Basically, the IRS qualifies you as a pro if you do it at least 40 hours per week, and make money at least one year in five, something like that. There’s some more to it, but that’s the simple answer, see a tax accountant for details. Anyone who’s considering quiting their day job to become a poker pro should check out “Bikeking19” on youtube, young kid who quit his 6 figure day job to move to Vegas to be a poker pro, lives in his Prius (climate control and auto start/stop, popular with those living in cars) and eats comped casino food so most of his gambling EV goes into his gambling bankroll. Probably has a side gig of ad revenue off youtube, maybe patreon as well. For all the gambling equations (ROR, Kelly, Nzero …) it’s net EV (gambling EV minus expenses) that counts. Your gambling EV might be say $10/hour, but if your expenses are $2/hour, then your net EV is $8/hour.
What it takes to be a poker pro
I have friends that are pros. It's a hard grind. You have to keep detailed records. You have to be selective in which games you play. And you need a pro to do your taxes. (Fortunately, I have a friend in LV that specializes in taxes for pro gamblers.)
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On 1/14/2019 3:51 PM, nightoftheiguana2000@yahoo.com [vpFREE] wrote:
Basically, the IRS qualifies you as a pro if you do it at least 40 hours per week, and make money at least one year in five, something like that. There's some more to it, but that's the simple answer, see a tax accountant for details. Anyone who's considering quiting their day job to become a poker pro should check out "Bikeking19" on youtube, young kid who quit his 6 figure day job to move to Vegas to be a poker pro, lives in his Prius (climate control and auto start/stop, popular with those living in cars) and eats comped casino food so most of his gambling EV goes into his gambling bankroll. Probably has a side gig of ad revenue off youtube, maybe patreon as well. For all the gambling equations (ROR, Kelly, Nzero ...) it's net EV (gambling EV minus expenses) that counts. Your gambling EV might be say $10/hour, but if your expenses are $2/hour, then your net EV is $8/hour.
Edmund wrote :
I have friends that are pros. It’s a
hard grind. You have to keep detailed records. You have to be
selective
in which games you play. And you need a pro to do your
taxes. (Fortunately, I have a friend in LV that
specializes in
taxes for pro gamblers.)
Hiring a pro to do your taxes may help, but I believe the greatest obstacle in filing your taxes is dealing with IRS personnel who don’t truly understand taxation of gamblers. They sometimes interpret a W-2G as a statement of income when in fact it is merely a statement that you received a payment.
I have been a professional gambler for 24 years now and have filed my own taxes every year. It takes a substantial amount of time and effort. I have only had a problem for one of those tax years. For some reason some person at the IRS took offense to the fact that my total reported income was less than the sum of my W-2G’s. After several back and forths the IRS decided I was no longer eligible to file as a professional gambler and denied the validity of the session method of reporting my results. They also planned on taking me to Tax Court.
My final response was to summarize the number of casino visits for the year, show that every W-2G was included, include a printed copy of the IRS session method memo and to point out that I had effectively NO other income for many years. In the last sentence, I inquired that given the above facts what in their opinion was the correct occupation to declare.
About two weeks later I actually got a telephone call from the IRS. My return was accepted as filed.
If you’re comfortable reading and interpreting taxation publications then go ahead and do your own. Basically taxation of professional gamblers is very similar to that of any sole proprietor business. One benefit is you can shelter a high percentage of your income than that of an employee. One downside is you must pay both the employer and employee portions of Social Security payroll tax(15.3%).
G’luck all,
Gamb00ler
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On 1/14/2019 3:51 PM, nightoftheiguana2000@… [vpFREE] wrote:
Basically, the IRS qualifies you as a pro if you do it at
least 40 hours per week, and make money at least one year
in five, something like that. There’s some more to it, but
that’s the simple answer, see a tax accountant for
details. Anyone who’s considering quiting their day job to
become a poker pro should check out “Bikeking19” on
youtube, young kid who quit his 6 figure day job to move
to Vegas to be a poker pro, lives in his Prius (climate
control and auto start/stop, popular with those living in
cars) and eats comped casino food so most of his gambling
EV goes into his gambling bankroll. Probably has a side
gig of ad revenue off youtube, maybe patreon as well. For
all the gambling equations (ROR, Kelly, Nzero …) it’s
net EV (gambling EV minus expenses) that counts. Your
gambling EV might be say $10/hour, but if your expenses
are $2/hour, then your net EV is $8/hour.
Several readers here have posted tax comments here. Some of the information is just wrong and some is based on individual experience but might not be applicable other gamblers. It can be dangerous to get your tax information from gambling forums and other Internet sources.
Filing as a gambling business is very complex. The new updated edition of “Tax Help for Gamblers” will be out the last of Feb or early March. Marissa and I have brought on board Russell Fox, an EA and experienced tax preparer who has dealt with the issue of taxes and gamblers for many years. We spend a lot of pages discussing the decision to file as a professional gambler, both for the live poker player and for those who play other games. There are so many considerations. But the bottom line is that each decision will depend on individual circumstances.
Jean