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Casino Win Loss Statement Taxes

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Gross gambling income is reported on page one of Form 1040, while gambling losses are a miscellaneous itemized deduction (not subject to the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income (AGI) limit). Taxpayers often believe their winnings are immune from reporting unless they receive a Form W-2G. According to Topic 419 - Gambling Income and Losses on the IRS web site, 'it is important to keep an accurate diary or similar record of your gambling wins and losses.' Just doing a quick search for relevant sites, I found a number of cases in which the IRS and tax courts did not accept a win/loss statement as proof of a loss.

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If you had a successful night at the slots or poker tables, you're going to have to share some of the lucky proceeds with Uncle Sam. The Internal Revenue Service generally requires that you report your gambling winnings and losses separately when you file your taxes rather than combining the two amounts.

Record Keeping

As you gamble during the year, you need to keep records of your winnings and losses so that you can support whatever figures you report on your taxes. The IRS permits you to use per-session recording, which means that instead of recording whether you won or lost each time you pull the slot machine, you can simply record your total for the session. Your records should include the date and type of gambling, where you gambled and if you gambled with anyone else, such as a home poker game. If you win more than $600, you should receive a Form W-2G from the casino.

Win Loss Statement From Casino For Taxes

Taxable Winnings

Gambling Win Loss Statement Taxes

When figuring your gambling winnings, only include the winnings from each session rather than using losses to offset your gains. You have to include gambling winnings even if you didn't receive a Form W-2G from the casino. For example, if you gambled six times during the year, winning $100, $3,000, $4,000 and $6,000 but losing $5,000 and $2,000, your gambling winnings for the year are $13,100. This amount gets reported on line 21 of your Form 1040 tax return. Twin arrow casino in flagstaff az.

Gambling Losses

Win loss statement from casino for taxes

To claim your gambling losses, you have to itemize your deductions. Gambling losses are a miscellaneous deduction, but -- unlike some other miscellaneous deductions -- you can deduct the entire loss. The deduction goes on line 28 of Schedule A and you have to note that the deduction is for gambling losses. For example, if you lost $5,000 on one occasion and $7,000 on another, your total deduction is $12,000.

Gambling Loss Limitation

You can't deduct more in gambling losses than you have in gambling winnings for the year. For example, suppose you reported $13,000 in gambling winnings on Line 21 of Form 1040. Even if you lost $100,000 that year, your gambling loss deduction is limited to $13,000. Worse, you aren't allowed to carry forward the excess, so if you had $87,000 in losses you couldn't deduct last year, you can't use that to offset the gambling income from the current year.

  • tax forms image by Chad McDermott from Fotolia.com
Casino Win Loss Statement Taxes

To claim your gambling losses, you have to itemize your deductions. Gambling losses are a miscellaneous deduction, but -- unlike some other miscellaneous deductions -- you can deduct the entire loss. The deduction goes on line 28 of Schedule A and you have to note that the deduction is for gambling losses. For example, if you lost $5,000 on one occasion and $7,000 on another, your total deduction is $12,000.

Gambling Loss Limitation

You can't deduct more in gambling losses than you have in gambling winnings for the year. For example, suppose you reported $13,000 in gambling winnings on Line 21 of Form 1040. Even if you lost $100,000 that year, your gambling loss deduction is limited to $13,000. Worse, you aren't allowed to carry forward the excess, so if you had $87,000 in losses you couldn't deduct last year, you can't use that to offset the gambling income from the current year.

  • tax forms image by Chad McDermott from Fotolia.com

Casino Win Loss Statement For Taxes

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Gamblers love to use casino win/loss statements because it is easy. Just report the amounts from the casino win/loss statements. No muss, no fuss. No record keeping hassles. You're done.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

For starters, the Internal Revenue Code requires taxpayers to keep and maintain adequate records sufficient to prove their income and deductions. In the opinion of the IRS and most courts, casino win/loss statements do not meet these record keeping requirements. And, it is possible, depending upon the facts and circumstances, that the IRS could assess penalties against the gambler that used such documents.

But it gets worse.

The methods the casinos use to calculate your wins and losses – contrary to the 'gambling session' method recommended by the IRS – actually overstates these amounts. For example, if you start your IRS-approved gambling session with $100 and end with $125, then you only report $25 of gambling income – according to the IRS-approved 'gambling session' method.

On the other hand, if you use your Player's Card so the casino can track your play – it will. Every winning spin on the slot machine will be recorded, and every losing spin will be recorded. So, if you started with $100 and played for several hours, you could have $2,025 of reportable wins and $2,000 of reportable losses. The net difference is still only $25, but you have to report $2,000 more of income!

Unlv casino management online payment. Now, comes the really bad part.

Casino Win Loss Statement Irs

Often times the IRS will not challenge the amount of the wins, but they will disallow the gambling losses. So, in our example, the gambler will still be required to report $2,025 of gambling income, but will be prevented from deducting the $2,000 of offsetting gambling losses – the worst of all possibilities!

Gambling Win Loss Statement Taxes

Because of these problems, it is difficult to recommend that any gambler rely heavily on casino win/loss statements for reporting the amounts of their wagering gains and wagering losses on their income tax return.





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