Country with most lenient tax law towards poker income?

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Incorrect.

Gambling income for professional gamblers is taxable income in Canada.

see: Alvin J. Luprypa, Appellant, and Her Majesty The Queen, Respondent 1997 CarswellNat 765, [1997] 3 C.T.C. 2363, 97 D.T.C. 1416

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But not for amateurs, correct? How is the dinstinction made?

gambling is tax free in Canada, unless it is your primary source of income and your other income is not sufficent to live off of. Although if u dotn report they can only hit you with the taxes and no penalties.

[sredinator]

My understanding is that to be taxable in Canada gambling has to be your primary source of income. CRA must be able to show that you approach poker in a systematic manner, with a reasonable expectation of profit, and that it is your primary source of income. If you have a full time or even part time job you can make a strong argument that gambling is not your primary source of income and hence not taxable.

[mackthefork]

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My understanding is that to be taxable in Canada gambling has to be your primary source of income. CRA must be able to show that you approach poker in a systematic manner, with a reasonable expectation of profit, and that it is your primary source of income. If you have a full time or even part time job you can make a strong argument that gambling is not your primary source of income and hence not taxable.

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That is I must say an emminently sensible way of doing things.

Mack

[Simplistic]

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My understanding is that to be taxable in Canada gambling has to be your primary source of income. CRA must be able to show that you approach poker in a systematic manner, with a reasonable expectation of profit, and that it is your primary source of income. If you have a full time or even part time job you can make a strong argument that gambling is not your primary source of income and hence not taxable.

[/ QUOTE ]you are wrong about a few things.
firstly, it's the taxpayer's onus to prove that he is a recreational player, not the other way around.
secondly, even if it is not your primary source of income it may be taxable, it is a case by case basis depending on many factors including things you mentioned above.

Keep in mind guys, poker will be the ONLY source of income for me. That means I am looking for low income tax. I know for a fact Revenue Canada CAN come after you if you are generating enough profit and your net worth is high enough for them to care. I would not pay any income tax in the UK? What about property tax etc?

[BaggyAnt]

I am not quite sure what you mean by property tax - you would be required to pay a council tax on any property you rent or buy this increases depending on the size of the house. Typically though you would expect to pay no more than £1000-£1500 per annum on this. Cost of living is pretty high over here though the average gas/electricity bill is running in the region of £800 per year now. Petrol in 90p per gallon and depending on where you would like to stay - Renting or purchasing would most definitely not be cheap especially if you are planning on staying in London which is vastly overpriced.

[Rudbaeck]

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If the poker site is in Gibraltar,UK or any other EU country with 0 tax on gambling you don't pay taxes for it in ANY EU country.

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Actually that isn't true. The EG court has only decided that taxing winnings from other countries while leaving domestic winnings untaxed is a free trade violation.

Double taxation deals never enter into it. (I personally think they should, but today it doesn't look like they actually do.)

I don't know if any EU country actually does tax gambling winnings, but they are certainly free to do so from an EU standpoint, as long as they apply the exact same taxes to domestic winnings.

As there isn't a directive stating what is and isn't gambling a country could probably even get away with declaring poker a game of skill, tax it as such, and maintain a tax free national lottery without the EG court being able to do a damn thing about it.

Overall all forms of tax law where you physically are in another country from where you 'actually' work is still kinda muddy. Going to be a few more years until serious legislation is done on this.

[KaneKungFu123]

Are you looking to give up your US citizenship? If you arent then you still have to pay US taxes.

I dont understand people wanting to live somewhere abroad that doesn't tax gambling winnings -- they will never out that you are 8 tabling Party, nor do they have any means or desire to find out, so what is the point?

I don't have US citizenship. I have residency, and I live here, but I have Canadian citizenship. I have also not had anything to do with Canada in decades. They may not be able to figure out I am 8-tabling party, but they will be asking questions when I am paying my bills and buying things without a source of income (IRS especially, I don't know of Revenue Canada actually tracking down people but it is certainly within their right if you have enough for them to care). Therefor I am looking for a country that is lenient towards all of that, with low overall taxes, good living conditions at a reasonable cost, keeping in mind poker being the only source of income. Just trying to figure out which country is closer to that Utopia I am hoping for.