Taxable Winnings
 

Well I just a tax form in the mail from my TVG account and everytime I get one I get so pissed. First of all, I do not think gambling winnings should be taxed because you are winning money that has already been taxed. But what really burns me is that I am going to be taxed on $754.00. I think I should only be taxed the difference between $754.00 and $600.00. So my tax responsibility should be $154.00. Man, this just burns my chaps.

Yes, I have the records from TVG and some losing vouchers. But it still pisses me off to no end.

It is just the philosophy to tax money that has already been taxed that irks me. Kind of like capital gains tax.

Bullsh*t, don't pay the government a dime. I don't know what you bet but i'm 100% sure your handle (i.e., "losses") for the year is more than $754. That means you can write it off.

He will have to show that he lost at least $754 for the year. You can get a year end statement from TVG. If the statement shows that you lost money for the year, then you won't have any tax liability. If Euro had a winning year at TVG, then he will have to pay the taxes unless he can show other gambling losses. Maybe he won money at TVG but lost money on his actual trips to the track.

Three things:

1. You can only offset gambling wins with losses if you itemize deductions (Sch A). That's the part that truly sucks. If you normally take the standard deduction, you are really screwed.

2. If you do file Sch A, you can use ANY gambling losses to offset a horseracing win. If you take 1000 to a casino, keep track of the machines and/or tables you played at, and lose 500, you can use that 500 loss to offset the horseracing win.

3. Anyone here who actually shows a profit for the year in most years, and spends considerable time at it, should consider filing a Sch. C with gambling as the business. This not only circumvents the Sch A problem, but allows you to deduct all reasonable expenses, too.

--Dunbar

(Hope you don't mind me quoting THAT much!)

Dixie, nothing that has been written so far is the slightest bit controversial. I believe the posters here can discuss this with good judgement.

I wrote a pretty good article (if I do say so!) on taxes for gamblers for Blackjack Forum a few years ago. Never had any repercussions.

--Dunbar

dunbar .on a side note ive found someone that may have your skills..hes a guy from england..he can run a dec point out on a calculation 22,000 spots in his head..it was on discovery tm lol science last night...

hooves, I may be an idiot, but, unfortunately, I'm not a savant. My mental math skills are nothing special.

But that does remind me of a story I like. One of the top 20th C. mathematicians was a Brit named G.H.Hardy. Hardy discovered a mental phenom from India named Ramanujan, who had what can only be described as an amazing relationship with numbers. Hardy invited Ramanujan to England, where they collaborated on a number of papers. But Ramanujan was sickly, and spent a lot of time in the hospital. On one visit, Hardy found himself running out of things to talk about, so he said that the cab that brought him had a rather "dull" license plate, 1729. Without a moment's hesitation, Ramanujan responded, "No, Hardy, it is a very interesting number. It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways!"

Why, of course it is! Anyone can see that! Yeah, right.

Here's a link to where I got the exact quote:
Weisstein, Eric W. "Hardy-Ramanujan Number." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Hardy-RamanujanNumber.html

--Dunbar

thats awesome...thanks for the link..

Got brutalized last year in taxes. But it's a good problem to have....No problem this year. Ha ha.

i put money that i paid income tax on into a savings acct, and have to pay taxes on the interest. it's the same type thing. you can't fight city hall, but good luck anyway.
i also pay personal property tax.
tax what you make.
tax what you spend.
tax it again because you still have it.

stinks, doesn't it?

This can be a real problem. Even a Sch C filer cannot deduct a net loss on gambling from non-gambling income. That's right, even when the IRS accepts gambling as a business, it treats it differently from other businesses.

If you are about even or just slightly ahead in December, you may be betting with a big disadvantage. That's because when you win, you will be taxed, but when you lose, you lose 100% (nothing to offset). So, it's like betting to win 70% but lose 100%.

--Dunbar