Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

Since the questions of taxing players is coming up, I'm curious. I don't think this will be as representative (I think if you polled BBV, many more don't claim). Anyway, here we go.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

Yes. I claim income in compliance with state and federal laws, and I claim everything I make.

Like Benny Binion told Doyle Brunson long ago (in context): Claim all of your income, because you don't want the government on your case and money sitting in a box isn't doing any good. Brunson took it to heart. One year, he actually lost money, but he claimed some income anyway so the IRS wouldn't get on his case.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

Wow, kinda surprised that "No" is ahead. I'm assuming most of these are small (<$10k) winners?

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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Wow, kinda surprised that "No" is ahead. I'm assuming most of these are small (<$10k) winners?

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I don't know any winners making <15K that pay taxes. I seriously doubt the IRS is gonna run u down for a puny 15K anyway. Now, if you are making 25K+ its ur ass if you dont pay.

Indy

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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I don't know any winners making <15K that pay taxes. I seriously doubt the IRS is gonna run u down for a puny 15K anyway. Now, if you are making 25K+ its ur ass if you dont pay.

Indy

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I do (make less than 15k and claim). I do because :

a: I don't want to have to explain the deposits in my account if I'm audited.

but mainly b: I believe it is morally wrong to hide income from taxation. Believe me, I realize I'm in the minority. And I'm not surprised that No is ahead. Most people think I'm crazy to pay. Of course, most people I know, when I bring up taxes, talk about how to cheat like it's not big deal.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

i think its morally wrong to pay federal taxes since ~50% goes to weapons.
you can make >25k and still not pay taxes, you just have to be willing to move your money around slowly and watch how much you have sitting in your bank accounts at one time

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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i think its morally wrong to pay federal taxes since ~50% goes to weapons.

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Second that! I pay taxes out of my a$$ on my legal income, that's enough to fund their war in Iraq and pay exorbitant salaries to idiotic members of the Congress.

I will screw government any way I can. No poker taxes from me - unless I start making over 50K a year.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

What the hell's the point in living in fear. Like one of the responses above, I pay so I don't have to explain what's going on if I get audited for other reasons.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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What the hell's the point in living in fear. Like one of the responses above, I pay so I don't have to explain what's going on if I get audited for other reasons.

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fear of fines is not a motivator for me, i couldn't live with myself if i willingly contribute to killing someone. anyways, they have absolutly no reason to audit me

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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What the hell's the point in living in fear. Like one of the responses above, I pay so I don't have to explain what's going on if I get audited for other reasons.

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fear of fines is not a motivator for me, i couldn't live with myself if i willingly contribute to killing someone. anyways, they have absolutly no reason to audit me

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well, honestly, I've struggled with this as well, but it just sounds like such a justification for doing what I know is wrong. Maybe it's because my wife is a social worker, and it's those social programs being cut (not military) and so many people are deeply, fundamentally screwed by the system from the moment they are born. I get really on my high horse when people go off on "the lazy slobs on welfare" as a justification for not paying taxes, so I'm very pleased at the 2 first responses being "I don't pay taxes because half goes to the miliary" [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

I'm going to pay and wonder:
1. anyone know the legality of online poker according to NY state law?
2. when declaring online poker as other income do you have to specify this as "gambling winnings" or specify that it was for poker?

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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so many people are deeply, fundamentally screwed by the system from the moment they are born.

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This justifies over paying taxs to me, I declare money I didn't even make just beacause of this [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I want to let them screw me as much as they can

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

Paying taxes sucks, but going to jail sucks more. I'm not going to risk my own ass for a few bucks. Yes, I agree that a lot of our tax dollars are wasted, and I'd be a lot happier to pay them if they weren't. But are you going to try to avoid paying taxes if you get a regular job too?

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

I paid the taxes as hobby income. So I picked the "netting wins/loss" choice. I read all the rules, and my conclusion is that the hobby category fit my activity perfectly.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

Netting wins and losses = illegal and subject to audit. I don't really care, but there are better ways to fudge your numbers than doing that.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

I keep hearing everyone say "If you don't pay your taxes and you get audited you're going to jail." Does anyone know to what extent this is true? I mean, is there a dollar amount that if you don't pay you'll be sent to prison for sure - or does every case vary quite a bit? It would be interesting to see what would happen to each person who doesn't pay on say 10k, 20k, 30k, 40k, and so forth. Anyone actually know?

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

Who here has been audited by the IRS?....Get it?

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

I have. If its small $ like <15K you won't be in real deep [censored] if they catch u. They wil just make u pay what u owe and a few bucks in interest. You'll not likely get audited anyway. What I was doing was very obvious and involved mucho $ that's why I got looked up.

Indy

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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I have. If its small $ like <15K you won't be in real deep [censored] if they catch u. They wil just make u pay what u owe and a few bucks in interest. You'll not likely get audited anyway. What I was doing was very obvious and involved mucho $ that's why I got looked up.

Indy

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can you elaborate on what you did?

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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I have. If its small $ like <15K you won't be in real deep [censored] if they catch u. They wil just make u pay what u owe and a few bucks in interest. You'll not likely get audited anyway. What I was doing was very obvious and involved mucho $ that's why I got looked up.

Indy

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can you elaborate on what you did?

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I was young and dumb, bought NT at .45/share and sold it for $8. I thought they'd never know but its auto-send to the IRS for e-trade stuff.

Indy

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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Who here has been audited by the IRS?....Get it?

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I haven't been audited but then I claim my poker profit using the day+limit=session method. I actually consciously don't switch limits during a day and plan one continuous play period so I can maximize the number of hands in a "session" and therefor minimize the "loss" deduction since that does not work fairly for people that report wins & losses. My CPA says as long as the play period is one limit and continuous, even if multitabling and table hopping, it gets booked as one session for tax purposes, but if I change limits or game it makes a new session. Maximizing the number of hands per session comes very close to just reporting wins-losses as income, but I do have some lossing sessions this way, just not as many and not as great in magnitude.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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I have. If its small $ like <15K you won't be in real deep [censored] if they catch u. They wil just make u pay what u owe and a few bucks in interest. You'll not likely get audited anyway. What I was doing was very obvious and involved mucho $ that's why I got looked up.

Indy

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Right. No one is suggesting you're going to go to jail for a few thousand dollars of unclaimed income. However, I had a friend who was audited for an approx. $1000 error from two years previously. He was blatantly in the wrong, got a judgement against him after stupidly fighting it for a year. So the IRS were pricks, frankly, because he'd been pricks to them. The fines and interested amounted to about $1500 on top of the $1000, so I wouldn't call this "a few dollars" of fines. However, I think if he would have cooperated, the fines would have been less, not to mention the interest.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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Wow, kinda surprised that "No" is ahead. I'm assuming most of these are small (<$10k) winners?

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I think you have to remember that not everyone on this board is a winner, I'm guessing that losing players aren't paying taxes on their winnings.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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I don't know any winners making <15K that pay taxes. I seriously doubt the IRS is gonna run u down for a puny 15K anyway. Now, if you are making 25K+ its ur ass if you dont pay.

Indy

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I won a big amount early in the year before I kept track of my sessions. I'm a little better at it now, but definately don't have 100% accuracy. Or 80% for that matter. Any suggestions? I'm in the +25K range.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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Netting wins and losses = illegal and subject to audit. I don't really care, but there are better ways to fudge your numbers than doing that.

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It's not that cut and dried - a lot depends on your situation. Read the rules for the various categories. For me, netting as hobby income was the most apropos choice available. No other category fit as well.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

I just use my bank ledger as a record. A deposit = a loss and a cashout a win. I declare gambling winnings hope this keeps working.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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but mainly b: I believe it is morally wrong to hide income from taxation. Believe me, I realize I'm in the minority. And I'm not surprised that No is ahead. Most people think I'm crazy to pay. Of course, most people I know, when I bring up taxes, talk about how to cheat like it's not big deal.

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my two cents:
Its *only* legally wrong to not pay taxes.
Morally, i'm pretty sure its the opposite. If there is a god, a whole lot of people are gonna be answering a bunch of questions at the pearly gates on why they funded the US war machine with their income.
So i guess you can choose who to be in trouble with, the irs, or your conscience.

Myself, being too lazy to be religious, I pay everything i owe mainly because of what you said about audits. They will find you, and it can be years from the time it happens. I just got a notice in the mail that i had a 40 dollar error in my return from 3 years ago. Scared the crap out of me when i saw "audit division" on the envelope, and boy was i relieved when i saw that i merely owed 40 plus interest.
The moral of the story is that they'll catch you eventually.

And people who say the amounts matter are crazy. If you're hiding 5,000 in income from the gov't or 100,000, it still works out to the theft of thousands of dollars, according to the IRS.
And i think the deciding factor on prison is intent: hide money on purpose, go to jail. Hide money accidentally (miscalculations etc), pay interest and maybe a fine.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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I just use my bank ledger as a record. A deposit = a loss and a cashout a win. I declare gambling winnings hope this keeps working.

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This is also what I do.

Indy

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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I don't know any winners making <15K that pay taxes. I seriously doubt the IRS is gonna run u down for a puny 15K anyway. Now, if you are making 25K+ its ur ass if you dont pay.

Indy

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I paid on 12k last year. It's small beans for sure, but I don't need the IRS getting fresh with me in ten years when I'm making 150-200k/yr at my real job. They "penalize" you however much they think they can make you pay.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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I don't know any winners making <15K that pay taxes. I seriously doubt the IRS is gonna run u down for a puny 15K anyway. Now, if you are making 25K+ its ur ass if you dont pay.

Indy

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I paid on 12k last year. It's small beans for sure, but I don't need the IRS getting fresh with me in ten years when I'm making 150-200k/yr at my real job. They "penalize" you however much they think they can make you pay.

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I am also surprised at the number of "no" votes. I also made ~15k last year and paid on every dime.

Rule #1 of adulthood - don't #### with the IRS.

I can move money around, in and out with impunity because I can back it up with the check I wrote. I don't have to worry about the IRS screwing up my real life and real job.

People who aren't paying just don't realize how downright nasty the IRS can get. They get mildly interested in you at 5k and very interested at 10k unreported income. Those numbers come from an IRS field agent.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

i net my wins and losses because my state (wi) doesn't allow you to deduct losses. if i didn't i would have paid over half my income last year in state tax, not to mention the ~30% that went to the feds.

i make a lot of money and probably run a high risk of audit but i don't really have another option unless i move to another state.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

Am I the only one who claims most of the income but not all to keep the amount down? Im just a student otherwise, so the taxes on the first 15k are not bad at all. I would also think a lot of people would just claim online winnings and not casino or vice versa.

Is this somehow more dangerous because you are drawing attention to your poker income but not being honest?

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

I'm dissapointed at the number of people saying they don't claim because of the way the gov spends their money. (in this case the military.) First of all you can't selectivly choose what you should pay. Don't want more war and deficit? Don't vote for morons, and dont let other people do the same. Besides, the money goes to more than the military. While I wish we spent more on other programs and services, that doesnt change the fact the government serves every one of us every day in so many ways I cant even count. By not paying your simply dumping the problem onto other people and I feel the military argument is just a rationalization of your actions. (well they are doing bad things, so I can too)

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

Your taxes are your bill for living in this country. If you don't like it, get the f*ck out. If you don't like how they're spent, use your vote, which I'm sure most of you don't do. That's what makes this country great, you can vote & change things.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

I started playing online poker this year (around june) and i have made about 14k so far. Im a student, im 18, i've never had a real job, and im not even from here (U.S.). Thus i have no idea how to report winnings/losses fromonline poker. I have no idea how it works. Can anyone help me out?
Thanks

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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That's what makes this country great, you can vote & change things.

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LOL.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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That's what makes this country great, you can vote & change things.

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LOL.

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Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

Yes and I'm doing it right. Last year I just did net because my records sucked.

I have an accountant.

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

What winnings?

Re: Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?
 

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Your taxes are your bill for living in this country. If you don't like it, get the f*ck out. If you don't like how they're spent, use your vote, which I'm sure most of you don't do. That's what makes this country great, you can vote & change things.

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ah, youth.