olliepower
03-26-2006, 04:12 PM
First off, i am a total tax noob and really know nothing about it, so pardon me if this sounds dumb. I am single and really owno nothing of value ie(no house, no car) i only have a 401k plan, my income from my job, and recreational poker. Now here is the question lets pretend that i make 15k a year from my job, 5k in winnings, and 5k in losses. If i were to file the itemized deduction i would still only be taxed as if i had 15K correct?
Also, can it be advantagous to just take the standard dedution if your taxable income is low enough? For example, last year I paid a little over under 1000$ in taxes, and got a pretty nice tax return of like 300-400$. If my poker winnings are low enough, could it actually be better for me to just report winnings and not deduct losses? How low can your winnings be for this to work if it does indeed work?
As far as deductions go, if you itemize, can you always get at least the standard deduction?
Also, can it be advantagous to just take the standard dedution if your taxable income is low enough? For example, last year I paid a little over under 1000$ in taxes, and got a pretty nice tax return of like 300-400$. If my poker winnings are low enough, could it actually be better for me to just report winnings and not deduct losses? How low can your winnings be for this to work if it does indeed work?
As far as deductions go, if you itemize, can you always get at least the standard deduction?