Poll: Do you claim taxes on your winnings?

[Vern]

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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.

[MrBrightside]

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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.

[Klompy]

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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.

[TryTight]

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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.

[frommagio]

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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.

[rubbrband]

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.

[nws103]

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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.

[Indiana]

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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

[Slim Pickens]

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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.

[Sand]

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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.