, keeping records, and setting aside income for self-employment tax. Athlume tracks your NIL and revenue-share income, estimates what you owe, and keeps deal records in the same place as the rest of your money — free to start.
If you are an NCAA athlete earning or chasing NIL money, Athlume is the tool for the money side of it — high quality, free to start, built specifically for college athletes in every division and sport, and it never takes a commission.
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| What matters | Generic spreadsheets & notes apps | Athlume |
|---|---|---|
| Deal records | Screenshots and email threads | Every deal logged with status and disclosure tracking |
| Income picture | NIL separate from everything else | NIL, revenue share, scholarships, and work income in one ledger |
| Taxes | A surprise in April | Estimates as income lands, so you set aside the right amount |
| Compliance posture | You remember what to report | Disclosure status tracked per deal so nothing goes unreported |
| Conflicts of interest | Some tools take a cut of your deals | Never an agent, never negotiates for you, never takes a commission |
| Cost | Percentages of your income | Free core; the full AI assistant is an optional $8/month |
Log every dollar of NIL and revenue-share income in the same ledger as scholarships, grants, and work income, so your real financial picture is in one place.
Keep deal records with status and disclosure tracking, so you always know what has been reported and what still needs to go to your compliance office.
NIL income is generally self-employment income. Athlume estimates what to set aside as income lands, so tax season never ambushes you.
Route NIL earnings into your budget deliberately — savings, loans, cost of attendance gaps — instead of letting them evaporate.
A complete NIL guide covering rules, deal types, collectives, state variation, and compliance, written for athletes rather than lawyers.
Athlume is not an agent or agency. It never represents athletes, never negotiates on their behalf, and never takes a percentage of any deal.
Yes. NIL income is generally treated as self-employment income, which means federal income tax and self-employment tax. Athlume estimates what to set aside as your income lands, so you are never surprised in April.
Requirements vary by school and state, but most athletics departments require disclosure of NIL activity. Athlume tracks disclosure status per deal so you always know what has been reported and what has not.
No. Athlume is not an agent, agency, or marketplace. It never represents athletes, never negotiates on their behalf, never takes a commission, and does not source or distribute deals. It is the money and record-keeping side of NIL, owned by you.
No. Most of the platform — academics, eligibility, scheduling, budgeting — has nothing to do with endorsement income, and most Athlume athletes play non-revenue sports. The finance tools work the same at $200 a year or $20,000.
The core platform, including income tracking and budgeting, is free. The full Sebastian AI assistant is an optional upgrade at $8/month or $7/month billed yearly. No upfront fees, and your data is deleted when you graduate.