If you’ve never heard of the “jock tax”, it’s probably because traveling isn’t a major part of your job. But for the many athletes, entertainers and business consultants whose work constantly takes them across state lines, the tax is a fact of life. And oftentimes, a huge headache.

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The idea behind the tax is simple: If you earn income in a state other than your own, that state has the right to tax the income you earned there--assuming the state collects income tax in the first place. The same applies to cities that levy an income tax. What complicates the jock tax is its execution, as those subject to it often end up tackling dozens of state tax forms come tax time.

While the jock tax can hit anyone who spends a given amount of time conducting business in another state, experts agree that those in the public eye--like professional athletes--are the likeliest targets (hence the aptly-named “jock” tax).

“Athletes are a target because their calendars are all public information,” said Ryan Losi, executive vice president of Piascik & Associates, an accounting and financial services firm in Glen Allen, Va. Since athletes’ contracts are also public, it’s easy for states and city localities to calculate what they owe, he said.

And there’s another factor in play: salary. Higher earnings mean higher tax revenue, which is why those making the “big bucks” tend to turn the heads of taxing authorities, said Dave Blouin, president of financial management firm Blouin & Company in Waltham, Mass.

But the tax is hardly limited to the very wealthy. In the case of professional sports, everyone from the star athlete to the trainer is asked to pay the jock tax.

“We have a number of rookie athletes that are not making a ton of money but still end up having to file 10-12 state income tax returns in addition to their federal return,” Blouin said. “It can get very complicated, burdensome and expensive for these athletes.”

So how does a state determine how much of an athlete’s salary is earned in that state? Exposure to the tax depends on the number of working days--or “duty days”--the athlete spent there. The duty day calculation is what separates the jock tax from the regular nonresident tax. Each professional sports league has its own way of defining duty days, which include games, training days, travel time, and other events. The duty day calculation, combined with the reality that states each have varying tax rates, makes for a burdensome end-of-year tax situation, experts said.

Ironically, most people can claim their out-of-state taxes on their in-state tax forms, which essentially creates a wash for the states, said William Ahern, spokesman for the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C.

“It has all created a mountain of useless paperwork. It’s just a colossal waste,” he said.

Ahern and others believe Congress should make a national decision about how much economic activity in an out-of-state location would require filing a tax return.

“Flying in for a couple days’ work will not meet that threshold,” Ahern said.

Another option might be to have employers – or in the case of professional sports, team authorities – file tax returns on behalf of their employees. According to Blouin, while this method may help alleviate the athlete’s administrative burden, more analysis has to be done to make sure a process like this works. After all, as Ahern pointed out – athletes don’t have the typical wage earning job that generates a W-2 and paper trail.

Some wonder how the nonresident income tax began hitting athletes in the first place. According to Ahern, it started in 1991, when the Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals. Following the Lakers’ loss, California’s Department of Revenue decided to enforce its nonresident income tax on the Bulls.

“It was kind of a ‘money grab’ by the state of California,” Ahern said.

Illinois responded by enacting its own tax on competing sports teams, and the move quickly spread to other states with sports franchises. Today, nearly all states with a professional sports team have adopted the jock tax.

While experts hope the jock tax will be regulated by Congress, they warn it’s likely that economic and political pressures will push tax authorities to become more active in their pursuit – even if imposing the jock tax adds only a few dollars to their revenue stream.

“The lowest dollar amount demanded was $2, from an extreme skater who won a $200 prize in Cincinnati,” said Ahern. “I believe he paid it.”

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