A Russian player with a Canadian account is why it's not going smoothly.

The WSOP is not trying to keep your money.
And they don’t care about your tax liability one way or the other.
This is above their heads and I imagine it’s just a big headache for them as well.

OP: Based on everything you told, you're clearly taxable in Canada, you spend more than half a year in Canada and that makes you a tax resident. Even if you would spend under 1/2 year it could be a thing in certain situations. In everyone of your posts you seem to think you can choose your nationality, residency and whatnot like a shopping list. That's not how it is in the real world, unfortunately, there are rules for that, the specifics depend on each country, often they have a double taxation agreement. Even if not there are some binding international rules.The 30% BTW are from the US govt, they have nothing to do with the WSOP, no matter how your case goes Caesars will keep nada of it

Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then his status shall be determined as follows:

A. he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests);

B. if the State in which he has his centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either State, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has an habitual abode;

C. if he has an habitual abode in both States or in neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State of which he is a citizen;

D. if each State considers him as its citizen or if neither State considers him as its citizen, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement.

From Canada-Russia tax treaty.

Here I’m not even sure Canada should be involved at all. Since the tournament was played in the USA and entered it as a Russian citizen.

In the usa you can get money back for reporting tax evasion

You're not a resident of Russia anymore since you're absent for 1+ year already.

But I have a house there and paying a few bills regularly. I have nothing in Canada except my phone plan. Not even a credit card

But you have yourself, which is the key bit.
It's like you think you're angle shooting but they've already got a rule for it.

Face it Pavel, your days are numbered. Go into hiding. KGB going to extradite your ass to the Siberian gulag for failure to contribute to Putin’s war coffers. Bad mistake to go public with all this. Run!

not so sure wsop has a rule for people with dual citizenships who can be considered residents in both countries. When I was asking about the payout I was assured that its no problem.

Andy replied with a huge update.

Wire has been returned to Caesars , they are deciding on the next steps now.

We agreed on the check option.

No withholding?

not sure, but they didn't mention it.

Here you were coming across as a greedy, selfish, taker vampire. But all this time you were actually in there fighting for the people, selflessly taking these slings and arrows so the rest of us will never have to. You may not be the hero poker deserves, but you’re the hero poker needs.

Quick question that I hope you will answer given your above post: Exactly how did Canada get involved in this?

He wanted to wire to a Canadian bank account

when we picking up the check ?

Already deposited. They mailed it to me, full amount. Now waiting 15 business days for the money to be available.

In the meantime gotta run and hide from CRA and KGB…

Now, I can say Andy Rich did a great job handling this situation.
He became WSOP operations manager only recently, and I suspect his hands might have been tied in terms of dealing with Paris cage.

But when I requested the M103 form the money magically returned to Paris on the next day and 2 days later I received a check.

So best wishes to mr. Rich on becoming the Dana White of WSOP!

And thanks to all of you for the comments and 6k+ views, it might have played a big part in resolving this issue.

If I were you I would take Mr. Rich's advice and do exactly what he proposes here. Better to work within the system then to try to get around it. I made a couple of good scores at the WSOP in the past and when they offered me my options I opted to take cash, and they send a 1099 form to the IRS. I paid taxes on it both times this happened, about 15%.

There you go. Looks like you took my advice after all.

Just read through this whole thing and have some questions here. I believe Russia doesn't allow dual citizenship does it? Also do you really have Canadian citizenship. First you have to be a resident for 3+ years I believe and if you are an adult, have to be paying taxes during that time. Of course we all know there are a lot of people "gaming" the system for whatever the reason. If you left to avoid getting dragged into Russia's aggression that's up to you but that wouldn't give you enough time to get Canadian citizenship.

Really sounds like someone trying to avoid paying legit taxes if he has Canadian residence. Windfalls won IN Canada, like poker winnings, lotteries, etc are not taxable here in Ontario however if won somewhere outside of Canada it depends on the tax treaty between involved countries.

There are definitely some facts we are not being told here.

Russia will not cancel your citizenship if you get a citizenship somewhere else. “Dual citizenship” is something like an agreement between two countries, I guess.

I got my Canadian passport in 2007.

I was trying to avoid higher taxes, legit or not legit we will see if I’m still free one year from now or so.