Michael Boutot wrote:
As is usually the case your post worries me.
My posts usually worry you? Well, I'll admit that I have made a few mistakes in my posts; I think just about everyone who has posted very much has, but I've always been honest enough to admit my errors. I will extend my apologies to you if you have somehow detrimentally relied upon any erroneous info that I've posted. I try to be careful, but I'll try to be even more diligent in the future. Now, if it is not my few errors, then what else do I post which usually worries you? I suppose you ought to just quit reading my posts if they bother you; that would be the most sensible thing to do, really.
Taking a line that the
caino is giving you a gift would not go well in Tax Court ...
I will certainly defer to your judgment without the slightest hesitation if you can provide any credentials whatsoever which would support some professional qualification on your part.. Are you an accountant? ... a tax attorney? ... an IRS employee? ... even a tax preparer such as with 'H & L Block'? ... because if you have nothing else to support your "theory" except mere intuition and a 'seat of your pants' opinion, then _your_ post worries _me_.
... as even
a "gift" from such a 3rd party in pure theory could be taxable
anyway. ...
And that statement is pretty much erroneous enough for me to conclude that you don't really know what you're talking about. GENERALLY ... in the absence of any exceptions made by specific tax code provisions ... GIFTS are _NOT_ taxable to the recipient under _federal_ taxes. I am not going to venture a guess about _state_ taxes, which, with 50 states, could possibly differ, but I will say that I suspect that MANY, if not most, state-taxes are patterned in some fashion after the federal tax system. So I now invite you to elaborate a little bit about your "theory" that gifts from 3rd parties could be taxed anyway -- other than what I have already stated. And I assume that you're not going to claim that "could" encompasses possible future tax-law changes; your post was a direct challenge to mine, and carries with it the implication that such a ruling is just a little bit more imminent than that.
You do, know, don't you, that whenever there is a gift tax, it is paid by the gift GIVER and not the RECEIVER. If you don't know that, then I don't see how you're the least bit qualified to criticize my post, and the problem with your 'worries' about my posts might just be due to your own misconceptions.
It being cash brings it into even sharper focus. No 1 would
ever claim the normal freebies (glasses/shirts/etc) but once you are
called in everything can be on the table.
I fail to see any distinction at all between non-cash gifts and cash-gifts ... unless the regulations themselves make a distinction.
And of course, if I read her post correction, even Jean Scott (her post below) indicated that this is a 'very gray area'.
Cheers.
Bill Velek
···
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Bill Velek <billvelek@a...> wrote:
> Jean Scott wrote:
>
> > <<Taxation on gambling income is an inexact science, but the
> > consensus seems to be that bounce back cash and cash back
> > should be reported as income.>>
> >
> > I don't think there is a consensus really. A very gray area. Many
> > people report cashback and do not count bounce-back. Marissa and
I
> > cover this subject in "Tax Help for the Frugal Gambler," coming
out in
> > January.
>
> Absent a specific tax code provision or ruling by the IRS, I would
be
> inclined to treat them separately. Logically, cash-back is nothing
more
> than a rebate and ought to be used to reduce the amount you claim
as
> losses, but bounce-back has all the earmarks of a gift, which makes
it
> non-taxable. Although I am a lawyer, I am NOT a TAX lawyer ... and
I
> know next to nothing about taxes, so I could certainly be very
wrong
> about this. But I do think that ... if there is not very clear
guidance
> from the IRS ... that this would give you something to hand your
hat on
> if they claim that you falsified your return. Just my thoughts.
>
> Bill Velek