I'm confused. You'd only have to do this if you filed as a professional, correct? Even if my shot goes perfectly and I decided to keep doing this, I don't think I'll file as a pro this year, given that I will have worked 7 months for the man and pocketed a good bit of money from it....

Doesn't matter if you are a professional or not. You have to pay self employment tax on your first $102,000 of "non-passive" income.

It does not matter what your "occupation" listed is.

Self-employment tax is never owed on interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income, royalties, S-corporation profits, limited partnership income, IRA distributions, pension distributions, Social Security, or any excluded income.


Prollly better to become an S corp...


AB

Late to the party here, but best of luck. I'll be retired in 4 + years, so my goal between now and then is to get proficient enough to turn a pleasurable hobby into a source of disposable income. We'll see.

About the financial side...don't underestimate the suggestions by fishyak about health insurance. You may be healthy, but there are no guarantees. Take time to take care of yourself physically, or you'll be dealing with the health insurance issue up close and personal.

TRACK EVERY EXPENDITURE AND KEEP RECIEPTS. Figure out later if it's deductible.

Enjoy the ride.

I am not a tax professional, but I am pretty sure this is not true for gambling income.

For the last two years I filed my taxes with gambling income, but as a non-professional. There is a separate form, and then a line on your regular 1040 where the extra income goes, but I did not pay any kind of SS or self-emplyment tax on it, just regular income tax.

GL. Two out of the 3 posts like this I remember were TStone and Newhizzle.

GL Jesse.... Hopefully you end up more like TStone than Newhizzle

I don't know those guys. did they make it? There were a couple in EDF recently that appear to have worked out

should have read the next post...lol

Wash your hands a lot at the cardroom

Jesse Check your PM as soon as you can

IRS states:

Who Must File Schedule SE
You must file Schedule SE if:
c You had net earnings from self-employment from other than church employee income (line 4 of Short Schedule SE or line 4c of
Long Schedule SE) of $400 or more,

------

And:

All income earned through the taxpayer’s business, as an independent contractor or from informal side jobs is self-employment income, which is fully taxable and must be reported on Form 1040.

-----


It seems that *intent* here is the operative word... Where it's gets tricky is if you chose to file as a "sole proprietor" which allows for far more generous deductions, or simply as a wage earner, taking the standard deduction.

It seems to me that if you claims a very large "misc income" on line 21 that the IRS could characterize that as income from an "informal side job", that job being poker.

The Supreme Court has defined that gambling is a valid profession.


However, having now searched a bit more, I have not found any case law that defines gambling income as specifically liable for self employment tax, provided that you are not filing as a "business".

However, if you are not filing as a business, then you cannot deduct gambling losses (at ALL) unless you itemize using schedule A.

And, if using schedule A your deductions are greater than a certain percentage of your gross income, then you'll get whacked over the head with the alternative minimum tax (which sucks far more than self employment tax), so it still mey be best to files as a business (in which case all of your losses, and also all of your related expenses such as travel, hotels, etc. are deductable business expenses).



AB

Good for you Jesse, I hope you find what your looking for! I'm a new member but have enjoyed your posts for the short time I have been here. Your plan sounds well thought out, Just don't forget to HAVE FUN with it !!! That's my only fear when I take the leap, is that I will not enjoy it and end up hating myself for wasting years of my life studying analyzing and playing the game I love just to get burned out and give up.....Keep your mind occupied on other things, Stay sharp, and as Frond Said keep a journal and take as many notes as you can about every session. I can't wait to read your posts

I hear that Sudoku is a good way to keep your brain sharp.

Brett

Jesse, I have been reading this thread, and I wish you well in your journey. You seem to have a solid plan, and are doing this at the right time of your life. I do have a bit of advice for you that is a little different than most (I think). It seems to me that for people to be genuinely happy with their work, usually three things are true. For different people, some of these are more or less important.

1. They have fun doing what they do.
This includes liking their co-workers. Since you are trying to take most of your co-workers money, try to remember to treat them well otherwise.
2. The job pays enough to allow them to lead the lifestyle they choose.
3. They find the work fulfilling.
The work must be either challenging or must "make a difference" in the world, or both.

I think number 2 will not be a problem for you, and, if it is, you will know it quickly. Also, you seem to be trying to figure out if number 1 is true. The one that people often ignore is number 3. You will find the work challenging (if not, there are always higher limits). However, I think everyone here will admit that separating drunks from their money is not on the same level as working with starving children in Africa, but then few jobs are. Still the important thing is that you feel like you are making a positive contribution to society. While just helping the people around you have a good time, and contributing to a positive atmosphere at the poker table does some of this, you may find that you need to do something outside of work to get this kind of fulfillment.

I hope this was worth posting.

Good luck,
Al

Very well worth it. Thanks for the advice, as it's an excellent point. One of the main reasons I'm unhappy with my job is that I don't really feel like it fulfills me or that I'm doing anything useful for society. If through poker I can find the free time to do something else that can give me that, I'll be tremendously happy.

You should do allright, my 6/12 lifetime winrate is $2/hr. So you should be able to do about 6x my 20/40 winrate.

Good luck Jesse,
as someone who has been with the forums for almost 4 years (as a poster but mostly lurker) I have seen you advance nicely from small stakes to mid stakes and your creativeness and poker sense has followed suit.

I am currently on a similar path having quit my job 6 months ago and haven't given finding another one much thought (although grad school is on the potential horizon.)

If you're ever on the east coast give us all a look-up.

Josh

For some reason I don' think it works like that....

Thanks Josh, I appreciate the kind words. I have an annual trip to Boston in late January for an Alumni event, and if I'm still playing full time then I'll probably make a week+ of it and hit up foxwoods or (gasp) mohegan. Maybe we can organize something. Thanks again!

Blog is up.

Good luck!

Wake up.. its time to go to work.

Good luck!

At the office right now, about to re-claim the 8 year old monitor that has been sitting in my various cubicles for the last 3 years. I think it's value could be positive if I got it home. Then it's lunch, the gym, turn in the badge, and a giant one finger salute on my way to the parking lot

Some useful tips for your last day there:

Pee in the bosses coffee urn (standard NH)
Eat lots of OPG(Old Peeled Garlic)and tell the boss goodbye up real close
Bring in a cake for your last day but put lots of eggshells pieces within
Jam the office stapler
Bend the paperclips
For the coworkers you hate, crazy glue their computer mouses to their mousepads
Wet your hands with water first before you shake hands goodbye to everyone and then say "Man I'm sweaty!"

Wear a Del Taco name badge on your last day and tell people to come on by and you'll fix em up

Sprinkle pieces of dried potatoe buds on your shoulders and some in your hair

Wear your pants really high and tight

And finally Jesse,
Try and sneak into the ladies room and punch a grumpy, latch the door shut, crawl out underneath (without flushing it of course)


GL man I will be following yur bloggage

PS you talk to TA yet?

So I've been at it for almost 2 weeks and am officially bumping the thread for questions. I'll try to answer anything anybody likes to the best of my ability.

Who has better food? Bay or GC?