Recently, my wife won $150 in a video poker tournament at the Barbary
Coast. When she went to pick up her winnings, she was told that, due
to new rules imposed subsequent to the Coast-Boyd merger, 30% of her
prize amount would be withheld since she is a Canadian citizen. I
don't know if this is a Boyd interpretation of IRS requirements or
something else. I do know that we have never been exposed to such an
idea previously, and we have won money prizes of similar or larger
amounts.
Has anyone ever heard of this before (i.e., withholding 30% of such a
small amount)?
For that matter, does anyone have anyone have any idea why our
Canadian government allows a foreign country (the USA) to tax net
gambling winnings when such winnings are not taxable in Canada?
Scores of countries have tax treaties with the US that preclude this.
My wife can be very persuasive. She argued that, because she has a
Social Security Number (she once worked in the US), the rule
shouldn't apply to her, and the booth attendant reluctantly accepted
the argument.
Neil