online gambling and taxes

lane mcbride · #1 04-05-2005, 02:33 AM

if I were to cash out a check from a poker site would I have to pay taxes on it? how does all that work?

thanks

GrekeHaus · #2 04-05-2005, 03:21 AM

[ QUOTE ]
if I were to cash out a check from a poker site would I have to pay taxes on it? how does all that work?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. Anything you win from gambling, you're supposed to report on your taxes. You could not do it, but if you win any substantial ammount of money and get audited, you be in deep [censored] with the IRS. I'm trying to find a way to get money out of my accounts that doesn't leave a paper trail, but haven't had any success yet.

Niediam · #3 04-05-2005, 03:50 AM

Yes you do. But as soon as somebody tells you how much you owe you are going to decide not to report it. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

lane mcbride · #4 04-05-2005, 05:11 AM

do most people report it? at what point are you supposed to report it?

MicroBob · #5 04-05-2005, 05:23 AM

technically if you put 1 dollar in a slot-machine and win $3 you're supposed to report it.

In other words ANY amount of winnings are supposed to be taxed.

Obviously this isn't exactly strictly adhered to as most slot playing grandmothers or craps players who win or lose $50 or even $500 don't bother reporting it (most don't know that they're supposed to or just plain don't care).

But, technically if you win $1 playing online you are expected to report it.
The reality is that it's pretty unlikely that the IRS would come after you about this though (disclaimer: I'm not a tax-expert....but the bit about them not giving a damn about winning $1 should be obvious).

At what level they actually WOULD get upset about it though is impossible to know. Caveat emptor.

If I won $100 I probably wouldn't bother reporting it.
If I won $1000 online I would probably start to feel inclined to report it (at least SOME of it anyway).

If I won only $1000 in a B$M though (without the paper-trail of transactions directly into your bank account) I wouldn't be as concerned about it though.
That's just me I suppose.

Again....caveat emptor, YMMV, etc etc.

unglee · #6 04-05-2005, 06:24 AM

I was told by someone that keeping all of your winnings on your Neteller account is the "safest" way to keep your money without having to report it. They are not based in the US and thus have no obligation to the IRS, and they provide you with an ATM card for withdrawals.

Whether or not this is true, I don't know. I imagine the ATM must leave a trail of some kind as well.

moondogg · #7 04-05-2005, 08:30 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I was told by someone that keeping all of your winnings on your Neteller account is the "safest" way to keep your money without having to report it. They are not based in the US and thus have no obligation to the IRS, and they provide you with an ATM card for withdrawals.

Whether or not this is true, I don't know. I imagine the ATM must leave a trail of some kind as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

For the love of Christ, do NOT try to hide it.

If you're not going to report your poker winnings, just don't report them, pray you don't get deeply audited, and plead ignorance if you do.

If you make deliberate attempts to hide the money, the IRS will still find it in many audits anyway, and slap you with an evasion charge as well. Depending on the amounts involved, this may include jail time.

grimel · #8 04-05-2005, 07:54 PM

If you are SMART you've been keeping records for all the deposits you've made to cover the loses you've had.

In the end you take the amount you've made minus the amount you've deposited to get your net winnings.

How they figure the bonus money is anyone's guess, but, all those bonus whoring deposits and withdrawls and redeposits will make for some interesting bookkeeping.

BradL · #9 04-05-2005, 07:58 PM

[ QUOTE ]

For the love of Christ, do NOT try to hide it.

If you're not going to report your poker winnings, just don't report them, pray you don't get deeply audited, and plead ignorance if you do.

If you make deliberate attempts to hide the money, the IRS will still find it in many audits anyway, and slap you with an evasion charge as well. Depending on the amounts involved, this may include jail time.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is so important it needs to be said twice.

-Brad

MicroBob · #10 04-05-2005, 08:09 PM

indeed.

just because neteller isn't in the US doesn't mean the IRS can't get at it.
If they ask to see your neteller account then YOU are obligated to show it to them.

So if you just try the ATM thing then you are basically hoping that the IRS doesn't ask questions about it...because if they do they should very easily be able to find it.

I just don't think the ATM thing is a good idea as far as trying to hide the money you win from the IRS.

You shouldn't be hiding the money anyway....but if you were going to try to hide it you better come up with a better plan than that because there seems to me to be a reasonable chance that it will be detected at some point.

Remember, if they catch you doing something a bit goofy in one year then I think they are going to be a bit more likely to start looking at previous years. You're basically rolling the dice OVER and OVER again that they will just continually ignore you.