Lol, no you don't. You are thinking of filing as a professional poker player. No one itemizes their lottery tickets, aka sweepstakes. Most people don't even claim the loss let alone small winnings.

Think about it, IF Global 1099 you for your winnings, they are announcing to the lawmakers that they are in violation of the UIGEA. You don't have any sessions. You are playing cards with fugazi funds. You do not deposit, nada. Again, it is best to speak to your accountant for the best answer.

In poker, unless you're filing as a pro, you are supposed to itemize "sessions." If you bought 100 lottery tickets a day, you'd probably have to report each day as a different session as well.

What a session at Global Poker is turns out to be really important to those of us living in states where, for state income tax purposes, gambling winnings are taxed but gambling losses are not deductible. This means we have to pay for every winning session without being able to subtract the losing sessions. As you can imagine this can end up very, very bad.

If every period between deposit and cashout is a session - and I'm tempted by that interpretation since Sweeps aren't money - then that's great for us.

Theoretically I suppose it would even be possible to make a case that your "sweeps entry" is a single asset which gains and lowers value based on your poker results, and thus if you hold it for over a year before withdrawing it should be taxed as long-term capital gains.

This theory is mostly for amusement purposes. I'm not responsible if anyone tries it.

Who told you gambling losses aren't deductible?
https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc419.html

Recs would file it as 'other income' and then put losses into their itemized deductions worksheet. Pros would fill out schedule C for everything. This is all at the federal level.

God the posters in this sub-forum are so bad, but I guess that's what makes the games so tough.

Gosh, it's like I said "for state income tax purposes" and you paid no attention whatsoever.

Gosh, they are in my state

https://tax.custhelp.com/app/answers...-my-income-tax

This is essentially the fact that prompted my line of questioning. Some of us live in these states that have laws that can essentially create an incredible tax bill.

That is really crazy. Hopefully your accountant will see it as a straight sweepstakes and save you a ton. In the tax happy land of NY I am really surprised those pigs in Albany haven't done the same here.

Good luck if your state doesn't allow it. Pretty big ripoff to me.

When you look at the reality of it, it is completely unreasonable.

Yes, the IRS wants you to provide individual sessions. However, all you need for them is Day played win/loss amount and where played. If live, I would also add the floor manager on duty's first name(its verifiable). For the first month you should make a note that xx is my wins/losses over xx number of days. After that, keep accurate records and you will be fine.
I would note my accountant tried to tell me i couldn't claim losses, but had to claim winnings. After he saw my records he changed his mind.
Just my 2 cents, hope it helps

I've heard this before, too. You're fine unless paypal sends you a 1099-K. That is not going to happen.

I was checking out paying taxes on global and this is what I found. My advice is pay your taxes you don't want the irs down your throat and next thing you know you pay a lot more then the taxes you owed.

If you win a sweepstakes or contest prize, you will owe income taxes to Uncle Sam and perhaps your state. Prizes are considered taxable income regardless of whether the prize is in the form of cash, trips or merchandise. If you win a prize valued over $600, the sweepstakes or contest sponsor must report the value to you and the Internal Revenue Service on a Form 1099-MISC. You’re still supposed to report and pay tax on prizes under $600.

Will GP actually send a Form 1099-MISC to me? If I don't get a 1099 from them, does that mean the IRS hasn't gotten one either? I thought that their terms of service put the burden on the winner.

No. I have over 100k in cashouts on GP and have never received anything from PayPal nor GP. Keep track of your sessions - at least in an excel spreadsheet, file your taxes and be somewhat in the ballpark of what your bank account says happened and you shouldn't ever hear a word from the IRS. Poker players are at a higher risk of getting audited than most other professions but if you aren't driving a ferrari and claiming 35k income then you should be fine. The better the records you keep the better. I keep my records in my phone on the Poker Income app along with my live cash games. It is easiest that way. I have known professionals who play high stakes and only use their bank statements as records and never have an issue.

Thanks. I also use Poker Income app and log every cash session and/or tourny. Do you deduct actual losing session/tourney buys within Global or just deposits onto the site? Also if you have a balance on the site at the end of the year, do you include that as income, or just what you've converted from $weeps into actual dollars?

Easiest way to do it is to use your bank statements to show net deposit/withdrawal. The records are only for auditing purposes if comes a time. Overall income from your bank minus deposits will add up correctly when compared to your app if you don't fudge it in your poker income app.

As for balance, yes, I consider it as winnings. Or at least I would declare it as winnings. CPAs will all give you different advice on online poker, live poker, and who knows with sweeps cash but the one thing I have noticed that they all agree on is 'taking the safe route'.

Tbh you really shouldnt leave that much of your bankroll on any site in the US these days anyways. Same goes with GP. Deposit when you need to deposit but don't risk losing more than you can afford to lose.

Just don't pay taxes, obviously. Let's be realistic, what are the odds the IRS comes after you, or even knows you won money? Unless it's a large amount they will neither know nor care enough to come after you.

I don't normally follow the advice of people on public internet forums but when I do it is the advice of the people telling me to commit tax fraud.

/t

I would like to note that you should file your taxes correctly. Unless make really good money you can normally pay very little to nothing in taxes after dedcutions and write-offs. Please don't listen to the previous person. This is the type of person who is willing to pay 7 years of his life for $8,000.

I believe the maximum sentence is 5 years, not 7.

I did not want to make a political de-rail, but US gambling taxes are extremely unfair to recreational players and a little bit of civil disobedience would be a good thing. We should not feel morally obligated to follow whatever laws are written when those laws are tyrannical. We should stand up for our individual rights, even at a risk to our freedom.

For professionals I do recommend paying taxes, as it is harder to hide your sole source of income and taxes on professional gamblers are more tolerable. For recreationals, don't bend over for the government, IMO. The IRS has limited resources and probably isn't going to come after you.

Dear Alexander Hamilton of the poker world.

Good luck, may the King show you his mercy.

All trolling aside, I do see your point, but I can also imagine giving advice for people to willfully commit tax fraud seems unwise, even if there is little downside.

Because even you are admitting... there is downside.

**** yeah. Let's all riot!

I mean... after dinner though. Maybe a nap.

I second the dinner and nap. You might be on to something.