NFL star’s massive tax bill highlights problems with BTC salaries

NFL Star Odell Beckham Jr’s (OBJ) decision to take his $750,000 salary in Bitcoin appears to have cost him dearly due to the market crash after he signed the deal. Owing to the vagaries of cryptocurrency tax laws and current prices, OBJ is estimated by some to have made 61% less than if he’d taken his salary in fiat.

The loss has highlighted the tax complications from receiving a salary or yield in cryptocurrency as crypto investors have to pay tax on the amount it’s worth when it was received, not what it’s worth when they lodge their tax return.

On Nov. 12 last year, OBJ signed a one-year- deal with the Los Angeles Rams worth $750,000. In a promotional Twitter post partnered with CashApp, OBJ announced that he would be receiving 100% of his $750,000 yearly salary in Bitcoin (BTC).

At the time, Bitcoin had been breaking new all time highs and just two days before OBJ signed the Rams deal, it reached its highest price ever of $69,044. Unfortunately for OBJ, Bitcoin is now down 46% from that high, currently worth $36,972.

According to sports business analyst and senior executive producer for The Action Network Darren Rovell, OBJ’s decision to take his full salary in Bitcoin may not have been the brightest idea.

Rovell stated that OBJ’s entire salary is now worth only $413,000 compared to the original $750,000.

Once both Federal and State taxes are accounted for, at a cumulative rate of 50.3% Odell will only have earned $35,000 over the past two and a half months, which equates to just one Bitcoin. This is a far cry from the $90,000 he would have received if he’d taken his salary in fiat.

Bitcoin enthusiast Joe Pompilano (brother of influencer Anthony) argued that there were some major discrepancies between Rovells’ take and actual fact including that he was paid weekly and not annually.

However, Rovell said the weekly payments were irrelevant to the tax treatment: “The aggregate payment has been completed. It doesn’t matter when he got paid.”

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