Legal workaround/possible $$ laundering for US players?

[DMoogle]

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are you guys paying taxes for these checks?

or just hoping you can get away with it?

I'm just curious how many people actually pay the taxes that we are supposed to

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I'm withdrawing three $5K checks. I plan on paying taxes on it.

[TheEngineer]

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I'm just curious how many people actually pay the taxes that we are supposed to

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I am. Given how the government feels about us, it seems very prudent.

[Unabridged]

this sounds good, especially if your friend is in a country that doesnt care about gambling winnings. the only weak link is the money getting from your friend to you, either you are going to have to be bringing $1000s in cash into the US over and over or you have to be cashing international checks for $1000s. i dont think you will be caught though, or at least have a lot lower chance of being caught than opening an account with your US bank account.

you may also have to worry about the pokersite thinking the account has been hacked if you are using it from different countries.

[ZBTHorton]

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Ummmm...why don't you just open your own Full Tilt account? Seems a lot easier?

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How will I cash out the winnings? My understanding is that US banks will not process checks from online gaming sites. Or transfers. Is that wrong? Can I transfer money from my FTP account directly to another person's bank? I guess my real question becomes this: As a US player under the current law, how do I cash out my online poker winnings?

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Sigh. Where do people hear these things?

[ALav10]

Just as a heads up... If you use Citizens Bank, FTP warns you that your check may not go through. I use them and mine did, so it seems like no worries.

But, they advised to try to go to the bank that issued the check. This is probably good advice for anyone, since you could just get cash from the issuing bank.

And pay taxes.

[AbreuTime]

My FTP check did not have "Full Tilt" anywhere on the check. It was issued through a major US based bank. No problems with depositing it. There are threads in the Zoo (Internet Gambling) about this.

[BigAlK]

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How will I cash out the winnings? My understanding is that US banks will not process checks from online gaming sites.

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Not true. The UIGEA doesn't have any prohibition against receiving money from gaming sites, it focus is strictly on funding (and that only electronically). Getting money out isn't a problem. I've received several checks from FTP and had no problems depositing them at my bank. If you have a problem change banks.


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Or transfers.

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This is different since it is electronic.

[MiltonFriedman]

Stop trying to think of such things. You are not any good at it.

1. You can play at FTP yourself, so enjoy it .... without trying to plan elaborate schemes for "what-if" scenarios, as you have little apparent talent in that area.

2. Stick to poker. Work to ensure it remains available, call your elected representatives and lobby. There are plenty of suggestions in the weekly action plans you could do.

[BigAlK]

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I'm just curious how many people actually pay the taxes that we are supposed to

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I am. Given how the government feels about us, it seems very prudent.

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As a general tax rule (not just in regards to poker) hiding income is never a good idea. Even if you ignore the morality of cheating on your taxes (which you shouldn't be doing) understating income is something that, if caught, you can never justify as "an honest mistake" and will pay the price. As the Netteller debacle is showing us there are lots of ways the IRS might discover this income that you've never thought of.

If you want to take an aggressive approach to minimizing your taxes go right up to the line in taking deductions. (No, that doesn't mean claiming your dog as a dependent, that's going over the line [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )

[ktulu22]

Morality? Yea I should be perfectly willing to hand over my hard earned money and give it to guys like Bill Frist so he can tell me what to do. You guys slay me