Scared of the IRS

[wpr101]

I am declaring net also man. I'v paid like 500,000 hands this year. I have no documentation of stuff so I have no choice.

There's a lot of people in the legislation forum talking about paying wins and losses... I seriously doubt it though. Look at some of the threads in BBV, nobody keeps records like they should.

[AAAA]

FreedomToFascism.com

if you are looking for something to support, this might be worthwhile. i watched the video at netflix for free...but it might be on the website too.

i have rarely been so unhappy with the state of things in this country...

[7n7]

Honestly, how hard is it to write down the following?

1. Start time
2. End time
3. Amount won/lost
4. Date

And there's plenty of programs that can do the math for you (scary 'ol addition/subtraction)...e.g. Excel.

Don't blame the government for your laziness. The tax law has been there a lot longer than you've been playing poker. Ignorance of it is no excuse and never has been.

[Karak567]

[ QUOTE ]
Honestly, how hard is it to write down the following?

1. Start time
2. End time
3. Amount won/lost
4. Date

And there's plenty of programs that can do the math for you (scary 'ol addition/subtraction)...e.g. Excel.

Don't blame the government for your laziness. The tax law has been there a lot longer than you've been playing poker. Ignorance of it is no excuse and never has been.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had absolutely no idea I had to do any of this until I talked to a CPA/read it recently on the 2+2 forums.

On top of that my harddrive crashed and I lost all of my PokerTracker files.

What do I do?

(by the way thanks for the lecture, ill use my time machine and fix it all? I was really counting on my pokertracker files to do this for me)

[7n7]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Honestly, how hard is it to write down the following?

1. Start time
2. End time
3. Amount won/lost
4. Date

And there's plenty of programs that can do the math for you (scary 'ol addition/subtraction)...e.g. Excel.

Don't blame the government for your laziness. The tax law has been there a lot longer than you've been playing poker. Ignorance of it is no excuse and never has been.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had absolutely no idea I had to do any of this until I talked to a CPA/read it recently on the 2+2 forums.

On top of that my harddrive crashed and I lost all of my PokerTracker files.

What do I do?

(by the way thanks for the lecture, ill use my time machine and fix it all? I was really counting on my pokertracker files to do this for me)

[/ QUOTE ]

Didn't say anything at all about fixing what you broke, just pointing out that the fault lies with you, not the government.

Oh, and buy an external drive and/or some cds to back up your data. Computing 101.

As for what to do, not much unless you can guess your totals wins and losses for the year.

[Sniper]

Karak, et al...

If what you are required to do, and what you are going to do, are two different things... why are you telling a bunch of semi-anonymous posters (including the IRS) on this messge board, that you are going to do it?


What is the point of... "Hey look at me, I'm going to knowingly ignore the law" posts?

[tizlinda]

[ QUOTE ]
Honestly, how hard is it to write down the following?

1. Start time
2. End time
3. Amount won/lost
4. Date

And there's plenty of programs that can do the math for you (scary 'ol addition/subtraction)...e.g. Excel.

Don't blame the government for your laziness. The tax law has been there a lot longer than you've been playing poker. Ignorance of it is no excuse and never has been.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its extremely difficult if you don't know you have to. And when you play multiple tables or multiple sites and are in and out, or play many many heads up tournaments and on and on, well, you can see that you would have mountains and mountains of paperwork. If I had known all this I probably would have just not bothered as I will do now.

Let me ask you? Are you a professional Poker player? If so, then I suppose you had the advantage of knowing what you needed to do. Does the fault ultimately end with me for not doing all the research necessary before sitting down to play poker..............I am all for taking responsibility but I find it hard to on this one. Its like buying a warranty and when you needed it they say, you should have read the fine print. No hobby gamblers ever read the fine print.

[sports_quant99]

[ QUOTE ]
isn't it about time that the sites helped us out? they have the details needed.

the problem is that the us govt shafts gamblers in several ways...the worst is not allowing netting and the other is the ATM alternative minimum tax...not the cash machine.

but it would help to have records from the sites showing daily wins and losses at least.

[/ QUOTE ]

The AMT does not affect gamblers.

[HUD-BOT]

Back in the good ole poker boom in early 04 when PT was first coming out I had no flipping clue that I had to pay taxes on poker winnings. I didn't find out for at least 6 months after I started winning significant $$$. Now I pay my taxes but to say people are not naive to know that they have to pay taxes on this internet poker thing is well...naive. I was 23 btw.

[7n7]

[ QUOTE ]
I am all for taking responsibility but I find it hard to on this one. Its like buying a warranty and when you needed it they say, you should have read the fine print. No hobby gamblers ever read the fine print.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why is it so hard on this one? And the major similarity between this and your warranty example is, well, ummm, not reading the fine print on your warranty is your fault too. Your argument is laughable.

Who cares what most people do? The IRS doesn't and that's all that's important.

You screwed up out of ignorance (not saying you're ignorant, just saying that you were ignorant of the tax law). That holds 0 water with the feds. Blaming them or whining about it won't get you anywhere.

And as Snipe said, it's never wise to post about it on a public chat board.