NIL Rules for High School and College Athletes in 2026: State-by-State Rules, Reporting, and Taxes

The short answer: NIL rules in 2026

High school: as of October 11, 2026, high school athletes can be paid for their name, image and likeness in 42 states. Seven states do not allow it: Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming. Every state that allows NIL bars using your school's logos, uniforms or facilities, most ban categories like alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, gambling and weapons, and 15 require you to tell the school or association about your deals.

College: Division I athletes report third-party deals worth $600 or more to the College Sports Commission's NIL Go platform within five business days. Deals from payers connected to the school must promote a real product or service and pay in line with comparable deals, and pay-for-play is banned. Schools in the House settlement can also pay athletes directly through revenue sharing, capped at about $21.58 million per school in 2026-27.

Recruits: if you will play Division I, deals paid from the start of your junior year must be reported within 14 days of enrolling. And NIL money is taxable from the first dollar, including free products.

High school NIL rules by state (October 2026)

We checked each state against its high school association's current handbook or the governing statute on October 11, 2026. Rules change often: confirm with your state association and school before signing.

What changed in the past year: Indiana approved high school NIL on May 4, 2026; Louisiana made it a state-law right on August 1, 2026; Michigan widened its rule in January 2026; and Ohio approved NIL in November 2025. Going the other way, Wyoming wrote its ban into state law on July 1, 2026, South Carolina banned high school NIL pay in June 2025 and a 2026 law locks that in from June 2027, and Texas law bars NIL deals while an athlete is UIL-eligible.

Third-party trackers disagree on the count. The most current one we found, Opendorse's list updated April 26, 2026, was out of date on Arkansas, Indiana, South Carolina and Texas when we checked.

Common high school NIL restrictions

• No school identity: every state that allows NIL bars using your school's logos, uniforms, name, mascot or facilities in a deal.
• Banned categories: 26 states list them outright, usually alcohol, tobacco and vaping, cannabis, controlled substances and prescription drugs, gambling and sports betting (often the lottery too), adult entertainment, and weapons. Arizona, Colorado and Georgia instead bar anything that conflicts with district policy.
• Disclosure: 15 states require telling the school or association, with deadlines from before signing (Louisiana, North Carolina) to 14 days (Ohio, Oklahoma).
• No pay for performance and no NIL as a recruiting or transfer inducement, in nearly every state that allows it.
• No schools, coaches, boosters or collectives arranging or paying for deals. Collectives are expressly barred or restricted in states including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
• No NIL activity during school hours or team activities in several states, including Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Montana and Nebraska.
• Parents: Louisiana requires written parental consent under 18, North Carolina requires a parent to be a party to the deal, and Florida requires a parental release.
• Agents: expressly allowed in states including Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Vermont and Washington; Colorado bars career-management agents in high school and Wisconsin bars agents entirely.

Headed to Division I? High school deals you will have to report

Whatever your state allows, the College Sports Commission's rules reach back into high school for athletes who enroll at a Division I school. Any NIL deal worth $600 or more, with payments made on or after the first day of your junior year (or July 1, 2025, if later), must be reported. Smaller payments from the same payer count toward the $600, and so do products and services once their value reaches $600.

The report is due within 14 days after you start full-time classes at the Division I school, or before your first Division I game, whichever comes first. You cannot file while in high school, because NIL Go opens only after enrollment, so keep a record of every deal from the start of junior year: the contract, the payer, the dates and every payment.

Deals with payers connected to your future school get the most scrutiny. The College Sports Commission checks whether the payer is associated with the school, whether the deal promotes a real product or service, and whether the pay is in line with what similar people earn. Pay with nothing to promote, pay to attend a particular school, and a school's promise of a specific amount of third-party NIL money are not allowed. Not reporting, reporting late or taking a deal that breaks the rules can put your Division I eligibility at risk.

Two timing rules for recruits: a Division I school can put an NIL or revenue-share offer in writing starting August 1 of your senior year, but it cannot be signed before the regular signing dates. And the NCAA can no longer stop recruits from negotiating NIL deals during recruiting, after a 2025 settlement in a lawsuit led by Tennessee.

College NIL rules in 2026: NIL Go and the College Sports Commission

NIL Go covers Division I. NAIA athletes have been allowed to earn NIL money since October 2020 and must notify their athletic director in writing. Division II, Division III and junior college athletes should check their school's compliance office for the current rules.

• The College Sports Commission, set up under the House settlement in 2025, enforces the rules on third-party NIL and school revenue sharing. Its NIL Go platform, built with Deloitte, launched June 11, 2025.
• Division I athletes report third-party deals worth $600 or more in total, including non-cash pay such as car leases or gym memberships, within five business days of agreeing to terms. Deals with the athlete's own school are reported by the school.
• Deals are reviewed on three tests: whether the payer is associated with a school, whether the deal has a valid business purpose (promoting goods or services sold to the public), and whether the pay falls within a reasonable range for comparable deals.
• Since July 1, 2026, deals of $600 to $15,000 skip the pay-range review until an athlete passes $50,000 in deals with associated payers in an academic year.
• Deals with associated payers must actually use the athlete's NIL. Paying now to use an athlete's NIL someday, with no defined plan, does not pass.
• If a deal is not cleared, the athlete can revise and resubmit it, cancel it and refund the money, or appeal to a neutral arbitrator within 14 days.
• There is no cap on what an athlete can earn from third-party NIL. Through August 31, 2026, NIL Go had cleared 46,478 deals worth $582.49 million.

Revenue sharing vs. third-party NIL

Revenue sharing exists only at Division I schools that joined the House settlement. In its first year, the College Sports Commission tracked $1.77 billion in revenue-sharing payments, and 68 schools reached the cap or came within 5% of it.

How NIL income is taxed

From the IRS's NIL guidance. This is general information, not tax advice; talk to a tax professional about your situation.

• All NIL income is generally taxable, including non-cash pay such as merchandise, gift cards and services.
• Report all NIL income even if you never receive a tax form. Payers send a Form 1099-NEC for payments totaling $2,000 or more received in 2026; the threshold was $600 for earlier years.
• Pay for your services is subject to self-employment tax of 15.3% (12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare) once net self-employment earnings reach $400.
• Net self-employment earnings of $400 or more also mean you must file a return, even if a parent claims you as a dependent.
• No tax is usually withheld, so you may need quarterly estimated payments if you expect to owe $1,000 or more. The next 2026 installment is due January 15, 2027.
• Keep receipts, travel logs and mileage for expenses you incur to earn NIL income; they may be deductible.
• You may owe state tax where you perform NIL services, and NIL income must be included on the FAFSA, where it can affect financial aid.

Agents and contracts

NCAA rules let athletes use an agent or marketing professional for NIL, and the College Sports Commission tells Division I-bound recruits the same. High school rules on agents vary by state, as the table above shows.

Federal law (the Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act) bars agents from recruiting with false or misleading information or giving you anything of value before you sign, requires a written disclosure before you sign, and requires the agent to notify your school within 72 hours of signing or before your next athletic event, whichever comes first. The FTC began enforcing it in January 2026 with information requests to 20 Division I schools, and families can report problems at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

More than 40 states also have athlete-agent laws that typically require agent registration, notice to the school, a warning in the contract and a right to cancel within 14 days. A contract signed by a minor is voidable in most states, which is why businesses usually want a parent to sign. Louisiana requires written parental consent for athletes under 18, and in California some contracts for a minor's services require 15% of earnings to be set aside in a trust, so ask a lawyer whether that applies to your deal.

International students on F-1 visas

There is still no clear rule. The Department of Homeland Security has issued no NIL-specific guidance for F-1 students; its last statement, in July 2021, said it was still assessing the issue. Because F-1 students can work only in narrow circumstances, active NIL work such as sponsored posts, commercials or camps can be treated as unauthorized employment, which can affect your visa status.

Some lawyers see passive licensing income or work done outside the United States as possible paths, but none has been approved. International Division I athletes still have to report deals of $600 or more to NIL Go. Talk to your school's international student office and an immigration attorney before you agree to anything.

Common NIL deal types

Payment can be money, products or services, and all of it counts toward reporting thresholds and taxable income. For a sense of scale in college, Opendorse reported an average deal of about $6,200 on its platform from July 2025 to June 2026, with Instagram accounting for 83.6% of NIL social media activity. That is one platform's Division I data, not the whole market, and high school deals are usually far smaller.

• Social media posts or content for a brand.
• Appearances in commercials, ads or promotional events.
• Autograph signings.
• Camps, clinics or lessons the athlete hosts.
• Endorsement and sponsorship agreements.
• Group licensing, such as video games and trading cards. EA Sports offered each player who opted into College Football 25 at least $600 and a copy of the game.

Is there a federal NIL law?

Not yet. The House SCORE Act was pulled from the floor in December 2025 and again in May 2026. The Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act 77-22 on September 28, 2026; it would create a federal right to earn NIL money, override conflicting state NIL laws, cap agent fees on endorsement contracts at 5% and require agent registration. It becomes law only if the House passes it and the president signs it, and any bill that does not pass before the current Congress ends in January 2027 has to start over.

Two executive orders on college sports are in force. Executive Order 14400, signed April 3, 2026, defines fraudulent NIL schemes as paying above fair market value, including through collectives, and its main sections took effect August 1, 2026. Executive orders direct federal agencies; they do not change NCAA or state association rules on their own.