I think that's just going to apply to winnings on their site when it launches (soon? hopefully) but their poker is combined with BC and Atlantic Lottery so any poker winnings on this combined site should be tax free too. I don't know if it will be possible to use it as part of an argument that all winnings shouldn't be taxable though.

It will still be taxable. It is no longer lottery winnings if you have a reasonable expectation of profit.

Unless you get an advance tax ruling, the CRA is not typically bound legally by the technical guidance they publish. The would go for other governmental bodies as well. For example, interpretation bulletins issued by the CRA are not legally binding. Indeed, it has happened in the past that the CRA has taken positions that contradict the published guidance in interpretation bulletins.

In Australia, on the other hand, there is a new public / private / oral rulings regime, dating from 2006, that binds the ATO to their rulings. We should adopt the same sort of scheme in Canada, I think.

So I am totally clueless on this but if the goverment of Quebec is saying taxes are not payable an winnings on thieir site which inlcudes texas hold em poker does this set a precedent for poker income to not be taxable in Canada?

No.

Off topic guys, but I figured I'd ask here :x

With the Canadian dollar at par with USD do you think it's worth it to use the PokerStars multicurrency options to hold my bankroll in CDN? I've already lost a bunch with the rising loonie :/

I use it specifically because of the loonie rising so much last year, I think I lost somewhere around 10% of my effective BR. Of course it costs you more to play the same games if it continues to go up, but I prefer the peace of mind of keeping the buying power of my BR at home stable.

There was a thread on currency conversion losses due to Stars' rounding everything up a couple of weeks ago and my math came out to costing me about $0.27/1k hands at 20% vpip due to reloading.

There might be some strategy in reloading only at 97bb or something, haven't done the math yet, to avoid reloading every time in the blinds.

If anyone could answer that correctly they shouldn't be here, but off making millions in forex.

what is the situation with being taxed in canada on poker winnings/earnings?

i live in ontario and am wondering what should be done come year end

I had my BR in British Pounds at one point and joined a sng, un-registered from the sng and my account was short 2 cents.

I would love to hold my account in CDN funds, but I play 16 tables at once with auto top up running, and I'm worried that each time you add funds to a table you will lose a couple cents. Can someone please comment on this, do you lose on the conversion taking money to and from the table?

Check here for a reasonably full account of where things stand: http://www.taxwiki.ca/taxwiki.ca+eBooks

You are right any rounding doesn't go in your favour theoretically it shouldn't cost more than a penny/topup but if you play 16 tables that could add up over time. That said you could just hold enough US funds to cover auto top ups and the rest in CAD.

Could somebody provide cliffs for current status of Poker tax in Canada??

I am considering playing poker full time after i graduate from school and would like to avoid taxes at all costs.

I am taking a tax class from a well respected professor who really knows his stuff. I'll see what information I can get out of him.

slightly OT but has anyone speculated about what will happen with Mr. Duhamel?

specifically, could we finally possibly be in for some sort of slightly less muddled legal precedent? (as compared to what we already have to go by)

yes, he will pay alot of tax , first he will pay the american 2 million tax and after the CDN tax revenue (he will be considerated as a pro player)

4.5 million cdn tax, since he will pay 2 million to the american this will be substract to the amount own to revenue canada

Mr. Duhamel will had 4.6 million net and maybe a little more with deductible.

P.S this info i got it to the news they had a tax expert who talk about his situation

Art Cockfield at Queen's? He knows all about tax...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rM9FG-DUM4

It really baffles me how you take the time to dilute this thread with your post when the answer is only 2 posts above. You want to play poker full time and practice tax evasion but you can't even so much as skim a simple thread? It's embarrassing, especially when we have a law professor posting a detailed article directly above your post that would answer all your questions.

But I digress......cliffs you say?

It's simple, keep your money under a mattress, don't acquire assets. Just spend it all on blow and hookers. Besides your neighbors won't mind paying for your roads and medical bills.....but by all means avoid paying taxes AT ALL COSTS!!!!

Cliffs of the cliffs:

Also curious about this

Criminal offences have no statute of limitations, so it depends on how your situation is characterized.

If it was fraud there is no limit on how far back they can go. Otherwise I believe it is three years from the date of assessment. If you have opted to not file taxes because you have no income tax owing then all those years are subject to reassessment as well.

The SOL period for tax money owing use to be six years but I believe they changed that to ten a few years ago. The clock starts running from when you actually get assessed not from when the income was earned and CRA has a lot of ways to reset the clock so I doubt many people can get income tax owing stat barred.

Maybe Canada is different, but in the US this is dead wrong.

I don't know for sure and I'm too lazy to look it up (wouldn't be that hard), but I think for taxes a mistake statute of limitations is 3 years and it's 6 years for tax fraud. Might be wrong there, but basically there is a statute of limitations, and it's a little longer if you intentionally underpaid your taxes.

For other crimes there is most often a statute of limitations, just not for the more heinous, violent offenses.

freeman on the land ftw

In Canada they go back 7 years for errors. If they suspect fraud it is unlimited.
In practice they open 3 years at a time and go back an additional year at a time until they are satisfied whatever they suspect you of wasn't happening then.

LOL I remember seeing this video live at lawlapalooza. Solid trilogy of vids by Cam and Sean. I took tax with Cockfield, queen's law '08.

Why post this? You are trying to correct an expert with guesses about what you think it is like in another country?