DC Ballpark Tax: Who Pays, Gross Receipts, and Exemptions

If your business pulls in at least $5 million in annual District gross receipts and either files a D.C. franchise tax return or contributes to D.C. unemployment insurance, you owe the DC ballpark tax. The official name is the sports facilities fee, and it runs from $5,500 to $16,500 depending on your receipts. It is filed on Form FR-1500 through MyTax.DC.gov and due every June 15.¹

Who Owes the Fee

Two conditions have to be true. First, your annual D.C. gross receipts are $5 million or more. Second, your business is subject to the D.C. corporate franchise tax, the unincorporated franchise tax, or required to contribute to the District’s unemployment insurance system.² Entity type does not matter much on its own; corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships, and other structures doing business in D.C. can all fall in.³

Below $5 million in D.C. receipts, you do not file and owe nothing. Even a dollar short of the threshold means you are not a feepayer for the year.⁴

How Much You Owe

The fee is a flat amount that steps up in tiers based on your D.C. gross receipts from the preceding tax year:¹

$5,000,000 to $8,000,000: $5,500
$8,000,001 to $12,000,000: $10,800
$12,000,001 to $16,000,000: $14,000
$16,000,001 and above: $16,500

The fee caps at $16,500, no matter how large the business. A company with $7 million in D.C. receipts owes the same $5,500 as one with $5 million; the jumps happen only at bracket lines.

The tiers can move. Each year by December 1, the District’s Chief Financial Officer reviews whether ballpark fee revenue is covering bond payments and reserves. If projected revenue falls short, the CFO can raise every tier by the same percentage. Feepayers, the Council, and the Mayor get notice before any new schedule takes effect on October 1.¹

What Counts as District Gross Receipts

District gross receipts means income from sources within D.C., before deducting any expenses. That includes revenue from selling goods in the District, performing services there, and renting real or personal property located there. Revenue earned outside D.C. does not count, even if your headquarters sits in the city.²

Three items are pulled out of the calculation. Income you received from an ownership interest in another entity that itself pays the ballpark fee is excluded, so revenue is not counted twice inside a corporate structure. Federal and local motor vehicle fuel taxes you collected are excluded. So are bag fees retained under the Anacostia River Clean Up and Prevention Act.²

For service businesses, sourcing matters. A consulting firm based in D.C. that does all its work for Virginia clients would not count that Virginia revenue toward its District gross receipts. Where the work was performed drives the number, and the number drives which tier you land in, or whether you cross the $5 million line at all.

How to File and Pay

The return is Form FR-1500, filed electronically through MyTax.DC.gov. Paper filing is not accepted.⁴ You will need your business name and address, your FEIN or Social Security Number, the filing period, and your calculated D.C. gross receipts from the preceding tax year.⁵

The deadline is on or before June 15. If June 15 lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, filing shifts to the next business day. The Office of Tax and Revenue accepts ACH debit through the portal, ACH credit initiated by your bank, and credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express) with a third-party processing fee. If the payment originates from a bank account outside the United States, credit card is the only accepted method.⁴

If your business is new to MyTax.DC.gov, set up the account ahead of the deadline. Registration is not something you want to do on June 15.

Penalties for Missing the Deadline

Late filing adds 5% of the fee for the first month plus 5% for each additional delinquent month, capped at 25%. A separate late-payment penalty runs on the same 5%-per-month, 25%-maximum structure.⁶

When both penalties hit the same month, the filing penalty is reduced by the payment penalty for that month, so the same month is not charged twice. Even with that adjustment, ignoring the fee for five months can produce a combined penalty equal to half the amount owed. The District can waive charges for reasonable cause, but a bare oversight generally will not qualify.

Exemptions and the Nonprofit Catch

Organizations exempt from the District’s franchise tax under D.C. Code § 47-1802.01 are not subject to the ballpark fee. That list includes religious, charitable, scientific, literary, and educational organizations, along with civic leagues, labor organizations, business leagues, and fraternal beneficiary societies that qualify under the same provision.¹⁷ Entities shielded from District taxation by federal law or international treaty are also outside the fee’s reach.

The catch for nonprofits: if a tax-exempt organization has unrelated business taxable income and its UBTI-related D.C. gross receipts reach $5 million or more, it owes the ballpark fee on those receipts. A large nonprofit hospital running a profitable parking garage or gift shop can cross that line without realizing it.¹ Any business below $5 million in D.C. receipts owes nothing for the year regardless of tax status, but a strong revenue year can push you across the threshold, so review your D.C. receipts annually.

1
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-2762 – Sports Facilities Fee
2
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-2761 – Definitions
3
Government of the District of Columbia, Office of Tax and Revenue. Sports Facilities Fee
4
Government of the District of Columbia, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of Tax and Revenue. FR-1500 Ballpark Fee Instructions
5
Government of the District of Columbia, Office of Tax and Revenue. FR-1500 Ballpark Fee Instructions
6
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-4213 – Failure to File Return or to Pay Tax
7
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-1802.01 – Exempt Organizations – In General