Re: Paris Tourney Tax Question
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I cashed for 2 grand and got one of these. Do I need to report it?
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It's a W2. The IRS computers are gonna know about it. YES you darned well better report at least that much as gambling winnings come April. And no, you cannot deduct from that gambling losses. You must report the winnings, and then separately, IFF you itemize you can include gambling loses as part of your Schedule A deductions. So even if you lost $5000 overall, but won $2000 at that tourney, if you don't itemize you're stuck reporting $2000 of gambling winnings. And in reality, the IRS may come knocking asking why you only reported $2000 of gambling income when they got a W2G of $2000--they realize that only a small fraction of total winnings are W2'd, but you're expected to track and report all of it, so a return that reports as income exactly what they get in W2G's will be suspicious.
As for Paris demanding someone get a W2G... that sounds exactly like the BS Caesars was doing early on. But Caesars said they got Harrah's corporate folks to agree that was bogus and they now only do W2G's for the actual amount they pay folks. I don't think Paris should be doing this.
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