The first thing your friend needs to do is to contact the casino, explain
the problem, and ask for them to immediately forward a copy of the W2G to him.
The casino should have had whoever won the money show proper ID and sign.
After all, anyone could just pick up a randomly forgotten card and put it in a
machine to play - which is why they always ask for ID for jackpots.
It is possible that your friend may have forgotten he won this jackpot.
Seeing the W2G and signature will let him know if this is the case. Perhaps he
failed to write it down.
The casino may be able to help with this.
ยทยทยท
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We had a case with the IRS where my nephew, same name as my husband but the
3rd, while my husband is the 2nd -- had been given savings bonds as a baby.
On the bond was my SS # and both my name and the "baby"'s name. Now the
nephew is grown, he cashes in the bonds, gives his correct address, but
accidentally the bank uses my social security number, not his. So we get the bill
for it. We had to contact the bank, get them to correct the 1099, and then
contact the IRS - over and over and over - until finally they understood and
rectified the problem.
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Also it is always possible someone just gave a wrong SS# or the casino
copied down a wrong SS# and the W2G came to your friend, while the rest of the
info on the W2G is for someone else. So you need to actually have the casino
look at the W2G and check the info.
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Once you have the W2G and know exactly what is going on, then you can try to
get the IRS to change things.
If all else fails, contact the Taxpayer Advocate's office for help. They
can help during the IRS auditing process.
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