Hello, I rarely if ever post in this group, although I have been a member for many years.My questions concerns gambling income taxes.Let’s say I receive a total of $150,000 in W2G’s. Yet, my total win for the year is only $5,000.When filing 1040, do I use $150,000 as other income/gambling win, and then claim a loss of $145,000 when itemizing?Or do I add the $5000 actual yearly win on top of the $150,000 W2G figure for a total win of $155,000, and then claim a loss of $150,000?I just read Jean’s book and I am more confused than ever. Thanks for any help clearing this up.
Tax guestion
Claim the W-2G’s as income (150K) and deduct all losses (145K) as an itemized deduction.
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On Friday, August 15, 2014 1:25 PM, “lizurdl…@…com [vpFREE]” <vpF…@…com> wrote:
Hello, I rarely if ever post in this group, although I have been a member for many years.My questions concerns gambling income taxes.Let’s say I receive a total of $150,000 in W2G’s. Yet, my total win for the year is only $5,000.When filing 1040, do I use $150,000 as other income/gambling win, and then claim a loss of $145,000 when itemizing?Or do I add the $5000 actual yearly win on top of the $150,000 W2G figure for a total win of $155,000, and then claim a loss of $150,000?I just read Jean’s book and I am more confused than ever. Thanks for any help clearing this up.
The first method. ($150,000 other income - $145,000 loss shown on itemizing.) The $5,000 win is usually part of the W2Gs. This group has some people with lots bigger figures. The higher these numbers the greater likelihood of an audit. If you do not have significant “earned” income (eg: work) you could file a professional gambler which means that losses are netted against winnings and you report net income. This is far more likely to generate an audit. In any event, keep very good records of your action as the casino records are quite unreliable and the IRS looks at your records first.
I am certainly not a true tax expert (Though I do hold a CPA’s license, I do not practice as one.).
Howard W. Stern
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On Friday, August 15, 2014 3:47 PM, “Ernie Mayhorn e_mayh…@…com [vpFREE]” <vpF…@…com> wrote:
Claim the W-2G’s as income (150K) and deduct all losses (145K) as an itemized deduction.
On Friday, August 15, 2014 1:25 PM, “lizurdl…@…com [vpFREE]” <vpF…@…com> wrote:
Hello, I rarely if ever post in this group, although I have been a member for many years.My questions concerns gambling income taxes.Let’s say I receive a total of $150,000 in W2G’s. Yet, my total win for the year is only $5,000.When filing 1040, do I use $150,000 as other income/gambling win, and then claim a loss of $145,000 when itemizing?Or do I add the $5000 actual yearly win on top of the $150,000 W2G figure for a total win of $155,000, and then claim a loss of $150,000?I just read Jean’s book and I am more confused than ever. Thanks for any help clearing this up.
Howard W. Stern wrote:
The first method. ($150,000 other income - $145,000 loss shown on itemizing.) The $5,000 win is usually part of the W2Gs. This group has some people with lots bigger figures. The higher these numbers the greater likelihood of an audit.
Declaring less in your income than the total of your w-2gs is likely
to be asked about, but it won't usually trigger an audit as long as
the simple explanation that you netted them with losses can be shown.
—In vpF…@…com, <007@…> wrote :
Howard W. Stern wrote:
The first method. ($150,000 other income - $145,000 loss shown on itemizing.) The $5,000 win is usually part of the W2Gs. This group has some people with lots bigger figures. The higher these numbers the greater likelihood of an audit.
Declaring less in your income than the total of your w-2gs is likelyto be asked about, but it won’t usually trigger an audit as long asthe simple explanation that you netted them with losses can be shown.------007’s suggestion that one might net losses against the w-2G total runs counter to direct IRS guidance that a casual gambler can’t directly reduce reported gambling winnings with gambling losses, but instead can only report losses as a deductible Sched A miscellaneous expense. So, you’ll understand if I would expect such an explanation to receive further review.There’s been separate discussion in the past on a related topic – offsetting certain losses against “same session” w-2g’s. Based on the concept of “session accounting” of gambling activity, it provides some reason to believe that the IRS might accept this method of reducing AGI. However, misscraps reported extensively on her attempts (and failure) to get the IRS to accept her returns on this basis.
Harry wrote:
007's suggestion that one might net losses against the w-2G total runs counter to direct IRS guidance that a casual gambler can't directly reduce reported gambling winnings with gambling losses
I suggested it as a possibility, but I agree that it's not the best
way to do it. My extensive experience with it is that it doesn't run
the risk of being audited, but only being asked to clarify, which is
usually motivated by the shock of first being asked to pay a tax bill
which is based on including all the w-2gs and none of the losses. But
"direct IRS guidance" isn't necessarily the best way to do things,
either, both regarding what is profitable and what's easiest. When I
first learned how to treat form 5754s, which are used to handle the
situation of a player hitting a jackpot for someone else, I was told
to have the person whose income the jackpot is sign it and give it to
the player who hit the jackpot. I did that for decades, before and
after finding out that the IRS doesn't want it done that way, with no
questions being asked. The few times that I did it the way the IRS
says it wants it done, which is to have the player who hit the jackpot
sign it, take it back to the casino, and have the casino reissue a
w-2g in the name of the person whose income it is, with one exception,
I met with all kinds of unnecessary problems, including the casino
refusing to do it. In another area, I only recently learned on this
forum that I was doing something wrong for years, but the IRS never
questioned me about it. I did something else wrong for a few years
and had 3 different responses from the IRS, from nothing, most years,
to having to pay the entire bill plus penalties, one year, to
something in between. Unless you go out of your way to cheat, there's
not a lot of downside to not going to a lot of trouble to do it the
"right" way.
What confuses me even more is the fact that I have roughly $50,000 in current session wins, and aprox $55,000 in session losses for 1014 to date. Yet, I have approx $150,000 in W2G’s due to a couple months of 10 play dollars. I’m stressing out on how to do my taxes at the end of the year.
lizardlips: I sent you a private e-mail.
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Jean $¢ott, Frugal Gambler
http://queenofcomps.com/
You can read my blog at
http://jscott.lvablog.com/
From: mailto:vpF…@…com
Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2014 11:30 AM
To: vpF…@…com
Subject: [SPAM]Re: [vpFREE] Tax guestion
What confuses me even more is the fact that I have roughly $50,000 in current session wins, and aprox $55,000 in session losses for 1014 to date. Yet, I have approx $150,000 in W2G’s due to a couple months of 10 play dollars. I’m stressing out on how to do my taxes at the end of the year.
There is no reason to stress out. The very simple solution is to put $150,000 in winnings on your 1040 and then put $150,000 in gambling losses as an itemized deduction. Most people do this and have no problems with the IRS. If the extra $100,000 in gross income causes you a lot of problems ($150,000W2s - $50,000 session wins) you can use the session method, but you may run into problems getting the IRS to agree. Miss Craps reported serious difficulties with the session method. You need to decide if you want the potential problems with reporting in this manner.