vpFREE2 Forums

Fighting the IRS

#1

Some of you may remember that I posted here a couple of months ago about receiving a letter from the IRS saying I owe $1,700 for 2007 underreported gambling winnings.

Basically here was the deal:
- The IRS had W2G's in the amount of 38,800.
- My journal showed gambling winnings of 32,000, based on daily sessions. I won many jackpots, but I had bigger losing days.
- I itemized losses up to 32,000, my real winnings.

Well, I sent them a letter disputing their account, with an abbreviated version of the journal, plus an explanation.

I have just received a letter essentially saying that it's impossible for them to show a certain amount in W2-G's and for me to claim less than that amount in winnings. So essentially, they ignore any possible journal or session method.

I called and talked to mr. IRS. I tried to explain my response but he clearly had never heard of anything like it. Since my actual losses were $38,000, he said I should just file a new Schedule A and only have to pay taxes on the $800 difference between that and what they got in W2-G's.

But ... but ... THAT'S NOT ACCURATE! He said if I insist on disagreeing, the next step would be tax court.

Should I just re-file everything and make them happy by actually reporting what THEY consider my winnings are? Or should I try to got to tax court? Do I need a lawyer for tax court? It that's the case, then I should probably just redo the forms to make them happy, even though it's not accurate.

Any thoughts?

#2

Some of you may remember that I posted here a couple of months ago about receiving a letter from the IRS saying I owe $1,700 for 2007 underreported gambling winnings.

Basically here was the deal:
- The IRS had W2G's in the amount of 38,800.
- My journal showed gambling winnings of 32,000, based on daily sessions. I won many jackpots, but I had bigger losing days.
- I itemized losses up to 32,000, my real winnings.

Well, I sent them a letter disputing their account, with an abbreviated version of the journal, plus an explanation.

I have just received a letter essentially saying that it's impossible for them to show a certain amount in W2-G's and for me to claim less than that amount in winnings. So essentially, they ignore any possible journal or session method.

I called and talked to mr. IRS. I tried to explain my response but he clearly had never heard of anything like it. Since my actual losses were $38,000, he said I should just file a new Schedule A and only have to pay taxes on the $800 difference between that and what they got in W2-G's.

But ... but ... THAT'S NOT ACCURATE! He said if I insist on disagreeing, the next step would be tax court.

Should I just re-file everything and make them happy by actually reporting what THEY consider my winnings are? Or should I try to got to tax court? Do I need a lawyer for tax court? It that's the case, then I should probably just redo the forms to make them happy, even though it's not accurate.

Any thoughts?

Why isn't it accurate? If you had W-2gs for $38,800 and lost $38,000
of it back, then if, by your "session" method, you won $32,000, you
would have only lost $31,200 of it back. What was your actual net
result if it wasn't a win of $800? The 2 methods shouldn't end up
with anything different. Unless I misunderstand, there is no
principle involved here that's worth fighting about. If they're that
much more comfortable with you doing it a different way, I'd do it
their way. It's definitely the pragmatic way to go. The IRS is
generally very tolerant of people whom they see as cooperative.
Fighting them is usually a bad idea.

#3

<<Should I just re-file everything and make them happy by actually reporting what THEY consider my winnings are?>>

That's what I would do!!!! You want to keep the IRS happy!!!!!

···

________________
Jean $�ott, Frugal Gambler
http://queenofcomps.com/
You can read my blog at
http://lasvegasadvisor.com/blogs/jscott/

#4

I just filed an amended return, adding the same amount to wins and losses to
make them happy. That seemed to satisfy them.

Cogno

···

-----Original Message-----
From: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vpF…@…com] On Behalf
Of Jean Scott
Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2009 10:08 AM
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [vpFREE] Fighting the IRS

<<Should I just re-file everything and make them happy by actually
reporting
what THEY consider my winnings are?>>

That's what I would do!!!! You want to keep the IRS happy!!!!!
________________
Jean $¢ott, Frugal Gambler
http://queenofcomps.com/
You can read my blog at
http://lasvegasadvisor.com/blogs/jscott/

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