Taxes

daxtrader · #1 11-09-2007, 05:15 PM

Can someone explain how taxes work for US players? I made a measly 2k this past month or so from $50. Do I have to report this?

Also, if someone from MSNL or HSNL can chime in and tell us how you pay your taxes just for curiosity's sake. Do you just net out your profits for the year and pay taxes on that? Do you keep track of each "session" ? Have you been audited?

I always wonder what people like aba do for their taxes since they are always winning or losing a few hundred grand any given day/week/month.

Sir Folds A Lot · #2 11-09-2007, 05:29 PM

I have another question if you don't mind me piggy backing the op thread.

Anyone could look at my hand history and see that I donate. Can I claim those donations?

SellingtheDrama · #3 11-09-2007, 05:43 PM

Search for poster 'Russ Fox' (or google for him) - he's a poker player/CPA and is considered an authority on these matters.

BalancePoint · #4 11-09-2007, 06:35 PM

^^ well said

Quicksilvre · #5 11-09-2007, 08:11 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Search for poster 'Russ Fox' (or google for him) - he's a poker player/CPA and is considered an authority on these matters.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, he can probably answer your question better than anyone here.

Also, holy crap at calling $2,000 a month "measly." That's almost $25K a year; some people working full time make less than that.

Kurn, son of Mogh · #6 11-09-2007, 08:22 PM

1. Hire an accountant.
2. Keep accurate records
3. Gambling income is treated as ordinary income in the US, just like any other non-W2, non-investment income you might make.

Unless you are going to report as a self-employed professional, the sum of all your winning sessions is reported as *other income* on From 1040, and the sum of all losing sessions (not to exceed winning sessions) is reported as an itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A.

IRS publication 529 expressley forbids netting wins-losses and reporting the resulting number as income.

Any more detail, ask a tax accountant.

daxtrader · #7 11-09-2007, 09:38 PM

Okay so I read some of Russ Fox's stuff. Still very confusing. I play 12 tables at a time. Sometimes a table will break and i'll immediately open a new one. Now how the hell am I supposed to keep track of all my winnings and losses when multitabling? I lost $10 at this table but won $20 on that one but lost $2.79 on this one blah blah etc etc. ??? Am I supposed to report 100,000 sessions at the end of the year? Ridiculous.

This is why I ask that someone from HSNL please explain how you file your taxes. Poker tracker shows you your net winnings, is this enough proof?

What I want to know is how do all the high stakes players file their taxes and more importantly, if you're deducting your session losses from your winnings, how do you keep track of all that info if you're multitabling???? Are you telling me someone like Aba sits there with a log book writing down how much he won or lost on each table?

Also, what's a session anyway? If i'm multitabling and I close some tables to go take a piss or grab a sandwich, is my session over? what if the table breaks after 2 hands? Is that a session?

and yes ofcourse i'll speak to an accountant but it would be interesting to know what others are doing as well because not all accountants will be familiar with online poker and multitabling and know what a "session" is.