Tax Question

[swede123]

I'm living in the United States, working for a company that sponsors me for a visa. This means my status is that of a non-resident alien, requiring me to file a 1040NR as opposed to a regular 1040. The provisions state that non-resident aliens are required to report U.S. source income only. My question is, should winnings from online poker rooms be considered?

Thanks,

Swede

[CountDuckula]

I'm not a tax expert, but I don't see how any online poker site could be considered a "U.S. source income".

-Mike

[teddyFBI]

I'm in the exact same position as you, and i've done a lot of homework and come to the same conclusion: no we are not responsible for US income tax on foreign-source income (i.e. online poker sites).

We ARE, however as far as I can tell, responsible for tax on our winnings in our home country -- mine happens to be Canada (where the tax regulations are somewhat vague, but it looks like by the strictest interpretation, I would be responsible for income tax on it...a looser interpretation would be that gambling winnings constitutes a "windfall" which by definition would be non-taxable, but the slow/steady nature of poker profits argues against the 'windfall' categorization).