Is rakeback income?

[David LoPan]

I dont think rakeback is income...

do you report your credit card "cashback" rewards...

how is rakeback different from any other type of bonus incentive?

[2easy]

actually i would think that your credit card cashback would be income too.

[the jerk]

Worm, you are better off putting rakeback as income or else you have to explain what rakeback is to an IRS revenue agent.

[Ron_Mexico]

Its income any way you want to look at it.

[Poker CPA]

Its income and its allocated to your sessions accordingly.
Your trying to "produce" taxable income, as opposed to trying to save money at the auto dealer or your choice of Credit Card. This allocation is paramount to players who have "special" rackback deals.

[Voltaire]

Say you're playing at a site that agrees to make the rake for you 100% of every pot you win (minus the money you throw in the pot). Then at the end of the month it returns it all as rakeback. How sweet it is! Well, sweet if rakeback is not taxable income.

You win $1000 at WSEX in January. You win $800 at FTP in February. At the end of February you get $200 rakeback from FTP. You had an income of $1000 in January and guess what? You had an income of $1000 in February. #30

[phish]

Rakeback is income if you're a winning player. But it can be more properly treated as a rebate on fees paid for a losing player.

I've posted about this in detail a couple of times already and don't want to go thru the details why again. But think thru it and it'll make sense.

[DING-DONG YO]

phish, I'd like to see the details of what you're talking about.

Say you make $10 in rakeback but lose $5 playing. You still have $5 income.

[Austiger]

Where are you supposed to report it? Do you just count it as a session when you get it? How are you supposed to go back and divide it amongst your sessions?