hi,

I'm looking for the list of tax treaty countries that WSOP won't withhold 30% tax when players cash. Where can I see such info? Thanks.

United States IRS has a webpage on Countries with Tax Treaties:

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Intern...aties---A-to-Z


In an article on Pokerfuse by Tax Attorney Brad Polizzano:

"US gambling winnings earned by residents of the following foreign countries are not taxable in the US: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Russia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukranie, and the United Kingdom."

I would still verify with the WSOP.

weird,

on irs page, it says China is also tax treaty country but from Tax attorney's list it's not one of them.

Do I have to prove that I'm a current resident of that country? I'm Brazilian, but I have dual citizenship, so can I use my Belgian passport to register for tournaments and than have my taxes waived?

Thanks,

Bruno

It's not any old tax treaty. It has to be a tax treaty that includes an exemption for gambling income. The proper IRS reference is the "Gambling winnings" section of this:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p515/ar02.html

It is also covered on 2+2 in the US Taxes Sticky, including information about correct forms to file, etc.

Whether or not you are liable for tax withholding depends on your country of residence. Whether or not the casino will accept your Belgium passport instead as proof of residency is anyone's guess.

Dumb question, do you need a "players/casino card" to enter the tourneys?
If you do then I'd obviously use your passport to obtain these.
I'd imagine you'd have to file a form for the tax exemption, I'd be cautious.

Yes, and yes, you need to use your passport to get it.

Not sure what exemption you're referring to.

There isn't a form to fill out for the tax exemption. The casino will just want proof of residency in a country with a tax treaty covering gambling winnings. If you can provide that, the casino is not required by the IRS to do tax withholding on the winnings. (But sometimes a casino doesn't know how to do this properly, and will do the withholding regardless of country of residence. In this case, the money withheld can be recovered by doing the proper US income tax forms - see the US Taxes Sticky.)

Note: There is no dollar-amount threshold for this tax withholding for non-US residents. For US residents, the IRS requires reporting of poker winnings by the casino (on a Form W-2G) only for tournament net winnings exceeding $5K. This threshold does not apply to tax withholding on non-US players, and technically withholding is supposed to be done on non-US players for both tournament and cash game winnings. However, it would be rare for a casino to check to see whether or not a player is a US or foreign resident for cash games, and in most cases a casino won't check for tournaments unless the $5K threshold is exceeded.

If your country has a tax treaty, you need an ITIN number from the IRS for the casino to give you all of your cash.
If you don't already have an ITIN, the casino will do the paperwork with you to apply for one. They will still be able to give you the whole cash there and then.

FYP

Fair enough PX, my experience was from MGM Grand and Caesars Palace.
Before anyone asks 'why two?', it was on a single trip and only a couple of days apart so I hadn't received my ITIN at that point as it was sent to my home in the UK.

So if I'm Canadian but have an ITIN number, can I avoid the 30% tax withholding?

No. Canada is not one of the countries which has a tax treaty with a gambling income exemption:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p515...link1000225022

This might be useful to you:
http://www.taxtips.ca/personaltax/usgamblingtaxes.htm