For 2008, I filed my taxes with winnings as income and losses as schedule A deductions which resulted in an extremely high AGI/MAGI(250k or so). My "net" income worked out to about 30k. Standard, right?

I was interested in taking advantage of the 8,000 tax credit as a first-time home buyer, but if I file my taxes the same way for 2009, I would not qualify(MAGI must be under 75k). As well, I expect to be employed full time at the end of April 2009, so I would be unable to file as a professional which could lower my MAGI properly.

Is there something I am missing that could allow me to take advantage of the tax credit? Or is the only way having gross winnings as less than 75k?

April '09 is gone, did you get the job? In any case, you are not precluded from claiming pro status just because you have another job, imvho. You would get to pay SE tax for being pro, but that plan could still be +EV. CPA time?

Sorry, April 2010.

Barring filing as a pro and taking losses as schedule C deductions, you won't be able to reduce your adjusted gross income by your poker losses.

I'd make absolutely sure the filing as a pro option is excluded for you before giving up.

What does taking losses as schedule C do? I hadn't heard about that before. What is involved.

I'm going to see how last year's taxes would of worked out if I filed as a pro to get an idea of how much I would benefit.

The schedule C portion of the federal form 1040 is where business income and losses are reported. It's how you would report if the income if you were filing as a professional. The net figure is placed on line 12 of the form 1040, and would reflect the deductible business losses. In this way, the FAGI is reduced by losses from professional gambling.

If you aren't filing as a professional, you would report gambling winnings (gross) as "other income" on line 21, and then take what losses you can as itemized deductions (schedule A). While these deductions will cause a lower federal taxable income, your federal adjusted gross income will only include the gross winnings.

Here's a blank form for reference to the lines I'm referring to:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf?portlet=3

Grain of salt alert: I only analyze these finished returns as part of my work; I don't prepare them.

I'm sure there is also some other stuff either in the sticky or searchable regarding the differences between filing as a pro and not filing as a pro.