Taxes

[luckycharms]

Ok, I am an 18 year old college student who plays home games (in the good ol' student lounge) and who also plays online. At the live games, we play for so little that taxes aren't even in the back of my mind. Online, however, I'm a bit worried about. I win about $20 an hour, mostly SNGs, but also cash games and the occasional MTT. I have about $450 in my Stars account, and $250 in my Party. I've cashed out over $500 from my now-empty Paradise account over the course of the last year. Right now, I'm doing ok financially (though I do often have to settle for Keystone [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] ) so I'm working on building up my bankroll. A few questions:

1) At what point do I have to file taxes?

2) It's technically illegal for me to gamble online (though I do it extremely responsibly w/ 300BBs, etc.) How would I go about dealing with that?

3) Is there any legal way I can avoid taxes (like playing on many different servers and keeping my main bankroll in FirePay or something to that measure?)

4) If I do have to file taxes, should I do it myself, or with the help of a tax lawyer?

On a side note, I have had jobs before and have done taxes. I plan on earning about $3,000 this year playing online poker, and probably way more next year.

Thanks for the help

[luckycharms]

fine. i'll just get arrested

[JKratzer]

There have been a plethora of posts on this subject in the past, I suggest you search to get a complete answer. It's a lengthy answer, depending on morals, the risks you are willing to take and many other legal variables.

FWIW - I'm in your situation (college kid) and I've made a lot more than you and haven't filed yet.

JKratzer

[BusterStacks]

under $5k is not an IRS red flag, don't worry about it.