KPMG flags U.S. tax exemption path for 2026 World Cup earnings

A reported U.S. Treasury breakthrough may open a federal tax exemption path for national associations at the 2026 World Cup, but KPMG said the real work for advisers starts where that relief stops. The firm’s June 5 TaxNewsFlash said FIFA could seek exemption from U.S. federal income tax on tournament earnings by applying for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3), yet players, coaches and support staff would still face U.S. federal tax on U.S.-source income, along with state and local taxes, sponsorship-income questions, worker-classification issues and social security obligations.

That split is the point for KPMG tax professionals. A team-level exemption can change the economics of tournament earnings, but it does not wipe away the compliance machinery that follows a global event played across multiple U.S. jurisdictions. Advisers still have to map income sourcing, determine what gets withheld, and sort through where jock-tax rules apply as the tournament moves from city to city. In practice, that leaves plenty of work for Big Four tax teams handling international events, mobile talent and entity-structure questions.

The scale of the tournament only raises the stakes. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will include 48 teams and 104 matches, with the U.S. portion running from Friday, June 12, 2026, through Sunday, July 19, 2026. Eleven U.S. cities will host 78 matches, including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle. Canada and Mexico already had federal-level relief for national associations, KPMG noted, so the reported U.S. move narrows one gap without erasing the cross-border complexity.

KPMG had already flagged that complexity in a March 2026 article on the World Cup’s tax and social security issues for players, coaches and support staff. The firm pointed to international tax treaties and social security totalization agreements as recurring pressure points, and the IRS guidance backing that analysis is still blunt: anyone claiming an exemption from U.S. Social Security and Medicare taxes under a totalization agreement generally needs a Certificate of Coverage from the home-country social security agency. Treaty relief for athletes and other service providers also depends on the right withholding forms, including Form 8233 or W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E, depending on the income type. For KPMG advisers, the message is clear: the federal exemption path may ease one layer of exposure, but it leaves the payroll, withholding and entity-review work very much intact.