What if you have no session records for taxes?

[JD2WSOP]

What would you guys do? I got booted from Golden Palace after winning 7k and may not be able to get the records they had on there in time. Would you guys just net in this case?

Also, how risky do you think it is to let the winnings slide? It is only 7k and I made no withdrawls through netteller, only a check.

[nineinchal]

Prepare it from your bank records.

Nineinchal CPA

[Skallagrim]

Pay your taxes. If you know how much you actually won, that is the key figure for taxes. You only need to have session records for an audit, not for filing. If you are audited and dont have session records the IRS may adjust your figures and charge you more.

[MasterLJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Prepare it from your bank records.

Nineinchal CPA

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT - you aren't going to get thrown in jail for making a legit effort to pay taxes on winnings.

[JD2WSOP]

so it would be best just to net here, on "other income - gambling winnings" ?

[JD2WSOP]

[ QUOTE ]
Prepare it from your bank records.

Nineinchal CPA

[/ QUOTE ]

Not sure what you mean here...would that be to take all my deposits from my account to Netteller, then subtract that from my total withdrawl(winnings)?

[Skallagrim]

Why do I try...?

Figure how much you won. Figure also how much you played (rough guess if you have to). So your taxes should look like: $13,000 in other income (gambling winnings), and $6,000 as an itemized deduction (gambling losses). If you are audited they may disallow most of the deductions cause you dont have good records....but it wont be a crime as long as its an honest good-faith attempt to pay on what you really netted.

[d240t]

I tried searching and didn't find an answer:

What counts as a session? Is it every time I sit at a table? Is it every day I play? Is it every trip to a gambling city? Is there any clarity?

The reason I need clarity on this issue is: I have good records of my wins/losses, but the net win is low while the actual wins and losses, if we count it as every time I sit at a table, is very high. I've also got no other deductions I can take, so in the end I'm paying taxes on the entirety of the standard deduction I could have taken if I hadn't gambled; this gives me an additional tax liability of $1k on net winnings of about $3.5k.

If I could define the gambling sessions such that my total winnings from winning sessions and total losses in losing sessions were both smaller and the losses were smaller than the standard deduction, I could take the standard deduction and lower my tax liability.

Is there clarity on what a gambling session consists of?

[Skallagrim]

There is very little clarity on what a "session" is or is not. And there are threads on the subject - plus an FAQ here at 2+2 that includes a discussion of sessions.

Most folks count from sitting at a table to the point of getting up. This makes little sense online, where most folks just count from logging on to logging off.

If you could just net your totals and still take the standard deduction of course you (at least all you non-pros) would pay less, thats why the IRS does not allow it.