Just finished up my taxes - Page 4

OnlinePro · #31 02-25-2007, 03:10 PM

You sir are an idiot puppet, but an honest one.

I_C_ALL · #32 02-26-2007, 12:49 PM

Remember to take those deductions for other things. Many times, you will have deductions that are not worth itemizing because the standard dedution is larger. Now that you are "forced" to itemize, look for those deductions. If you have 1k in tax liability, it may be worth it to have a CPA look at it. Look for a referral with a "free" consultation. If he/she can get you less than the 1k tax liability after his/her fees, you're probably better off. The CPA(a good one) will know where the red flags are and deductions you may have forgotten about.

This advice brought to you by someone who used tax software for the last 4 years and this year spoke to a CPA who found 18k in "extra taxes" I've paid unnecessarily over the last two years. To fix the 9k problem each year, it cost me $70 plus the cost of his services.

MasterLJ · #33 02-26-2007, 03:18 PM

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You sir are an idiot puppet, but an honest one.

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Ummm, k thanks.

MasterLJ · #34 02-26-2007, 03:19 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Remember to take those deductions for other things. Many times, you will have deductions that are not worth itemizing because the standard dedution is larger. Now that you are "forced" to itemize, look for those deductions. If you have 1k in tax liability, it may be worth it to have a CPA look at it. Look for a referral with a "free" consultation. If he/she can get you less than the 1k tax liability after his/her fees, you're probably better off. The CPA(a good one) will know where the red flags are and deductions you may have forgotten about.

This advice brought to you by someone who used tax software for the last 4 years and this year spoke to a CPA who found 18k in "extra taxes" I've paid unnecessarily over the last two years. To fix the 9k problem each year, it cost me $70 plus the cost of his services.

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If I ended up breaking even, it'd be worth it for going through the motions and learning a thing or two.

sports_quant99 · #35 02-26-2007, 04:20 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Remember to take those deductions for other things. Many times, you will have deductions that are not worth itemizing because the standard dedution is larger. Now that you are "forced" to itemize, look for those deductions. If you have 1k in tax liability, it may be worth it to have a CPA look at it. Look for a referral with a "free" consultation. If he/she can get you less than the 1k tax liability after his/her fees, you're probably better off. The CPA(a good one) will know where the red flags are and deductions you may have forgotten about.

This advice brought to you by someone who used tax software for the last 4 years and this year spoke to a CPA who found 18k in "extra taxes" I've paid unnecessarily over the last two years. To fix the 9k problem each year, it cost me $70 plus the cost of his services.

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Wow! Curious....what caused you to pay 18k extra in tax? Was it gambling related or something else?

morphd · #36 02-26-2007, 04:24 PM

I'm curious about this as well. This will be my first year itemizing and I'm looking at cutting a hefty check by my initial estimations.

I_C_ALL · #37 02-26-2007, 05:52 PM

Not gambling related. Just business structure

sports_quant99 · #38 02-26-2007, 05:58 PM

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Not gambling related. Just business structure

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Can you give us a quick summary? (i have my own business as well)

I_C_ALL · #39 02-26-2007, 06:06 PM

I was advised to set up as a corporation. I now have multiple corporations. I was also told to flow gambling through a corporation. This minimizes self-employment taxes cause you will only pay self-employment taxes on the salary the corporation pays you. You still will need to pay federal taxes on all of the profit, but self employment tax was an additional 15.3%.

My only concern now is money laundering issues. I'm not sure if this is a real concern and was looking to get a legal opinion from an attorney in the industry.

Don't take this as advice. Go speak to a professional. They will review your situation and their advice may be completely different than the advise I received. In addition, my CPA is NOT an expert with gambling. He did point out that the way I was reporting increased my audit probability by 80,000. I guess the point is even if you're right, you don't want to get audited. Time and money involved alone isn't worth it even if you come up 100% clean. Hopefully, I'll never know if my income was reported correctly.

sports_quant99 · #40 02-26-2007, 06:18 PM

There are no concerns with money laundering issues. We, as players, have no legal liability. As long as you've paid your taxes (and filed form TDF 90-22.1 as necessary), you're all set. The minor exception might be structuring, but i really only think they would go after you as an "add-on" charge to tax evasion.

As far as your audit probability, i'm not sure what the CPA saw in the way you were reporting that would have increased your audit probability that much. The general rule of thumb (as long as you dont answer 'yes' to the foreign bank question on Schedule B, and dont file TDF 90-22.1) is that gambling income raises your audit risk from 1% to 2%. I'm pretty sure this applies whether you file as a pro or non-pro.