Busted by IRS now i owe back taxes on winnings

Originally Posted by westcoastinvader

I've had many four digit wins in a single day at blackjack in Nevada, but never a five digit.

I may be mistaken, but somehow I thought that if cashing in a large enough amount of chips at the window at one time there was some tax transaction of note that would take place.

Not a "holier than thou" thing, but I always declare my annual gambling winnings......and the offsetting losses. Candidly, most of the time I declare "a wash" for year end by my estimates and keep enough supporting detail around to have a reasonable defense if audited.

If playing at a casino on a regular basis with monitored play for comps, I'd highly recommend making an effort to acknowledge in some way on tax filings.

Exactly, I declare the winnings and itemize the losses, but the winnings effect your adjusted gross income before you can itemize the losses. So basically gamblers are screwed (with W2-G's) unless you can claim professional gambler status. A lot of deductions are reduced or phased out based on AGI, and the signers effect your AGI before you can deduct/itemize your losses.