Let me get this straight

[cardsharkk04]

If I had winnings of $500,000 and losses of $350,000 I still have to pay state taxes in Illinois on $500,000 ?

Note: I did this with by adding up all my withdrawals minus deposits, which I know is wrong. But I don't know how to figure out how much my net is using individual sessions. Would I just have to go to pokertracker and add up the billion sessions that I played??

[meleader2]

[ QUOTE ]
If I had winnings of $500,000 and losses of $350,000 I still have to pay state taxes in Illinois on $500,000 ?

Note: I did this with by adding up all my withdrawals minus deposits, which I know is wrong. But I don't know how to figure out how much my net is using individual sessions. Would I just have to go to pokertracker and add up the billion sessions that I played??

[/ QUOTE ]

you know this seems ridiculous. pokertracker should do this for you. i'd post something in the suggestions section of the pokertracker forums.

it really shouldn't be all that difficult, and if u get enough people that want this they'll make it. x-post this in MSNL/HSNL.

[CaptVimes]

[ QUOTE ]
If I had winnings of $500,000 and losses of $350,000 I still have to pay state taxes in Illinois on $500,000 ?

Note: I did this with by adding up all my withdrawals minus deposits, which I know is wrong. But I don't know how to figure out how much my net is using individual sessions. Would I just have to go to pokertracker and add up the billion sessions that I played??

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably, the amount you can deduct on your federal return is an itemized deduction unless your filing as a pro. Many states don't offer it. If its not listed as a specific deduction in the state tax instructions then nope.

[popeye18]

You can export your sessions into excel. Then arrange it in order of money won. For 0 to your highest win do a sum. Thats your wins. For 0 to your biggest loss do a sum. This is your losses.

[pokerstudAA]

If your state does not allow deduction gambling losses - you get to pay state income tax on all your winnings.

Illinois does not allow a deduction for gambling losses. It sounds like your best bet to avoid the extra state taxes is to file with the IRS as a gambling "professional" on schedule C. Then you would only claim your "net" winnings on your state return.

[Skallagrim]

If you really played $850,000 worth of online poker last year, HIRE A CPA NOW! Maybe it helps you to file as a professional - ever think of that? If I ran a businesss with a profit of over $150K a year (actually I do run a business but the numbers are my business /images/graemlins/wink.gif ) and didnt seek professional tax advice I would be deserving of being called an idiot. I certainly wouldnt advise seeking tax advice on internet forums, even this one.

Skallagrim

[Kyle]

can you not just file as a professional? You would have to pay selfemployed tax but if you make over a certain amount it is better since you get more write offs(SEP IRA etc) . I think the amount was around 140K or so, I cant really remember though.

[GittyUP]

[ QUOTE ]
If your state does not allow deduction gambling losses - you get to pay state income tax on all your winnings.

Illinois does not allow a deduction for gambling losses. It sounds like your best bet to avoid the extra state taxes is to file with the IRS as a gambling "professional" on schedule C. Then you would only claim your "net" winnings on your state return.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is the way to go. The only problem with this is your supposed to file quarterly if your self employed. I still would file like this and play dumb. you might have to pay a fine for not filing quarterly but its better then paying tax on 500k then deducting the 350k loss afterward.

[Slider]

That's the dumbest law ever... Say a person had 1.5 million in winnings, and 1.49 million in losses...

With a 5% tax on winnings.... they'd end up losing money for the year.

[jively]

[ QUOTE ]
You can export your sessions into excel. Then arrange it in order of money won. For 0 to your highest win do a sum. Thats your wins. For 0 to your biggest loss do a sum. This is your losses.

[/ QUOTE ]
This works, but many people believe that if you are multi-tabling the same game, you can combine those tables into one session. To do that in Excel is a little more complicated, and will result in fewer sessions (so lower misc income and gabling losses).

-Tom

[Kyle]

[ QUOTE ]
That's the dumbest law ever... Say a person had 1.5 million in winnings, and 1.49 million in losses...

With a 5% tax on winnings.... they'd end up losing money for the year.

[/ QUOTE ]

My accountant had a client who had to do just this. However you can deduct 80% of your losses so he was stuck paying taxes on 20% on money he did not earn

[Uglyowl]

Learn the "sumif" function in excel, it will help you if you decide to do this yourself. PM me with any questions.

[ddubois]

There is a perl script floating around (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=software&Number=4150401) that will take a pokertracker-exported .CSV of your sessions, and condense the multiple 'table sessions' into appropriate 'day sessions'. This will reduce, but not eliminate, the ridiculous AGI explosion problem.