Automating the collection of federation levies

To help federations manage their business models seamlessly, Liveheats has introduced Automated Federation Levies - a tool that automatically collects and tracks federation “head taxes” across all sanctioned memberships and events.

What is a Federation levy?

A Federation Levy (also known as a head tax) is a small fee - either a fixed amount or percentage - applied to each registration processed by a club or event organiser affiliated with a federation, on Liveheats.

Federations use levies to fund the services they provide to their members, such as insurance and liability coverage, brand and sanctioning rights, rankings and qualification pathways, access to national championships, event management software, and standardised rules and playbooks.

Liveheats now automates this process, allowing federations to apply and collect levies on event registrations run by affiliated organisations. The levy is automatically deducted, tracked, and reported in the federation’s dashboard, ensuring transparent and accurate payments with no manual reconciliation required.

For example, a national body might apply an 8.25% levy on every event registration processed by its affiliated organisers, as described below:

How to automate federation levies with Liveheats 

Once set up by the Liveheats team, federation levies work automatically across all affiliated organisations.

1. Federation setup

• Your Liveheats account manager will create the levy under your federation account (for example, IFSA 2025–26 Head Tax).
• Choose whether the levy applies to events, memberships (coming soon), or both. Set the levy as a percentage of the total registration price (e.g. 8.25%) or fixed amount (coming soon).

2. Automatic application to affiliated organisations

• After setup, the levy is automatically applied to all affiliated clubs and event organisers - including both existing and newly created events

3. Athlete registration

• When an athlete registers for an event, the federation levy appears clearly itemised at checkout (e.g. Federation Fee – IFSA)

4. Tracking and reporting

Each payment includes a distinct “Federation Fee” line item. Federation admins can request reports for:

• Total levies collected (by currency) 
• Per-club/child organisation breakdowns 
• Payout history and outstanding balances

5. Payouts

• Funds collected can be automatically directed to an Australian Stripe account.
• If the federation operates outside of Australia, Liveheats will collect the funds and issue regular payouts to the federation's bank account in the correct currency.

Common questions for federation levies with Liveheats

Can I apply a fixed fee instead of a percentage?

Soon, yes! The first release supports percentage-based levies only. Fixed-amount levies are coming soon.

Can levies apply to memberships as well as events?

Currently, only event levies are supported. Membership levies will be added very soon.

Do organisers or athletes need to do anything?

No. Once the levy is configured, it applies automatically to all affiliated organisations and appears on registration receipts.

How often are payouts made to federations?

If your federation uses an Australian Stripe account, you can control the payouts.

If not, Liveheats manages regular manual payouts to ensure all funds are reconciled and delivered promptly.

Updated on: 08/11/2025