Poker Winnings And Taxes

[Kuge 0]

Last night I finished 2nd in a $5 rebuy tourney on Stars, I won about $4650 (yay me). Anyways, I plan on cashing out between 3500-$4000 of my winnings. My question is, does it really matter how much I cash at at one single time?What I'm trying to say is...will I be taxed if I cashed out the $4000 in one big sum? Or will it not be taxed if I cash out $800 5 times over a period of time? Or does the tax come in affect after I cashed in the tournament, rather than cashing out the profits from the tournament?Ugh...can anyone help me here? I'm not used to doing taxes and I really don't want the hassle of filing taxes from my poker winnings. I'm a college student so right now poker is my main source of income at this point and time.

[Yoda 1]

Nothing is taxed unless you report it. No report, no tax. Of course, if you don't report it and get caught, there is that small detail of thousands of dollars in fines and jail time...but hey, it's worth the risk for saving a few hundred bucks right?

[StrippersNBlow 0]

Neteller ATM card.

[chester97 0]

lots of smart stuff has been posted on winning and taxes before. i suggest a search of the forum for previous posts.

[Yoda 1]

Neteller ATM card.

This is close to the worst advice that could possibly be given - don't listen. Just google it you don't want to listen to opinions you want to get facts. Lock this up it's the 5 billionth of it's kind..

[109suited 0]

This is easy. EVERYTHING you won in that tournament is taxable regardless of how you cash it out, or if you even cash it out at all. I've been playing for a living for almost a year now, and this past year was the first year I've had to report any significant poker winnings. The US government isn't interested in how much you cash out or how. They care about how much you make PER SESSION. So if you sit down at a 2/4 limit game for 10 minutes and win 20 bucks, that's taxable. If you leave that table and go grab a sandwich and come back 5 minutes later, open up a new 2/4 table, and play for an hour and lose 30 bucks. THE 20 YOU MADE EARLIER IS STILL TAXABLE. The 30 bucks is an itemized deduction. Obviously, you can't report more losses than wins for the entire year. There are tons of websites that can explain it better than I can, but this gives you a general idea. It really doesn't matter if you cash it out or not, if you wanna be obeying the law, it's taxable. That's why anyone that plays semi seriously needs to be keeping detailed records of wins/losses, times played, limits played, where you played, etc. It's important!

[nutzbuster 7]

Whats "taxes"?

[crazyplaya6 0]

I LOVE CANADA, not only for the lack-of-online-poker-taxes but for many other reasons as well.

[KidSquamish 0]

Don't quote me or rely on this, but here goes:The govt starts with the presumption that all money you take in is taxable, and the burden is on you to find a section within the tax code that gives you a right to exclude it from your gross income.There is no section that will allow you to exclude your poker winnings. As soon as you have a right to your winnigs (ie, when the poker site is obligated to pay you), you have made reportable winnings.But if you have poker losses, you might be able to offset your reported income with them. Section 165 of the US Internal Revenue Code: "Losses from wagering transactions shall be allowed only to the extent of the gains from such transactions." I take this to mean that if you had $100 of winnings and $500 of losses, you could only deduct $100 of those losses.

[greatwhite 0]

Can you write all tournament buyins off? Thats like your office supplies.

[dms26 3]

Can you write all tournament buyins off? Thats like your office supplies.

only if you itemize deductions

[another_rack 0]

Last night I finished 2nd in a $5 rebuy tourney on Stars, I won about $4650 (yay me). Anyways, I plan on cashing out between 3500-$4000 of my winnings. My question is, does it really matter how much I cash at at one single time?What I'm trying to say is...will I be taxed if I cashed out the $4000 in one big sum? Or will it not be taxed if I cash out $800 5 times over a period of time? Or does the tax come in affect after I cashed in the tournament, rather than cashing out the profits from the tournament?Ugh...can anyone help me here? I'm not used to doing taxes and I really don't want the hassle of filing taxes from my poker winnings. I'm a college student so right now poker is my main source of income at this point and time.

Just because I feel bad for railing the other guy.http://www.pocketfives.com/DD6E4B33-181C-4...3BE6A8AF8C.aspx

[Kurtman213 0]

That's why anyone that plays semi seriously needs to be keeping detailed records of wins/losses, times played, limits played, where you played, etc. It's important!

Does anyone know an easy way to get a good poker +/- spreadsheet for Microsoft Office?I've tried, with no success.

[three2 0]

I just finished my taxes. The actual itemizing is easy on your actual tax return. The hard part will be proving you lost what you deducted if and/or when you get audited. That's what I'm worried about. Anyone here ever been audited? I just claimed I lost the 40K I had to my Adjusted Gross Income on page one of my return. Hmm.....I think everyone is fine with poker. Just stay away from playing hi-limit slots in between tournies. Every time you win over $1200, you have to fill out a W2G form for the IRS. These will get you. I don't think the IRS will get around to online gambling for a few years. Just my unprofessional thoughts.

[nritchi3 0]

I LOVE CANADA, not only for the lack-of-online-poker-taxes but for many other reasons as well.

Online poker winnings are taxable in Canada. Sorry.

[KidSquamish 0]

only if you itemize deductions

A person that doesn't play cards as a livelihood (that is, as a trade or business) can generally NOT deduct buy-ins. See the above rule about deducting wagering losses.If you play cards as part of a trade or business you MAY be able to deduct many, many more costs associated with playing both live and internet.

[fatman 1]

Whats "taxes"?

Taxes suck!!!

[oldirtyharry 0]

This is close to the worst advice that could possibly be given - don't listen. Just google it you don't want to listen to opinions you want to get facts. Lock this up it's the 5 billionth of it's kind..

Are you saying Neteller keeps track of their ATM cards? I've heard the exact opposite.

[fleung22 1]

Online poker winnings are taxable in Canada. Sorry.

Only if you declare poker as an occupation. If you just "happen" to win a tournament then it's like winning the lottery and no tax baby!If nothing else...Revenue Canada isn't even close to being as tough as the IRS.

[oldirtyharry 0]

Taxes suck!!!

So does Texas. Unfortunatly there is nothing me or you can do about it.

[fatman 1]

So does Texas. Unfortunatly there is nothing me or you can do about it.

What's wrong with Texas?

[kcb 0]

I'm not really playing for a living or anything so I've never claimed my winnings. In fact, I've never really cashed out as I'm always trying to build up the roll. I think the chances of being audited (or so I heard) was around 1/1000. If I ever make the plunge to take this more seriously, I'll definitely start keeping detailed records, though. No reason not to, really.

[Aces, Full, Mike 0]

So does Texas. Unfortunatly there is nothing me or you can do about it.

Yea, much better to pay exorbitant amounts to live in New England, so that you can have the privilege of freezing your nuts off during the winter.Texas= nice weather, no state income tax, cheap property, hotter women without the annoying NE accents.

[GoCryWolfe 0]

I just did my taxes this week. I only claimed roughly half of what I won last year playing poker. However, I claimed it as a Hobby in the other income section. I also had a "credit" or deduction for paying for a semester of my school. I dunno if that helped, but I owe nothing.