vpFREE2 Forums

Proposed IRS Regulations

#1

American Gaming Association Release

···

_______________________________

4 MAR 2015

Yesterday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued
proposed regulations and an official Notice updating the tax
information reporting rules for players’ slot winnings (as
well as keno and bingo). Notably, the IRS is considering
future additional regulations that could aim to reduce the
respective reporting thresholds from $1,200 to $600 on
gaming winnings. This potential policy change could create
additional burdensome and unnecessary reporting requirements
for our industry.

The official Notice:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-15-21.pdf

IRS Proposal’s Impact on Gaming

The IRS's proposed regulations currently do not alter
commercial casinos’ reporting thresholds from the existing
levels for winnings from keno, bingo and slot machine play
(other than electronically tracked slot machine play).
However, the IRS may consider future additional regulations
that could reduce the reporting thresholds. The IRS will be
accepting public comments over the next 90 days regarding
current threshold levels, and considering whether amounts
should be uniform for bingo, keno and slot machine play. The
AGA Tax Working Group, comprised of senior tax
representatives from AGA member companies, will submit
comments to the IRS on behalf of the industry.

The official IRS documents:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/03/04/2015-04437/information-returns-winnings-from-bingo-keno-and-slot-machines

or

http://goo.gl/5jmqJf

AGA’s Summary:

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/03373c05c46b5e9a6eb445537/files/AGASummary_IRS_Notice_03_04_15.pdf

or

http://goo.gl/7H8Qbf

#2

This is certainly going to generate a tremendous amount of comment. A question (among many, many others) concerns the fact that the proposal speaks to play that is being tracked electronically by a player card. Would this perhaps mean that a session at "establishment X" includes all play, in a single "day", against that card, for example, Harrah's or Boyd or M-Life, or merely casino to casino?

It is far too early to know what will really happen, but it is interesting to discuss and even speculate.

..... bl

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#3

Instead of worrying about gambling winnings where virtually every recreational gambler loses each year the IRS should be focusing all their resources on fraudulent refund claims. The amount of money engineered in these false refunds using stolen ID's is in the billions of dollars.

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#4

Instead of worrying about gambling winnings where virtually every recreational gambler loses each year the IRS should be focusing all their resources on fraudulent refund claims.

Unfortunately, talking about what the government SHOULD be doing versus what it IS DOING is a waste of time. We have the government that we have because it has been voted in. Many, as individuals, see this and try to make a difference, but the vast majority ... well, who knows why they vote the way they do. <sigh>

..... bl

P.S. Probably NOT a proper subject for vpFREE discussions.

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#5

I'm confused! Where do we line up to get our "final" W2-g after a session with a win of at least $1200? Also, slot cards have not always been accurate.

Taken from AGA's summary

Single W-2G for a single gaming session. The casino no longer would have to issue multiple Form W-2Gs for reportable slot wins by a patron during the patron’s same session (one calendar day). A single W-2G could be used for that session. Customer using player tracking can net total wins and losses from a single session (calendar day). Notice 2015-21 provides this as an optional safe harbor method for the patron and invites comments on a number of issues described in the Notice.

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