Quote:
Originally Posted by hoodskier
The 2015 WSOP is set to begin in 3 weeks in Las Vegas. Many participants in WSOP events receive investment money to play tournaments and the WSOP refuses to follow federal tax law and accept form 5754 from players. Form 5754 is submitted to the casino by a player to transfer a portion of the tax liability to an investor(s) for cashes that exceed the $5,000 profit reporting threshold.
Please take a moment to retweet a post I made on Twitter this morning with a response from the IRS that disagrees with Caesar's stance that form 5754 does not apply to poker.
https://twitter.com/hoodskier/status/596022452968235009
Thank you.
First, the OP is correct -- If a patron of Caesars presents a completely filled out
Form 5754, Caesars is supposed to issue multiple W-2Gs. There is no exception for poker tournaments. I brought this to the notice of my IRS liaison back in 2008 but nothing came of it. This came up in an audit (where I represented the taxpayer) a few years ago and the IRS Revenue Agent said she'd pass it up the food chain but (again) nothing has come of it.
I've heard two excuses, er, reasons given by Caesars to why they don't accept it. First, fraud by patrons. This isn't relevant to Caesars. Let's assume I complete a Form 5754. I sign it under penalty of perjury--I am liable if there's fraud, not Caesars. (Caesars could have liability if they are notified by the IRS that I have prepared a fraudulent 5754 in a prior year and they accept it in a future year and they are told not to accept future 5754s from me. One would assume that Caesars could build that check into their accounting system.)
Second, that Nevada Gaming prohibits accepting Form 5754. I am unaware of this being the case, but it
is possible.
My suspicion is that Caesars doesn't accept them because of the increased workload. Here I do disagree with the op; there is definitely additional work that would be necessary (and, thus, additional staffing costs). Let's assume that I cash and present a Form 5754 with ten backers. That's ten more names that must be data-entered, ten more checks that must be prepared, etc. That's definitely additional work that must be done.
What will it take to change Caesars policy? The day the IRS comes after Caesars. This policy has been in place since 2007; I'm not holding my breath on it changing soon.
-- Russ Fox