Question for those of you that live in Vegas

[4thstreetpete]

Question.

If you live in vegas and were a professional poker/gambler etc and you made over $100 - $200K a year either online or at a casino, how much would you be expecting to pay in taxes? I heard that there's no state tax in Nevada but you still have to pay federal taxes. Sorry, I'm canadian and not too sure how the tax system works in the U.S.

[eastbay]

Living in Vegas has nothing to do with it. www.irs.gov. (http://www.irs.gov.)

eastbay

[theantelope]

Ummm...except for the fact that living in Vegas has something to do with it. As the OP pointed out, Vegas is in Nevada, and Nevada residents don't pay income tax. Also, every city in the country has different income tax laws (even if that law is, in most places, just "there is no income tax").

And just to make this an even more legit twoplustwo post, I'm going to direct criticism towards not only the post I'm responding to, but also to the parent post: Wrong forum! /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
Ummm...except for the fact that living in Vegas has something to do with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup. Especially since offshore gambling is explicitly illegal in Vegas, to my knowledge the only state where this is so.

[Gramps]

[ QUOTE ]
Yup. Especially since offshore gambling is explicitly illegal in Vegas, to my knowledge the only state where this is so.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm always a little puzzled when a "name" poker player (who lives in Vegas) does an interview and talks openly about playing online all the time (or in a couple of TV interviews I've seen, shows their internet-playing setup at home). Probably won't be enforced on them...but still, I wouldn't advertise breaking state law so openly.

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]

Also, every city in the country has different income tax laws (even if that law is, in most places, just "there is no income tax").


[/ QUOTE ]
This is untrue. In washington state There is no income tax, that's state law. Individual cities have no laws concerning income tax. In a state where there IS an income tax, then every state might, if it's just, there is no income tax beyond the state tax or, there is a state income tax + x for the city. But in WA, zip, zilch, none, nada, at the city level.

[4thstreetpete]

Well this certainly is <font color="red">NEWS</font> to me. I didn't know this so natch, it is in the right forum.

I didn't know that it's illegal to gamble online in vegas either, that's just silly. The U.S. do have some weird laws.

[bonanz]

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I didn't know that it's illegal to gamble online in vegas either, that's just silly.

[/ QUOTE ]

why is it silly? they don't want some offshore sites cutting in on their bread and butter.

also for players in vegas (or anywhere else where online gambling is illegal but there are B&amp;M) do you have less to worry about when reporting online gambling winnings because you can kinda lump it in with B&amp;M winnings and harder to account for.

I would be nervous to report online winnings in a state where it is explicitly illegal...

[eastbay]

I believe the question was explicitly about federal tax.

eastbay

[jokerthief]

Federal Personal Income Tax Rates for 2003

Filing Status and Taxable Income Level
Up to $7,000---------10%
$7,001 - $28,400-----15%
$28,401 - $68,800----25%
$68,801 - $143,500---28%
$143,501- $311,950---33%
$311,951 or more-----35%

This is how much income tax that is due. You would also owe 15.3% FICA tax on top of that.

[Kellon]

A few years ago, my wife commuted to Philadelphia from Maryland for a job. My recollection is that she didn't have to pay Pennsylvania state income taxes on the money she earned from her Phil. employer due to reciprocity with the state of MD, but that she did have to pay a small percentage of the income she earned while in Phil. in income taxes to the city of Phil.

[Kellon]

Since you don't distinguish B&amp;M winnings from Internet winnings on your tax return (lumping them together as one income entry for gambling winnings and then making one deduction on Sched A for gambling losses, again with no distinction between B&amp;M and Internet), the info on your Internet gambling activity would only come out if your returns were audited.

As for being nervous about reporting Internet gambling winnings, the risk of prosecution, at either the state of federal level, for illegal Internet gambling is substantially less than the risk of prosecution for not reporting income. Prosecution for income tax evasion is the way the feds and states get at folks who they can't get for the underlying crimes.

[PokerPaul]

if that is correct.......Nevada is heaven to many poker pros.

Or any other kind of pros making 100k +, if no state income tax, just federal..

[4thstreetpete]

[ QUOTE ]
Federal Personal Income Tax Rates for 2003

Filing Status and Taxable Income Level
Up to $7,000---------10%
$7,001 - $28,400-----15%
$28,401 - $68,800----25%
$68,801 - $143,500---28%
$143,501- $311,950---33%
$311,951 or more-----35%

This is how much income tax that is due. You would also owe 15.3% FICA tax on top of that.

[/ QUOTE ]


Whoa! that's quite a boatload of federal taxes to pay on top on state tax. I always thought that the US didn't tax so much?
BTW, what is FICA tax?

[benfranklin]

[ QUOTE ]

BTW, what is FICA tax?

[/ QUOTE ]

FICA is Social Security tax. If you are employed, you pay half and your employer pays half. If you are self employed, you pay the whole thing.

[Cubswin]

Especially since offshore gambling is explicitly illegal in Vegas, to my knowledge the only state where this is so

Actually there are 6 states where internet gambling is illegal: IL, LA, NV, OR, SD and WI.

GOOOOOO ILINI!!!!!

[youtalkfunny]

To my knowledge, only one player has ever been arrested for betting on the internet. He was in SD.

The cops raided his house, thinking he was a bookie. When they saw their mistake, they didn't want to pursue it, but the law's the law.

I think the cops got tipped by some tax agency, after the guy put "professional gambler" down for his occupation.

[ddubois]

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I think the cops got tipped by some tax agency, after the guy put "professional gambler" down for his occupation.

[/ QUOTE ]
This really encourages me to report my Party Poker winnings, doesn't it?