So I had played on FullTilt and UB and incurred some losses.

As I am currently winning playing poker in NJ, I'd like to subtract my losses from here so that I don't have to pay that much in taxes.

The problem is that UB is no longer available and I don't know if FullTilt still would have my account....

Does anyone know how I can get proof of my losses from both sites? I know Sharkscope and PTR show it.. but would that be good enough for income taxes?

Do you mean losses as in losing at the tables, or because you had money in your accounts that you never received?

I think you need to talk to someone that specializes in gambling income. Unless you are a professional poker player, I'm pretty sure past losses can't be applied to this years income.

You need to have filed schedule C's for past years and have been classified as a professional gambler.

Here's a good writeup

http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Artic...mbling-tax.htm

This is for losing at the tables... Thanks for the link Nimbus! I am confused though.... if you win at poker you have to declare it as income right?? I am not a professional but I play a lot recreationally. For online cash games it is tracked so I am assuming the government would be apprised of my winnings...

I didn't know I couldn't subtract pass losses though.. Seems a bit unfair if you have lost a lot of money in the past that it can't offset your future winnings?

You realize this is always done based on a yearly term?

great taxes, would file again

You can't if you are not a professional gambler. There are lots of things about the IRS code that isn't fair.

In terms of the IRS there are some stringent and complicated guidelines to be classified as a professional gambler. If you haven't filed schedule C's for past years there is little chance you would qualify.

Just to be clear, everyone can deduct losses from winnings in the same year

Thanks for all the info. Sorry if I keep asking dumb questions but I want to make sure I understand this...

1.) What is the criteria to officially be a "professional poker player?

2.) If I don't declare myself as a professional, do I still have to pay taxes on my winnings?

3.) Can only professional poker players subtract their "yearly" losses from their winnings or does it not matter if you are a professional or not?

I guess I'll have to just accept my prior year losses and try to do well on a yearly basis

I'm not an accountant so treat my answers accordingly.

1) You have to invest substantial time and money into poker and treat it like a business. You can't just win a random tournament and decide you are a professional for tax advantages. Most of the time, gambling will be your sole source of income. However you can have both a job and supplement it with poker income. The amount of time spent playing poker should be significant.

The thing is if you are a pro you need to file schedule C and with it comes self employment taxes if you are a winning player.

Sometime it's more advantageous to file as a non-pro so you don't have to pay the 15% self employment tax.

2) Yes, it is considered other income. According to the IRS even if you win money from a home game it is taxable even though it is not trackable,

3) Anyone can match yearly losses to yearly winnings in the same year. The way you file taxes will be different for pro vs non-pro.

Here's another good article on gambling and taxes

http://www.fitz-cpa.com/gambling.aspx#GM7

^ dude nailed it.

You're always required to pay.
Pros pay self employment tax, but net their winnings.
Recreational players don't pay self employment tax, but have to itemize their losses. This means they want you to have records of your daily play, and you should add up all your winning days, and all your losing days. On one part of the form you put winnings, in the other losses.

#NotAnAccountant

Been a while since I visited this thread...

2 more questions from the responses above:

1.) Can I deduct other gambling losses from poker winnings? (E.g. lottery tickets, horse racing tickets etc..)

2.)What is meant by professional poker players having the ability to net their winnings? Does this mean after paying the 15% self employment tax they don't pay any additional tax on money they have won?

Still trying to understand the advantage of being a professional for tax purposes...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using 2+2 Forums

1) yes 2) they net as in it is all included in schedule C and they still have the ability to keep their standard deduction. Recs include gross wins in income (before AGI)and must itemize in order to deduct losses (after AGI), losing the ability to take the standard deduction. If you don't have any other itemized deductions it could be possible you are better off forgoing your losses and keeping your standard deduction. Biggest advantage of filing as a pro, is the ability to carry forward losses from net loss years, as a rec any losses in excess of wins do not benefit you in future years.

The last part definitely makes sense regarding the advantage of pros is they can carry forward losses from past years. I guess I am not familiar with accounting terminology to really understand the rest. I appreciate your time in trying to explain though. Reading the links provided in this thread are helping it make more sense. However if anyone can provide an example of how this would work using a fictitious or real person and scenario I think that would be very helpful..

I guess I'll just have to accept my prior years losses but it was definitely a lot over the course of about 5 years, kinda sucks that there's nothing I can do I work a regular job and also have my own business (which I believe I file the schedule c for). I would say I play poker about 30% of my overall time and have made about 20% of my income from it yearly (20K). That being said, would it make sense for me to try and be professional? I am assuming the answer is no since its not my sole primary income but figured I'd ask just in case.

ask russfox

It's def no, it's an insanely high standard because not only do you have to prove the time you also have to prove a profit motive which will be difficult. There are like 8 or 10 factors laid out in some horse racing case that I'm to lazy to look up. But years of losses would work against you.

Thanks for all the info much appreciated. I agree but I guess I'm just thinking for future as I've been on a bit of a streak (probably variance lol)

Anyway I am trying to understand this AGI advantage pros have... from what I can make of it... if you aren't a pro your winnings get added to your total income regardless of losses? I guess if someone can provide an example like Bob Smith is a pro and won 50K and lost 20K, he adds 30K to his AGI vs a non pro who would have to add 50K?

So unless you are a professional gambler... is there absolutely no way to write off past losses against the next year's winnings?

I don't even think pros can write off prior years losses

Basically the us tax laws suck for gambling

This thread has a lot of great info about how U.S. taxes will work:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...-poker-740589/



And you are probably better off not being a professional (probably just about everyone is). You gotta pay the so called "self-employment taxes" if you are a professional. Basically, very simply, as an employee you would pay half this and your employer would pay half, but being self employed, you pay it all. Plus you have to pay all of medicare taxes (there is a deduction available).




EDIT:

THE ABOVE LINK IS ABOUT FEDERAL INCOME TAXES.


What state do you live in / play in? A lot of states have income tax also and their rules vary.

I think the real question is, how did you incur losses pre black friday, and you now win?!?

you have the misconception that like the losers picking up tickets at the horse track to claim losers over their winnings, im not sure it works that way with poker. doesnt matter if you lose a million, if you walk in and win enough you have to pay taxes. it sucks but thats the way it goes

that is a great question, i was thinking the same thing. live poker is the new poker boom. online is all durr and iveys

No. You can deduct gambling losses from gambling winnings if they happen in the same year.

good to know, thanks for clarifying....do you have to win a certain amount for the losses to be considered deducted? or can you deduct as much as you lost from that years winning totals?

You can deduct 100% of your gross losses up to the amount of your gross winnings, but you have to itemize deductions to do it (meaning you can't then take the standard deduction).

This thread has a lot of info regarding U.S. federal income taxes for gambling:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...-poker-740589/