For EU citizens, i read many times it is automatically tax free to play on site which has license within EU (even if in players country the 'poker income' would be considered income - so you would have to pay tax normally). Can someone give me indepth information why is this ? Thank you.

It has something to do with double taxation, if the pokersite you play at pay taxes in the licensed country and that country has a tax agreement with your country you dont have to pay taxes twice.

But IANAL ect ect obviously

Ty for reply. I've heard this explanation too but it dont make sense to ME. The site's income is rake right so they are taxing the rake they get. My profit comes from other people and they dont pay any tax on this money i withdraw afaik. Am i missing something / Comments?

AFAIK it is only true for very few countries, like Sweden. I seem to recall that the reason for Sweden was that they have their own state-run casino where winnings are tax-free (although it has absurd rake) and they therefore cannot tax the winnings of other EU based casinos as it would be unfair protectionism.

But it is generally not the case and you have to read the laws of the country your tax residency is in.

Ty for this reply, if its like that, then its what i was looking for.

Basically what your saying is, if under national gambling license the profits are tax free, then the profits from any EU licensed site are tax free too right ?

Except in some countries a licence within the EU is not enough, you need the compagny to be within the EU and their servers to be within the EU too ... but yeah, protectionism is key here as jurr said, it is against the free trade aggreement of the EU.

Interesting. Thx this clears a lot.

which sites are legally based in the EU with servers etc etc making them tax free for those countries where it is only tax free if it fits that criteria?

Well in Ireland all gambling is tax free,I work in a bookmakers and anybody who wins money doesn't have to pay tax on it,the bookmakers pay a 1% tax on turnover and this is where the government makes money.

There used to be a 10% tax on all bets in Ireland up to 10 - 15 years ago when the bookmakers lobbied for change,it means people are more likely to bet as they don't have to pay €5 on top of their €50 bet and the government gets paid even if the bookies loses money.

Professional gamblers are such a small % of the population that losing out on their tax is insignificant.

Taxation is not an EU matter.

parts of the EU have all gambling winnings free of tax, UK and Ireland. Other countries such as Sweden and Holland have quite punitive tax arrangements for gambling either for all sorts of gambling or for all sorts of gambling or for every form of gambling except for specific state owned enterprises or lotteries. For the most part these take so much from the pool that an additional (personal) tax would be obscene, often over 50% of turnover going to the state firm or lottery (this may include "good causes" but always includes a chunk for the government).

EU sites do not deduct tax before paying out, nor do casinos withold a chunk for tax but individuals still have to deal with their countries tax regime. If you are an EU citizen you can live wherever you like in the EU which for a professional gambler residence is part of effective tax planning.