The National Football League is giving up its tax-exempt status, which Commissioner Roger Goodell called a ''distraction.'' In a letter to team owners, Goodell said that the league office and its management council will file tax returns as taxable entities for the 2015 fiscal year. Goodell said the NFL has been tax-exempt since 1942, though all 32 teams pay taxes on their income. ''As you know, the effects of the tax-exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years,'' Goodell said in the letter, dated Tuesday. ''The fact is that the business of the NFL has never been tax exempt.'' Major League Baseball gave up its 501(c)(6) tax-exempt status in 2007, which eliminates the requirement for an annual filing of IRS Form 990, which is the publicly available tax return of a tax-exempt organization and requires the listing of compensation for the highest-paid employees. More...