Short version: For federal tax, it's your child's income, even if the check comes to you. Your state decides who controls the money. California says pay from a likeness, content or sports deal is the minor's, with 15 percent held in trust.
The answer comes from two places, and they don't always line up. Federal tax law looks at who did the work. State family law looks at who has a claim to a minor's pay.
What the IRS says
Federal law counts pay for a child's work as the child's income. It goes in the child's gross income "and not in the gross income of the parent," even if the child never receives it.
The IRS guide for 2025 returns says the same in plain terms. It's the child's income "even if under local law the child's parent has the right to the earnings and may actually have received them."
Two more lines in that guide are written for parents. If the child doesn't pay the tax due on the income, "the parent is liable for the tax."
And if the child can't file their own return because of age or any other reason, a parent or guardian files it for them. The parent signs the child's name, then "By (your signature), parent for minor child."
Most deal pay is self-employment income. A dependent with $400 or more of net self-employment earnings in a year files their own return. Being claimed on your return doesn't change that line.
The IRS says it's your child's income, even if the money lands in your account.
What state family law says
Older family laws give parents a claim to a minor's pay. California's Family Code says both parents "are equally entitled to the services and earnings" of an unemancipated child, which means a child not yet legally on their own.
Montana's code, in its 2025 edition, reads almost the same. The parents of an unmarried minor child are equally entitled to "the parenting, services, and earnings of the child." Other states have their own versions, and their own exceptions.
California's exception for likeness and sports deals
California carves some contracts out of that rule. Its list includes a contract to license the use of a person's likeness, a contract to work as a content creator, and a contract to play a sport.
For a contract on that list, the parents' claim to the earnings doesn't apply. Another section says those earnings "shall remain the sole legal property of the minor child."
The employer also sets aside 15 percent of the minor's gross pay under the contract. It goes into a blocked trust the code calls a Coogan Trust Account. That holds whether or not a court approved the contract.
A parent or guardian is usually the trustee. The code calls the parent's role "a fiduciary relationship," which means a legal duty to handle the money for the child. It's governed by the law of trusts.
Until the child turns 18 or is legally emancipated, nobody takes money out of the trust without a court order. That includes the child and the parent. At 18, the athlete can withdraw it.
Two questions, two answers
Whose income is it for tax? Your child's, under federal law. Who has a claim to the money itself? Your state's family code decides that. In California, a likeness deal is treated differently from other pay.
Your state may say something else. The answer sits in your state's family code, and a lawyer licensed in your state can say how it reads for your family.
The deal itself matters too. A business asks a parent or guardian to sign for a minor, because a minor's contract can generally be cancelled by the minor.
So the adult who signs is often the one reading the payment terms. How much, when, and paid to whom. Those lines are in the contract, not in the family code.
What Leave does with this
If your child is 13 to 17, you create the Leave account and you're their required Teammate until 18. You see the contracts, the dates and the Web. What your child tells Leave, their strands, stays theirs.
Upload a deal and Leave reads the payment terms back in plain words: how much, and when. Leave takes 0 percent of anything your child signs. Your family decides what to sign.
Questions people ask
Can a parent keep the money a minor earns from a deal?
It depends on the state. Some family codes, such as California's and Montana's, give parents a claim to a minor child's earnings. California makes an exception for contracts that license a minor's likeness or pay them to play a sport. That pay stays the minor's.
Does a minor's deal income go on the parent's tax return?
No. Federal law counts pay for a child's work as the child's income, even if a parent received it. A dependent with $400 or more of net self-employment earnings files their own return. If the child doesn't pay the tax, the parent is liable for it.
What is a Coogan account?
A blocked trust account under California law. For a minor's contract on the state's list, the employer deposits 15 percent of the gross pay into it. Nobody withdraws from it before 18 without a court order.
Be your own agent. Leave.